Observations from John 8

Part 1 of John 8

John 8

But Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. At dawn he appeared again in the temple courts, where all the people gathered around him, and he sat down to teach them. The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group and said to Jesus, "Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?" They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him.

But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, "If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her." Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground.

At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there. Jesus straightened up and asked her, "Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?"

"No one, sir," she said.
"Then neither do I condemn you," Jesus declared. "Go now and leave your life of sin."

Observation and Application Pt. 1
This is one of my most favorite passages in the bible. It’s a drama filled with sex, near death, and redemption. The reason this is one of my favorite passages is because it underlines two major themes that I think every person should live by. The first theme that I would like to investigate is the act of forgiveness. The other theme I will write about later.

In this situation Jesus embodies the art of forgiveness. I think that forgiveness is much more then an act of one person saying “I forgive” to the person that has wronged them. Here Jesus teaches us that forgiveness is one looking into their own heart before announcing judgment. This is taught to us by the words of Christ when he says, “Then neither do I condemn you,” to the adultress. Jesus is not saying this because he doesn’t know what this women has done. Clearly she was thrown at his feet with people wanting to kill her maliciously because of her actions of sleeping with another women’s husband. Jesus says those words because even him who has no sin does not condemn a women caught in an act that legalizes her death. Instead he offers forgiveness and redemption for her life. I believe that Jesus is trying to teach us through his interaction with this women that forgiveness shouldn’t stop with the act of forgiving or in our culture today the act of “forgetting”. The act of forgiveness should bring a spirit of redemption for that person caught in sin.