One of the stories in the Bible that I love so much is the one of the woman caught in adultery. In the Gospel of John, chapter 8 verses 1 through 11, we can learn so many lessons that I could probably write a whole book about just this little lovely encounter. For this week, let’s focus only on the last moments of this great connection. But if you will indulge me, let me share what happens up to this point.
The legalistic religious people of His days, were trying to corner Jesus, so that they could arrest Him and get Him out of their way. So in this instance, they found a woman who was doing what she should not have been doing, with someone she should not have been doing it with, and they dragged her to Jesus, hoping He would deny the Law of Moses and give them an opportunity to imprison Him. There is a huge commotion as they were demanding that Jesus would judge this woman…wait, let me pause here for a minute.
The thing this woman was doing is done with a man, so where was this guy? The Pharisees only brought the woman, thinking that she was not as important as a man anyway, so perhaps they could corner Jesus more easily. They were wishing He would either 1- condemn this woman or 2- say that the Law means nothing. Either one would cause Jesus problems. The first would go against His speeches of God’s forgiving, radical Love. The second would cause an uproar with the Jewish community and make people stop listening to Him.
So what does Jesus do? The unexpected, of course. In order to quiet all the chaos, He stoops down and begins to scribble in the sand! While no one knows what He was writing, I am sure Jesus is connecting with the Father and receiving the wisdom of the Holy Spirit as to how He should proceed. He gets back up and obediently repeats this wisdom and stoops down again. One by one, they drop their stones of judgment and walk away, astonished at His righteousness. It is here, when only Jesus and this woman remain, where He asks her about her accusers and…and here is the “verse to remember” for this week:
“‘No one, Lord,’ she answered. ‘Then neither do I condemn you,’ Jesus declared. ‘Now go and sin no more.’” Jn 8:11 BSB
How wonderful is this!?! Let’s talk about it…
Join me in memorizing 52 verses this year:
January: 1- Jn 3:16; 2- 2Co 5:17; 3- Jas 2:26; 4- Eph 2:10
February: 5- Jn 10:10; 6- Ro 6:23; 7- Rev 21:4; 8- Php 4:13
March: 9- 1Pe 5:7; 10- Jn 8:32; 11- Dt 30:19; 12- Jn 3:30; 13- 2Chron 20:3
April: 14- 2Chron 20:12; 15- 2Chron 20:15b; 16- 2Chron 20:17
May: 17- Ro 8:28; 18- 1Co 13:13; 19- Php 2:12; 20- Mt 5:4
June: 21- Lk 23:42; 22- Jas 4:7; 23- Pr 22:6; 24- Mt 5:3; 25- Jn 14:6
26- Jas 2:19
27- Dt 31:8
28- Jn 14:15
29- Jn 8:11
<>< Peace, Diane
