Grace Christian Fellowship: Christian Teachings from John

John 8 "The Light of the World"

But Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. Now early in the morning He came again into the temple, and all the people came to Him; and He sat down and taught them. Then the scribes and Pharisees brought to Him a woman caught in adultery. And when they had set her in the midst, they said to Him, "Teacher, this woman was caught in adultery, in the very act. Now Moses, in the law, commanded us that such should be stoned. But what do You say?" This they said, testing him, that they might have something of which to accuse Him. But Jesus stooped down and wrote on the ground with His finger, as though He did not hear. So when they continued asking Him, He raised Himself up and said to them, "He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first." And again He stooped down and wrote on the ground. Then those who heard it, being convicted by their conscience, went out one by one, beginning with the oldest even to the last. And Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst. When Jesus had raised Himself and saw no one but the woman, He said to her, "Woman, where are those accusers of yours? Has no one condemned you?" She said, "No one, Lord." And Jesus said to her, "Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more." (John 8:1-11)

An accusation is a very tricky thing. You can never trust it 100%. The matter that was brought before Jesus seemed to be very straightforward. Here was a woman who was caught in the very act of adultery. The law of Moses said that she should be put to death. Why even bring this case to Jesus if the facts were so clear? The word tells us that these men were not really interested in seeing justice done or the word of God obeyed. Rather they were looking for some charge to bring against Jesus. Every accusation has a motive behind it. The motive is rarely pure. We are human beings and our judgment is easily skewed by our emotions. These men were using this woman simply as a tool to get at Jesus. They could have cared less about her situation. They were willing to let this woman be stoned to death to satisfy their hate.
But as we look closer we find that the case is not as clear as it was presented. If we look at the law that these men were basing their accusation on in Leviticus 20:10, we find that both the man and the woman should surely be put to death. But they had only brought the woman. If they had really caught them in the very act then why wasn’t the man also brought before Jesus? A woman was not allowed to speak for herself, but a man would have to be heard before he was condemned. The facts would come out. There are at least two sides to every story. An accusation is only one side of the story, one perspective. When you wake up in the morning and you still have your head on the pillow a strange optical illusion occurs. According to one eye, the alarm clock is right in front of your face. But according to the other eye, it is in quite a different place. To figure out where that alarm clock really is you need to look at it with both eyes. You need both perspectives. Even when an accusation is true in all its facts, you still are only getting half of the story. Children run to mother crying and we ask why, "He hit me in the nose." Oh, that is terrible. We ask the other child, "Why did you do such a naughty thing?" "Because he kicked me first." We need to hear both sides of the story.
However, as you question each child, soon the details become harder and harder to figure out. The reason why he kicked was because the first child called him a name, which was in response to an ugly face that the other child made which was because the first child would not share. Jesus knew all of the details and did not need to hear the story. In fact He pretended to ignore the accusation altogether. I believe that this should be our first response to accusations that are made in our presence about someone else. We should do our best to ignore them. Why is it so difficult to look past other people’s faults? Why are we so willing to hear about the dirt in other people’s lives? Is it because we are so concerned about righteousness? Is it because we truly want to help the person. Or is it because we feel somehow smugly superior when others get caught in sins that are worse than our own? Jesus, who was without sin, had no trouble ignoring accusations about other’s sins. He was not shocked by them, He was not insecure about His own holiness, He felt no need to raise Himself up by putting other people down.
We do not know what Jesus was writing on the ground. Since He was ignoring them, it probably had nothing to do with the case at hand whatsoever. He was busy teaching the people when they came and was probably going to continue on to His next point. His chalkboard was the dust on the ground in front of Him. But the accusers persisted. They continued asking Him. And so Jesus gave His answer. This is what our answer should be when we are pushed as well. "He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first." And then Jesus went right back to ignoring them. He stooped back down and finished writing out whatever it was that He had started. But notice this, when He invited them to throw stones, He did not move away from the woman. If they were going to stone her, they would have to stone Him too. Starting with the oldest each one was convicted by their conscience and one by one they went out until Jesus and the woman were left alone. The only one who had no sin, the only one qualified to throw a stone, was the one who chose to love instead. People present to us their accusations and push us to cast judgment. Like Jesus we must ignore them as long as we can, and choose to allow mercy to triumph over judgment. Like Jesus we must make personal sacrifices to stand by those who are accused. Jesus told the woman, "Neither do I condemn you;" He also told her, go and sin no more. Jesus did not ignore sin. He ignored accusation.

Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, "I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life." The Pharisees therefore said to Him, "You bear witness of Yourself; Your witness is not true." Jesus answered and said to them, "Even if I bear witness of Myself, My witness is true, for I know where I came from and where I am going; but you do not know where I come from and where I am going. "You judge according to the flesh; I judge no one. And yet if I do judge, My judgment is true; for I am not alone, but I am with the Father who sent Me. It is also written in your law that the testimony of two men is true. I am One who bears witness of Myself, and the Father who sent Me bears witness of Me." Then they said to Him, "Where is Your Father?" Jesus answered, "You know neither Me nor My Father. If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also." These words Jesus spoke in the treasury, as He taught in the temple; and no one laid hands on Him, for His hour had not yet come. (John 8:12-20)

Jesus told the Pharisees, "You judge according to the flesh, I judge no one." The Pharisees thought that they were the most qualified to judge. What were their qualifications? Pretty impressive. They knew the Bible, the Word of God. They were the wise men of their time, steeped in the traditions of their people. They were the most righteous of all the people, practicing the strictest version of their religion. And yet Jesus said that they judge according to the flesh. What is wrong with our judgment? Jesus said, "I know where I come from and where I am going; you do not know where I come from and where I am going." As human beings we are extremely limited. We only see our very small slice of existence. But Jesus knows everything. All the way back to the very beginning, all the way forward to the very end. We base our judgment on our experience. But our experience is not enough. Have you every talked to someone from a very small town who has never been anywhere else? Their whole world is that small town and they interpret everywhere else through the lens of that same small town. When we judge others we are trying to make them fit into our experience. Jesus is the only one who truly has enough experience to judge rightly. And yet He judges no one. The problem with our judgment is that we can only judge through the lens of our own sin. Our flesh distorts the picture.
Jesus said, "I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life." Jesus judges no one, but He does make our condition clear. He is the light that shines in the darkness and reveals the sin in our lives. He is perfect and compared to that perfection it is easy to see our own faults. No matter how good we might become we still are totally exposed when His light shines upon us. This is not judgment, it is simply truth. He shows us what we truly are. The good news is that just as Jesus stayed with the woman who was caught in adultery, He also stays with us, even though we are exposed as sinners. Jesus was willing to pay the price of that woman’s sins with her, willing to be stoned with her, and that is exactly what He did for all of us. He died on the cross to pay the price for our sins, taking all of the condemnation on Himself. This is love. This is mercy.
What Jesus has done is to put judgment in our own hands. He took all of the punishment upon Himself. So the condemnation of other people does not matter any more. He has told us Himself that He does not judge us. So the only one left to condemn us is ourselves. We have the choice to make. We can follow Him and walk in His light and live, or we can choose to remain in the darkness of sin and die. Jesus offers His forgiveness freely to everyone. It is our choice whether to receive His offer. If you choose to believe in Him then you will be exposed. Everyone will know that you are a sinner. But you will be free. If you choose not to believe in Jesus then you will stay in the darkness, hidden and safe from being found out. But you will die in your sin and have judged yourself. Judge no one. You are not qualified. Ignore accusations, love those who are accused, and by all means don’t judge yourself. Come walk in the light.

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