Valley Bible Church Sermon Transcript

Transcription

1 Neither Do I Condemn You John 7:53-8:11 This weekend we will consider a very popular story that is traditionally included in the text of the Gospel of John. Let me read this story for you beginning with John 7:53 and concluding with John 8:11. ["And everyone went to his home. (1) But Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. (2) And early in the morning He came again into the temple, and all the people were coming to Him; and He sat down and began to teach them. (3) And the scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman caught in adultery, and having set her in the midst, (4) they said to Him, Teacher, this woman has been caught in adultery, in the very act. (5) Now in the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women; what then do You say? (6) And they were saying this, testing Him, in order that they might have grounds for accusing Him. But Jesus stooped down, and with His finger wrote on the ground. (7) But when they persisted in asking Him, He straightened up, and said to them, He who is without sin among you, let him be the first to throw a stone at her. (8) And again He stooped down, and wrote on the ground. (9) And when they heard it, they began to go out one by one, beginning with the older ones, and He was left alone, and the woman, where she had been, in the midst. (10) And straightening up, Jesus said to her, Woman, where are they? Did no one condemn you? (11) And she said, No one, Lord. And Jesus said, Neither do I condemn you; go your way. From now on sin no more. "] This is a wonderful story and a story that we will examine. But even though we will examine this story, we need to be aware of a very widespread concern about this particular text. There is a general and long-standing consensus that John 7:53-8:11 was not originally a part of John s Gospel. You might respond to this statement by saying, "How could anyone say this? It is in our Bibles." The problem is that it has not always been in our Bibles. There is no record of John 7:53-John 8:11 in any biblical manuscript prior to the 5th century anywhere. There is no record of any church father prior to the 5th century commenting on John 7:53-8:11 as a part of John s Gospel. In fact, even when it begins to show up in various biblical manuscripts coming from the west in the 6th century, the text was not always placed where it is currently found in the Gospel of John. Sometimes the story of the woman caught in adultery appeared after John 7:36, sometimes after John 7:44, sometimes after John 21:25 and in one instance it was even found after Luke 21:38. Such moving about further strengthens the case against John 7:53-8:11 as being a part of John s original Gospel. Someone at this point might say, "Does this mean that the story was made up?" And the answer appears clearly to be, No! This story was not made up. This story was known from the very beginning of the church and was a part of its oral tradition. In fact, Eusebius records that Papias, who was a student of the Apostle John, not only knew the story but also expounded on it as a real incident from the life of Christ. Though John 7:53-8:11 does not appear to have been a part of John s Gospel, the event that it records did in fact happen and is therefore profitable for our consideration.

2 What I hope we will take to heart, as we consider the encounter between Christ and this adulterous woman recorded for us in John 7:53-8:11, is our responsibility as the followers of Christ to express mercy whenever we are in a position to do so. Certainly God was willing to do this for us, and we need to be willing to do this for others. We will seek to accomplish this by breaking this passage down into four different parts. So what is the very first part of this very popular story? Christ is introduced to a woman caught in adultery (John 7:53-8:3). Let me begin to read this passage for you. "And everyone went to his home. (1) But Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. (2) And early in the morning He came again into the temple, and all the people were coming to Him; and He sat down and began to teach them." What we have just read in these two verses is typical of Christ s ministry in Jerusalem, particularly during His final visits there. He taught regularly in the temple courts early in the morning, as we see in John 8:2. And in the evening He would regularly go to the Mount of Olives just east of the city, as we see in John 8:1, most likely to stay with His friends Mary, Martha, and Lazarus. On this particular day as Jesus was teaching in the temple something rather unusual happened. A group of men, who are identified as scribes and Pharisees approached Jesus with a woman they believed had committed adultery and introduced her to Him. The details of this introduction are spelled out for us in John 8:3-4. Let me read these verses for you. "And the scribes and Pharisees brought a woman caught in adultery and having set her in the midst, (4) they said to Him, Teacher, this woman has been caught in adultery, in the very act. " Consider for a moment the scene. Jesus was already in the process of teaching the multitude in the temple area, and I would imagine that it would have been a very large group of people that He was teaching. And then, in the midst of His instruction, here come these scribes and Pharisees, known antagonists of Christ, snaking their way through the crowd with this adulterous woman in tow. Let me ask you a question. Do you think that these scribes and Pharisees would have been noticed by the multitude? Of course they would have been noticed! I am sure that as they moved closer and closer to Christ, a degree of apprehension might very well have begun to build in the hearts and minds of Christ s followers. Knowing that something of some consequence was about to happen, it most likely, in their minds, was not going to be good. So what happened when these scribes and Pharisees finally stood in front of Christ? They introduced the adulterous woman, whom they had already seated in the midst of the crowd, to Him. And when they introduced her to Him, they made sure He understood that there was no question about her guilt since she, in fact, was caught in the very act.

3 I would imagine that the tension at this point in time was intense. People, I am sure, were anxious to see what was going to happen next. This leads us to the second part of the story. Christ is tested by the scribes and Pharisees (John 8:5-6). How do they test Him? They test Him by asking Him to comment on what the Law said about putting this woman to death. We see this in John 8:5-6. Let me read these verses for you. "Now in the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women; what then do You say? (6) And they were saying this, testing Him, in order that they might have grounds for accusing Him." They were asking Jesus to comment on what they believed the Law taught in order to trap Him. What exactly was the trap? If Jesus disavowed the Law of Moses, His credibility would have been instantly undermined. He would have been dismissed as a lawless person. If He upheld the Law, He would not only be supporting an unpopular position, it would have also put Him at odds with the Roman authorities if the sentence were executed (John 18:31-32). Why? It would have infringed on the exclusive rights of the Roman prefect, who alone during this time period had the authority to impose capital sentences. So how did Jesus respond to their question? Jesus responds to their question by stooping down and with His finger and writing something on the ground. Let us go back and read John 8:6. "And they were saying this, testing Him, in order that they might have grounds for accusing Him. But Jesus stooped down, and with His finger wrote on the ground." What did He write with His finger on the ground? We don t know, but I would assume that it had something to do with the Law since the scribes and Pharisees had just asked Christ what He thought about the Law and what it taught about putting women to death for the sin of adultery. But whatever Jesus wrote on the ground, it had very little impact on the scribes and Pharisees, which we will see as we continue to read. This leads us to the third part of the story. Christ challenges those who were testing Him (John 8:7-9). After Jesus had stooped down to write something on the ground, most likely pertaining to the Law, the scribes and Pharisees persisted in asking their original question. They persisted in trying to get Jesus to tell them what He thought about putting the woman to death in light of the teaching of the Law. How did Jesus respond to their persistence? Let me read for you John 8:7. "But when they persisted in asking Him, He straightened up, and said to them, He who is without sin among you, let him be the first to throw a stone at her. " When Jesus said, "He who is without sin let him be the first to throw a stone," He did not mean that the accusers needed to be perfect before they threw a stone (Romans 3:23). Why would I say this? I would say this because the Scriptures are clear that everyone has sinned. Certainly Christ knew this and therefore would not have insisted on perfection before a righteous judgment called for by the Scriptures could be exercised.

4 If Jesus was not insisting upon perfection when He said, "He who is without sin let him be the first to throw a stone," then what was He insisting on? I believe that Christ, in His statement to the woman s accusers, was calling them to apply the same standard of judgment to their own lives as they were seeking to apply to hers. In other words, Jesus was saying to these accusers, "He who is without sin," not just any sin, but the very same sin that they accused her of having committed, let him cast the first stone. Why would I say this? I say this because their actions and words up to this point in the story reeked of a double standard in respect to sexual sin. Let me ask you this question. In the sin of adultery, how many sinners are involved, one or two? And the answer is two? How many sinners should these accusers have therefore brought to Jesus? Two! They should have brought both the man and the woman. But even though it would appear that they should have been able to do this since they both were caught in the very act, they chose not to do this? I believe they chose not to do this because they were operating according to a double standard. I believe that there was one standard for the woman and a different standard for the man. I believe this is reinforced by the words of these accusers in John 8:5. Let us once again read those words. "Now in the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women; what then do you say?" What an amazing statement. Clearly the focus of these accusers, in respect to the punishment that they demanded for the sin of adultery, was entirely focused on the woman and women in general to the exclusion of the man and men in general. So how will these scribes and Pharisees respond to what Jesus said? Will they take it to heart, or will they ignore Him? Let us now read John 8:8-9 "And again He stooped down, and wrote on the ground. (9) And when they heard it, they began to go out one by one, beginning with the older ones, and He was left alone, and the woman, where she had been, in the midst." When the accusers applied the same standard of measure to themselves as they had applied to the woman caught in adultery, they were convicted of their sin (John 8:8-9). May God give us the grace not to focus on the sins of others before we have done a very thorough and exhaustive examination of our own sin! Or in other words, may God give us the grace to remove the log from our own eye before we seek to remove the speck out of our brother s eye. If these scribes and Pharisees had taken the time to do this, the incident, as it is recorded for us here in John 8, would never have happened. But now, what will Jesus say to the adulterous woman? Will Jesus, being a righteous man, unlike her former accusers, condemn her? Certainly the Law makes it clear that she was worthy of death, but will He insist that the punishment prescribed by the Law be fully applied to her? This leads us to the forth part of the story.

5 Christ addresses the adulteress woman (John 8:10-11). Let me read this passage for you. "And straightening up, Jesus said to her, Woman, where are they? Did no one condemn you? (11) And she said, No one, Lord. And Jesus said, Neither do I condemn you; go your way. From now on sin no more. " Could Jesus have personally condemned her? It certainly appears from His response that He could have, in fact, done this. He could have personally condemned her, but He didn t. Jesus, in choosing not to personally condemn the adulterous woman, exercised mercy. What is mercy? Mercy is the outward manifestation of compassion in kindly action toward the misery of another. It looks not at what a person deserves but at what the person needs. This adulterous woman deserved to die according to the Law, but Christ extended to her mercy. Why? He extended to her mercy because He chose not look at what she deserved but at what she needed. And He felt that what she needed more than judgment was to be given another chance. What did He say to her? "Go your way, From now on sin no more." I would imagine that Christ was hoping that, as the woman reflected on how mercifully she had been treated, she would have been motivated to change her life. Christ obviously saw the extension of mercy by Him to her to be a powerful thing. So what should we learn from Christ s action? Extending mercy to someone can have a much more powerful impact on a person than holding over that person s head the threat of judgment. Certainly I would hope that we have found this to be true in respect to our own relationship with the Lord. Let me ask you a question. What is more motivating to you in respect to living a life pleasing to the Lord, the threat of God s discipline giving you what you deserve or the realization that God in His love has shown mercy to you? Though both are motivating to me, I can honestly tell you that far and away, the greatest motivator for me in living a life pleasing to the Lord is the certain knowledge that, though I deserved judgment, Christ extended mercy toward me when He gave Himself up on the cross so that I might live. I believe that this is what the Apostle Paul was communicating in 2 Corinthians 5: Let me read this passage for you. "For the love of Christ controls us, having concluded this, that one died for all, therefore all died; (15) and He died for all, that they who live should no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf." Extending mercy to someone can have a much more powerful impact on a person than holding over that person s head the threat of judgment. And it is for this reason that I believe Christ extended mercy to the woman caught in adultery. He believed that this was the best way to meet her need.

6 For the scribes and Pharisees, the Law was all about judgment. For Christ, the Law was all about bringing people to Himself. What does Galatians 3:24 tell us? "Therefore the Law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ, that we may be justified by faith." Jesus, in choosing to honor the spirit of the Law rather than the letter of the Law, exercised mercy in not condemning this woman. Exercising judgment, just because we can exercise judgment, is not the way of Christ. Whenever we are in a position as Christians to exercise mercy in the service of others, we need to do it (Luke 6:36). This should not be optional to us. Let me read for you Luke 6:36. "Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful." This of course does not mean we excuse the behavior of others and withhold the natural consequences of their actions in each and every case. It simply means that we are eager to do this when we believe mercy will more powerfully minister to their need than judgment. Do we have opportunities in our daily walk to exercise mercy in this way? All the time! We will find plenty of opportunities to do this in our relationship with our wives, husbands, parents, friends, and acquaintances. Will there be any practical benefit to ourselves if we choose, by the grace of God, to be merciful in our dealings with others? Absolutely! What do the Scriptures teach? Those who choose to exercise mercy whenever they are in a position to do so will find that others will be more inclined to be merciful toward them (Matthew 7:2). Let me read for you Matthew 7:2. "For in the way you judge, you will be judged; and by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you." CONCLUSION Are you committed, by the grace of God, to extend mercy to those who deserve judgment whenever possible?