John 8:1-11 NASB95
But Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. [2] Early in the morning He came again into the temple, and all the people were coming to Him; and He sat down and began to teach them. [3] The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman caught in adultery, and having set her in the center of the court, [4] they said to Him, “Teacher, this woman has been caught in adultery, in the very act. [5] Now in the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women; what then do You say?” [6] They were saying this, testing Him, so that they might have grounds for accusing Him. But Jesus stooped down and with His finger wrote on the ground. [7] But when they persisted in asking Him, He straightened up, and said to them, “He who is without sin among you, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.” [8] Again He stooped down and wrote on the ground. [9] When they heard it, they began to go out one by one, beginning with the older ones, and He was left alone, and the woman, where she was, in the center of the court. [10] Straightening up, Jesus said to her, “Woman, where are they? Did no one condemn you?” [11] She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said, “I do not condemn you, either. Go. From now on sin no more.”
We don’t know how the Pharisees and scribes discovered that the woman was in the act of committing adultery, but when they found her, instead of being concerned at all about her redemption, they immediately brought her to where Jesus was teaching and stood her in the midst of all the people. They were glad to humiliate her and expose her dirt to the world because all they cared about was trapping Jesus into saying something that was contrary to the law of Moses.
Jesus came to reveal the truth about the Father to a religious people who did not understand that God is love. These men were consumed with right and wrong and, therefore, only cared about exposing her dirt and exposing the fact that Jesus was not the “real deal” spiritual Jew that many people seemed to believe he was.
There is so much in this story about grace and redemption, but I want you to specifically see the heart of God in verse six and verse eight. Jesus had been sitting down teaching the people, but when the Pharisees and scribes brought the woman into their gathering, Jesus evidently stood as well as all the other people. When the Pharisees questioned him as to whether he would honor the law of Moses by agreeing that this woman deserved to be stoned to death, Jesus stooped down low before this woman, and all the people and, with his finger, wrote in the dirt. There has been a lot of conjecture over the centuries as to what Jesus wrote and why he did what he did the way he did it, so let me throw my two cents worth in there as to what I believe Christ was up to. I believe that Jesus was saying to her and of all the people that in the humility of love, God stoops down and gets down into our dirt with us and, with his own hand, writes a new redemptive story about us. I believe Jesus wrote words of hope and grace in the dirt to let this woman know that God loved her right where she was, and instead of condemning her, God sent Jesus to be her Boaz redeeming her story and with His own hand; one in which He is able to say to her “go and be free from this self-destructive sin.” After writing the second time, Jesus stood up, and I believe look straight into her eyes and said, “Woman, where are they? Did no one condemn you?” When she said, “no one Lord.” Jesus told her, “Neither do I condemn you; go your way. From now on, sin no more.” Jesus did not say to her, “Just go ahead and commit adultery all that you want to because God is going to love you anyway.” Jesus did not condemn her because that’s not what God sent Jesus to do. God sent Jesus to not condemn us and to be the human God who stoops down into our dirt and writes a whole new story of grace and redemption that sets us free from the reign of sin. In the incarnation, God stooped down and became a human and clothed himself in our story and our dirt to set us free. He became sin (our dirt) on our behalf that we might become the righteousness of God in Christ. Maybe this is what Christ likeness looks like as we let Jesus live His life through us and redeeming love. I don’t believe that we are called to stand over people who are caught in whatever sin or sinful life, and in condemnation and judgment. We are called to make incarnational the Boaz who lives in us by stooping down and humility, and not condemning them. Instead Jesus wants to through us getting down in the dirt with them and reveal the new story that Jesus has written about them. It’s time we put skin on our Christ likeness.