Jesus often did things that didn’t seem to make sense. Here he lets a guilty woman go, and causes a crowd who believes in him to hate him.
I have to confess I haven’t seen verse 31 quite the same way before “He said to the people who believed in him…”. By his kind words to the woman who was caught in adultery, and his explanation of who he really was, he convinced many in the crowd to believe in him. Then, inexplicably, he sets about calling them sinners and liars and followers of the devil, and in the same conversation sharing with them that he is divine “from above” and has existed before Abraham was ever born. (heresy by their standards). Everything Jesus said was true, but why say it like this? More on that in a minute, first I want to go back to the woman caught in sin.
The important thing about the adulterous woman is this: she represents us. She represents us, not “them”. We are the sinners caught in adultery. We are the sinners caught holding the forbidden fruit in our hand, with a juicy bite still in our mouth. We are guilty, period. There’s no denying it. The woman caught in adultery doesn’t try to deny it. She knows she’s guilty, and she knows what the punishment is. I would imagine she has resigned herself to her fate, once the self-righteous mob gets their hands on you, there isn’t much hope for mercy.
Two things astonish me: first, that Jesus is able to cause the whole crowd to disperse by uttering one sentence, and secondly, that he doesn’t even scold the woman for what she has done. Clearly, we can all agree that God takes a dim view of adultery, both physical and spiritual, it’s one of the most abhorrent things we can do. It breaks a vow, destroys trust, demeans and devalues. Adultery is what we were guilty of in the garden…putting our faith in someone other than God, trusting in the words of the serpent over the words of God, placing a higher value on the relationship with the snake than with the Creator.
And yet, when the adulterous woman is right in front of him, Jesus doesn’t take the opportunity to condemn. I think it’s because of his perspective: in the eyes of Christ, every single one of us is adulterous. This woman doesn’t stand out, she represents our normal state. The Pharisees and Religious Leaders saw her as guilty only because they viewed themselves as innocent. If they were able to see themselves as Christ sees us, they wouldn’t have brought her before Jesus. That would be like a crowd of adulterers bringing another adulterer to justice. it wouldn’t make sense. From this perspective, Jesus could have written “the pot is calling the kettle black” in the dust before he rose to make his comment. But it doesn’t stop there, because when Jesus stood up to pronounce forgiveness for the woman, he didn’t scold the accusers either. He loved them as much as the adulterous woman! He simply taught all of them how confused their perspective was. “If you haven’t sinned yourself, then you are able to cast a stone”. Everyone but Jesus is immediately excluded, and He chooses not to condemn. Can there be any doubt to the depths of God’s love for us? It doesn’t matter what you’ve done, or what you’re guilty of. It doesn’t even matter if you see others as worse than yourself…Jesus loves you and wants to forgive you and be in a life-saving relationship with you.
The woman walks away from her encounter freed from her sin. I hope she didn’t return to it.
After speaking briefly to the crowd in ambiguous language about who he was and where he came from, Jesus appears to have convinced a number of them to believe he is who he says he is. In fact, verse 31 begins with that fact, “He said to the people who believed in him…” That’s where the conversation went downhill fast. It ends with the people who believed in him threatening to kill him. Wow. Bring back the adulterous woman so she can defend the man who just moments ago stopped the crowd (maybe some of the same folks) who were looking for rocks to stone her. What a turn of events, right?
Not so fast. Jesus has simply made an enormously significant point here.
It’s not enough to believe that Jesus is divine, we also have to accept that we are guilty. The woman caught in adultery quickly admitted it, she was caught in the act for Pete’s sake (gross). There was no denying it for her. But the crowd wanted to believe that they were innocent, and that that won’t lead to salvation. You cannot believe that God sent his only son into the world to save those who were already innocent….why would he do that? Paul understand this when he writes in Romans 3:23 “we have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God”. Everyone is guilty. The crowd that believes in Jesus doesn’t truly believe. They say they believe, but when the person who they claim is divine tells them something they don’t want to hear, they dismiss him. What! How can Jesus be divine and lie? There own words reveal that they don’t truly believe. If they did, they would hang their heads at the words of Jesus, and agree that they are just as much in need of a Savior. They just saw how benevolent Christ is, so that alone should have encouraged them.
You and I must admit our sins, and the fact that we are sinful and corrupt, or the Savior of the World will not be able to help us.
John 1:12 says “12 But to all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God.
In order for us to be forgiven, like the woman caught in adultery we must not only believe in who Christ is, but accept who we are. If we do that, we will leave our encounter with Jesus forgiven, with a new identity and a new future.
Loving Jesus,
PR