John 3:17, 8:2-11, Deuteronomy 22:22, Luke 6:37. A legal dilemma. 31 May 2026

Added: 2026-06-04

[00:00:02]Good morning. Welcome to my thought for the day. It's good to have your company this morning.

[00:00:07]Today, I'm going to read another story from John's Gospel.

[00:00:12]John chapter 8 uh beginning at >> [clears throat] >> verse well verse two really.

[00:00:24]Um this I know that this passage is um probably a passage that was added later on to the Gospel of John, but it is in full keeping with the teaching of Jesus as we'll see.

[00:00:37]Um and it's it's an important story and a very moving one.

[00:00:42]And as we read it picture in your mind's eye what is happening and see Jesus in the middle of a of a crowd trying to trap him trying to get him to say something that will cause him problems in the future.

[00:01:04]So, here we are um John chapter 8 verse 2.

[00:01:08]Early in the morning, Jesus came again to the temple. All the people came to him and he sat down and taught them.

[00:01:15]The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery and placing her in the midst, they said to him "Teacher, this woman has been caught in the act of adultery.

[00:01:27]Now, in the law, Moses commanded us to stone such. What do you say about her?"

[00:01:34]This they said to test him that they might have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground.

[00:01:43]And as they continued to ask him, he stood up and said to them "Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her."

[00:01:53]And once again, he bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground.

[00:01:58]And when they heard it, they went away, one by one, beginning with the eldest, and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him.

[00:02:08]Jesus looked up and said to her, "Woman, where are they?

[00:02:12]Has no one condemned you?"

[00:02:15]She said, "No one, Lord."

[00:02:18]And Jesus said, "Neither do I condemn you.

[00:02:21]Go, and do not sin again."

[00:02:25]Now, there's no question here that this woman was guilty.

[00:02:28]She had been caught in the very act of adultery. And the law was plain. It's recorded in both um Leviticus um and also in Deuteronomy.

[00:02:38]I'll read the verse in Deuteronomy.

[00:02:40]Uh Deuteronomy 22:22 says, "If a man is found lying with the wife of another man, both of them shall die. The man who lay with the woman and the woman, so you shall purge the evil from Israel."

[00:02:56]The law was plain.

[00:02:59]She deserved death.

[00:03:01]But where was the man?

[00:03:05]If she was caught in the very act of adultery, there was a man there.

[00:03:09]Where was he?

[00:03:11]Jesus doesn't ask that question.

[00:03:13]It's interesting that Jesus does not ask that question.

[00:03:16]Um Why didn't he ask that question? And who was the man?

[00:03:23]God knows who the man was there. But Jesus had taught, didn't hadn't he? And we looked at it a couple of days ago.

[00:03:29]"Judge not, and you will not be judged.

[00:03:32]Condemn not, and you will not be condemned."

[00:03:35]Jesus had come to bring in forgiveness and grace, not condemnation.

[00:03:43]In Indeed, it says in John 3, uh verse 17, "For God sent the Son into the world not to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him.

[00:03:56]So, how was Jesus going to manage this situation? The woman was clearly guilty.

[00:04:00]The law clearly said she should die.

[00:04:04]Indeed, the man should have been found and brought and be stoned with her.

[00:04:11]So, this was deliberate.

[00:04:15]The people who came to him with this woman wanted him to be caught in this dilemma.

[00:04:22]He was teaching forgiveness, that God wanted to forgive everybody, that they were to forgive each other.

[00:04:30]They were not to judge. They were not to condemn. They were to leave it all in God's hands.

[00:04:36]And yet, he said he'd come to fulfill the law.

[00:04:40]Jesus could have used this opportunity to show everyone that he wanted everyone to believe and trust the law and to live the law out.

[00:04:51]But, so often in the life of Jesus, he challenged their interpretation of the law.

[00:04:57]And Paul quite rightly explains to us in Romans that the law was given to us not so that we could keep it and save ourselves, but it was given to show us that it was impossible for anyone to be perfect, that everyone would fail in one thing or the other. And if you failed in one thing, you failed in it all.

[00:05:20]Uh just like it doesn't matter if you're if you're taking an examination, if you fail by one point or 20 points, you failed. Doesn't matter how much you failed by.

[00:05:34]It doesn't matter how good a sinner you are.

[00:05:37]I don't ever want anyone to be the best sinner who ever went to hell.

[00:05:41]We can't save ourselves.

[00:05:44]We are condemned by the law because we can't keep it.

[00:05:49]So, what was Jesus going to do with this woman?

[00:05:52]And what is really significant here is that Jesus pauses.

[00:05:57]He doesn't He doesn't deal with the situation immediately. He puts in a pause.

[00:06:04]And there's been a lot of speculation as to what Jesus wrote in his finger with his finger on the ground. Now, if it was important for us to know what he wrote, John would have recorded it.

[00:06:18]But he wrote in the ground.

[00:06:21]On the ground.

[00:06:22]He stopped.

[00:06:24]And with a crowd large as it was, very few people would have seen what he was writing.

[00:06:30]They just saw that he was writing.

[00:06:34]And then after that pause, he says, "Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her."

[00:06:46]And the silence, you could have heard a pin drop.

[00:06:51]"Let him who is without sin cast the first stone."

[00:06:57]These leaders, these Jewish leaders, they knew that that they were sinners. They knew they needed to offer sacrifices to be right with God.

[00:07:08]They knew that they were not perfect.

[00:07:14]And they the oldest the oldest started to move away.

[00:07:23]They moved away.

[00:07:26]How right Jesus is to say, "Judge not, condemn not, and you will not be condemned."

[00:07:32]They had condemned her. They wanted him to condemn her.

[00:07:37]He was the only one in that whole group who was without sin.

[00:07:43]He could have thrown a stone at her.

[00:07:46]He could have thrown a stone at her.

[00:07:49]He could have been the first because he was without sin.

[00:07:55]But he wrote on the ground again.

[00:07:57]He didn't watch them. He didn't stare them down until they were ashamed and their eyes dropped and they moved away.

[00:08:05]He said the challenge to them, "Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw the stone."

[00:08:14]And then he looked down again and wrote.

[00:08:17]He didn't watch them and make them feel guilty.

[00:08:24]They They They all slipped away.

[00:08:28]They went away.

[00:08:31]And finally there was no one left.

[00:08:34]And when Jesus looked up and said to her, "So, where are they?

[00:08:38]Has no one condemned you?"

[00:08:40]And she said, "No one, Lord."

[00:08:44]This encounter was life and death for her.

[00:08:47]Physical life or death for her. She was guilty.

[00:08:50]She should have been stoned. She expected to be stoned.

[00:08:54]If Jesus was an upright Jewish rabbi, he would have started the stoning.

[00:09:03]And they'd all gone.

[00:09:06]In those moments her certain death had changed to life.

[00:09:12]And she says, "No one, Lord."

[00:09:17]She realized her salvation depended on Jesus.

[00:09:23]He was the one who'd saved her.

[00:09:27]And she called him Lord.

[00:09:29]And Jesus said to her, "Neither do I condemn you." And he had the right to condemn her. He was the one that was without sin.

[00:09:38]But he didn't come to condemn the world.

[00:09:40]He came to save the world.

[00:09:42]And in his gracious love towards her, he says, "Neither do I condemn you. Go and do not sin again."

[00:09:52]And this is the challenge that comes to everyone who comes to Jesus. You realize that you're a sinful person. You realize that you need salvation. You realize the only one who can help you is Jesus. And indeed, he's done everything that is necessary for you to be saved.

[00:10:08]And you come to him.

[00:10:10]And you should know when you come to him that he expects you to change.

[00:10:15]He expects a change as you've realized that you need him as your savior.

[00:10:23]Invite him to be Lord and change your behavior.

[00:10:28]I know there are some people who come to the Lord and they have a besetting sin, whatever it is, an addiction or something that they can't control, something they habitually do.

[00:10:40]And I've heard many people say, "Oh, in time, I'll stop doing that."

[00:10:45]And then I've met other people whose encounter with Jesus is so radical that even an addiction falls away as they turn to him.

[00:10:56]We don't hear any more about this woman.

[00:10:58]We don't know her name.

[00:10:59]We don't know anything more about her.

[00:11:03]But I don't think she went and lived the way she did before.

[00:11:09]Her encounter with Jesus changed her forever.

[00:11:11]And so it does for us. Our encounter with Jesus changes us forever.

[00:11:17]We can't go back to the old life.

[00:11:19]We start a new life when we meet with him. Just as this woman went from death to life in these moments when she encountered Jesus.

[00:11:29]And his last words were heard to "With neither neither do I condemn you."

[00:11:35]And God says that to you, whatever you've done in your past.

[00:11:39]He does not condemn you. He didn't come to condemn you. He came to save you.

[00:11:45]He did not condemn you. He knew that he would on the cross bear the punishment for that woman's adultery so that she could be free.

[00:11:55]And he willingly gave her that freedom.

[00:11:58]What a wonderful story.

[00:12:00]Let's bless the Lord today as we take opportunity. If you have an opportunity, take an opportunity to worship the Lord and thank him for his infinite grace and mercy extended to each of us.

[00:12:13]We don't deserve it, but he gives it freely. Have a great day.

[00:12:17]I'll see you tomorrow. Bye-bye.