Overview
Jesus refused to judge the woman brought to him in John 8 because he knew that God’s love is above the law, and that God’s love is without judgment. Sara Grilliot walks through the record commonly known as the woman taken in adultery: the scribes and Pharisees set her publicly in the midst, quote Moses on stoning, and demand an instant life-or-death judgment from a man who does not have the facts. Jesus stooped down and wrote on the ground as though he heard them not, waited on God, and then answered, he that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her. The accusers left one by one, and he told her, neither do I condemn thee, go and sin no more.
Transcript
Why It Matters to Talk About Love in Person
Good morning, everyone. It’s so awesome to be with all of you. I was thinking yesterday, this is the first time I’ve been in front of three-dimensional people in a really long time.
Right? You’re so used to two-dimensional and screens and technology is wonderful, but being with people is much more wonderful, and technology, of course. And in particular, talking about the topic that we’re talking about this weekend, which is love. I don’t know about you, but it’s hard to feel love without being with others.
Right? And it’s so impactful to be with each other, too. And it’s so impactful to be with so many people who want to talk about love. So not just to kind of express it to one another, but also to talk about love this weekend, and just that love that Jesus Christ showed to so many.
The Record Commonly Known as the Woman Taken in Adultery (John 8)
And so this morning, we’re going to talk, I’m going to talk about John 8. So you can go ahead and turn there. So this is a record in the Word that is commonly known as the woman taken in adultery. And the reason I’m kind of smiling when I say that is because it kind of has this almost like connotation to it that one sort of has to question.
Is it really a record about a woman taken in adultery? So I want you to think about that a little bit as you read it. All right? So starting in John 8, in verse 1, it says, Jesus went unto the Mount of Olives. And early in the morning, he came again into the temple.
And all the people came unto him. And he sat down and taught them. And the scribes and Pharisees brought unto him a woman taken in adultery.
And when they had set her in the midst, they said unto him, Master, this woman was taken in adultery in the very act. It sounds so compelling, doesn’t it? We caught her in the very act. And back a couple of verses, it said that there were a lot of people there, right? This is a very, if you picture it, it’s a very public setting, right? It’s a public setting.
And these people bring her to him and say that she was taken in the very act, right? They make statements against her character publicly. And she’s just kind of standing there. So put yourself in those shoes.
Like, I don’t know if many of us could say that we’ve ever been in that position before. I know I certainly haven’t. And it’s interesting.
Why People Repeat What They Hear Without Checking It
You think about how people repeat what they hear, right? So it happens all the time. Like, if you watch the news, or if you’re a person who watches the news and you hear things, you always say, well, you know, they say, fill in the blank. You could say it about like a million things.
In fact, I always, my husband does it. He’ll say, well, you know they say. And I say, who is they? Like, who are they, right? Like, who are those people that say things, right? People think everything they hear and everything that they read is true just because someone else said it.
And I think in particular, in the age that we live, there’s so much information out there, right? Like, with social media and the news is always, there was a TV in the restaurant last night. And I hadn’t seen a TV in a long time because we decided to stop having cable. And I was just so amazed at how much information there is and how much of it I felt like, wow, that doesn’t really sound like it can possibly be true.
Moses and the Law Commanded That Such Should Be Stoned
Like, there’s numbers and facts and all these things. But you don’t, we don’t know, and Jesus Christ didn’t know either. Like, how many people were in that chain of information before that woman showed up there? Yet, he was standing there publicly with this woman in front of him who was being publicly accused of something, right? So think about that a little bit and then read verse five, where it says, Now Moses and the law commanded us that such should be stoned. So the law says that the woman should be stoned.
And in the first part of verse six, this they said, tempting him that they might have to accuse him. So this was deliberate, right? Like, they brought her there, they put her in the midst, in front of all of these people, and they asked him a direct question, right? They asked him his opinion in a moment. They really, they didn’t give him any time to think about it, right? It wasn’t like they gave him the facts in advance and said, go deliberate and come back and tell us what you think.
I’m sure it wasn’t like that, right? Like, we’re kind of having to sort of imagine what it was like, but I think it’s probably the way it was. All these people kind of staring, right? Because it would have been a big accusation. I mean, that’s a pretty bold accusation.
So they don’t give him any time to think, they just launch straight into it. Like, what do you think? And not only what do you think, but essentially they’re asking him for a judgment. And it’s not a simple kind of a judgment here.
This is like a life or death situation. A life or death situation in his judgment. And he doesn’t have all the facts, in a public setting, probably feeling pretty pressured to give an answer.
Jesus Stooped Down and Wrote on the Ground
But what did he do? I mean, this is very cool when you think about the way Jesus responded. The second half of verse six says, but Jesus stooped down and with his finger wrote on the ground as though he heard them not. He just kind of put it all to the side, right? Like he stooped down like he didn’t hear them at all.
I once had someone tell me, it wasn’t, it was just someone, you know how people say things and they kind of stick with you sometimes? Someone told me once, you don’t have to take the bait. Just because someone says something doesn’t mean you have to respond right away. People will sometimes do that, right? They want you to say something, they wanna hear your opinion.
And it might not be a negative thing. They’re just kind of talking the way people do. Well, Jesus didn’t do that, he didn’t take the bait.
Death and Life Are in the Power of the Tongue
And I thought about the verse in Proverbs, Proverbs 18:21, where it says, but Jesus stooped down, or I’m sorry, Proverbs 18:21 says, death and life are in the power of the tongue. And it’s quite literal in this situation, but if you think about it, it can be very true in our daily lives too. People say things, we say things sometimes, right? That we don’t necessarily mean to hurt people, but we do, and sometimes it’s an accident.
Sometimes it’s not, right? Like sometimes people get emotional and they say things, but words are so important. They really are, they really are. And just thinking about what we say, and is what we say kind of measured in love, and is what we say measured in truth.
And what we listen to has to follow the same thing. We want to listen and kind of think about what people are saying to measure if it’s true and if it’s in love. And we know that where does truth and love come from? It comes from God.
So as we’re listening to God, and we’re repeating the things that God says, we’re saying things that are both true and in love. And so here in this situation, let’s keep looking at how Jesus handled this. He didn’t let the situation, the circumstances get to him.
How Jesus Stayed Focused Under Public Pressure
He kept his cool, so to speak, right? And he focused. And the way he focused in this particular case was he wrote on the ground, right? So he stooped down and he kind of has his finger and he’s kind of writing on the ground. But if you think about it, like you could probably do those kinds of things sometimes too where you like take a pen and you might like write a couple things down and you’re sort of thinking.
You might maybe look out the window or you go for a walk. That’s a great way I personally like to get focused is now I take my son for a walk and as long as he’s sleeping in his stroller, I can stay focused. Otherwise, it’s not as easy, but you kind of go for a walk.
You see nature, you look at a bird, right? It helps you to focus on things and really get clarity. And he found a way to do that even in the midst of this pressured situation. He focused by writing on the ground.
He kind of, I think, acted like he didn’t hear him at all. Right? Like he just put his head down. He was waiting for God, right? He didn’t know how to answer yet.
He That Is Without Sin Among You, Let Him First Cast a Stone
He was waiting for God. And then in the beginning part of verse seven, it says, so when they continued asking him. So it wasn’t like they let him off the hook and were like, all right, he’s gonna think for a few minutes, so we’ll just let him have his moment and we’ll come back and bug him later, right? Like, no.
They were all, I’m sure, just standing around, looking at him and kept on, kept on. And we don’t know how long it went on for, but he stayed focused. And then in the second half of verse seven, he gets his answer.
And he says, he lifted up himself and said unto them, he that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her. It’s really a profound way of answering, right? Because he kind of put it back on them to do the judging, in a way, right? Like he said, okay, any one of you who hasn’t done something wrong, which we’ll find out, I’ll save the punchline, but people do things wrong every day. It happens, it happens.
Moving People from the Law to Love Takes a Leader
And Todd and I, earlier this week, we were down in Orlando. We live in Jacksonville. We were down in Orlando because I had to work down there and we’re taking our son.
My son and him are walking me to work, going by the Starbucks and stuff. And we started talking about the transition, right? Between from the law to love and how hard it is for people to change their minds. Like transformation and mind changes are very difficult, very difficult for people.
You have to have someone who’s gonna bridge things. You have to have a leader who’s gonna come and help people through kind of those transitions. That’s just the way it works.
Otherwise, it just doesn’t happen. And you had hundreds of years of people who were solely focused on judging because that was the law. Like what are laws for? Like we have courts in the United States to judge against the laws and to determine if they were broken or not.
You have rules and laws and that’s how you measure and you have guidelines split by, right? But Jesus in this situation, he chose not to judge her, right? Forget the beginning part where I said, he didn’t really have all the facts so it would have been hard to do that in a second anyway. But he knew that the right choice in this case was to love. And he also knew, and this was pretty cool, that God’s love was above the law.
God’s Love Is Above the Law
God’s love is above the law. And hence, God’s love is without judgment, right? Like there’s no judgment in love. That’s not what love is for.
Love is for love. Laws are for judging. So Todd and I were talking about how he would have had to navigate the situation so carefully so as to not violate the law because he had to fulfill it, but also at the same time elevating love above it.
And by doing that, he showed them something, right? He taught them something. He helped to bridge that gap by being that illustration of how you can take love above the law. So he put it back on them to judge.
He put the responsibility back in their lap and he waited for God to give an answer. And in verse eight, it says, and again, he stooped down and wrote on the ground, and they which heard it, being convicted by their own conscience, went out one by one, beginning at the eldest, even unto the last, and Jesus was left alone and the woman standing in the midst. So they had their chance to think about the question, right? They had their opportunity and they decided that, you know what, I’ve done things too and I am not gonna judge and I’m not gonna be the one to throw that stone, right? And it’s just so cool how that decision that he made just to kind of not say anything and pose the question again it forced them to think themselves.
On These Two Commandments Hang All the Law and the Prophets
Like they had to actually think about it, right? Like maybe they went through in their mind, oh, you know what, actually somebody on the street told me that she was taken in adultery and that somebody else said it was an act and oh, wait a minute, do I even know for sure if this is true enough to be compelled to throw stones? And in addition, don’t I know that I’ve done some things too and they’re like, who am I to condemn her? So he made them think about it. It’s so cool. And then in Matthew 22, verses 37 through 40, just kind of to make a point here about the law that I made earlier, Jesus said unto them, thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul and with all thy mind.
This is the first and great commandment and the second is like unto it, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. See, Jesus had to lead people to love.
It’s pretty cool. They were used to the law. They were used to those judgments.
But in Matthew 22:40, it tells us that the core, like the core of all God’s commandments is love. That is really, really compelling. The law itself didn’t have heart, right? It didn’t have love.
It was set up as a framework to help people. But it didn’t have, there wasn’t like love in it, at the core of it. And love is where you find that compassion that Jesus had for that woman, for the grace, right, the mercy.
Neither Do I Condemn Thee: Go and Sin No More
And that is what Jesus came to lead people to. He came to lead them from that law, which was burdensome and judgmental, to love. And at the end of this particular section of John 8, verses 10 to 11, it says, when Jesus had lifted up himself and saw none but the woman, he said unto her, woman, where are those thine accusers? Hath no man condemned thee? She said, no man, Lord.
And Jesus said unto her, neither do I condemn thee. Go and sin no more. So he didn’t ever judge her.
He didn’t ever say she didn’t do it. He never said she did do it. All he did is say, go and sin no more.
I could say that to anyone, and anyone could say that to me. And her life was saved. Not only was her life saved, but he taught all the people that were standing there something very important, and that was that love is more important than the law and judgment, right? And it’s so, when you think about it in that light, and I know I started this by saying, you think of the record as the woman taken into adultery, you sort of have to retitle it now, don’t you? Because you’re all thinking, hmm, was she really taken into adultery? Right, like that’s what I’m thinking, I don’t know.
Does It Matter Whether She Was Taken in Adultery?
But does it matter? It doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter, even if she was. It doesn’t matter, because the point was not to judge her for what she did, but to love her for who she was, and to encourage her to continue on, right? And continue on, and go and don’t sin anymore.
Hey, if you did it, cool, go and don’t sin anymore. If you didn’t do it, cool, go, don’t sin anymore, right? So, I’m so thankful for the fact that we have this knowledge available to us, and that we don’t have to live under that law, and that we don’t have to judge one another based on anything, law, no law, or the way we look, the way we act, what we do, what we say. None of that matters, because what Jesus Christ showed us was that what matters is love.
What matters is love, and that we treat each other with love, and that we’re kind and loving toward one another. So, thank you, thank you all.
Key Takeaways
- The accusation was public and second-hand. They set her in the midst in front of a crowd and made statements against her character, and nobody knew how many people were in that chain of information before that woman showed up there.
- Jesus didn’t take the bait. He stooped down and with his finger wrote on the ground as though he heard them not, and even when they continued asking him he stayed focused, because he was waiting for God and didn’t know how to answer yet.
- Death and life are in the power of the tongue, Proverbs 18:21, and it’s quite literal in this situation: the test of what we say and what we listen to is whether it is measured in love and measured in truth.
- God’s love is above the law, and hence God’s love is without judgment. Love is for love. Laws are for judging.
- Jesus had to navigate the situation so carefully so as to not violate the law, because he had to fulfill it, while at the same time elevating love above it, bridging the gap for people who had spent hundreds of years focused on judging.
- He never said she did it and never said she didn’t. It doesn’t matter, even if she was, because the point was not to judge her for what she did, but to love her for who she was.
Frequently Asked Questions
How did Jesus respond when the scribes and Pharisees brought the woman taken in adultery to him?
He didn’t take the bait. Jesus stooped down and with his finger wrote on the ground as though he heard them not, staying focused in a pressured public setting because he was waiting for God and didn’t know how to answer yet. When they continued asking him, he lifted up himself and said unto them, he that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her, which put the judging back on them.
What does John 8 teach about love being above the law?
Jesus chose not to judge her, because he knew that the right choice in this case was to love and that God’s love was above the law. God’s love is without judgment: love is for love, laws are for judging. He had to navigate the situation so carefully so as to not violate the law, because he had to fulfill it, but also at the same time elevating love above it, and by doing that he taught them something.
Does it matter whether the woman was actually guilty of adultery?
It doesn’t matter, even if she was, because the point was not to judge her for what she did, but to love her for who she was, and to encourage her to continue on. Jesus never said she did do it and he never said she didn’t do it. All he did is say, go and sin no more. Her life was saved, and everyone standing there was taught that love is more important than the law and judgment.
Scripture References
John 8:1; John 8:5; John 8:6; Proverbs 18:21; John 8:7; John 8:8; John 8:9; Matthew 22:37-40; Matthew 22:40; John 8:10-11
This text was prepared from the teaching audio. Please verify scripture references against your own Bible.
