“Whore! Adulteress! Slut! Sinner!
Lying in bed with her lover as the sun rises, she hears a noise and sits up. She was a married woman, but she was not with her husband that night. No she was with another man, lying with him when suddenly a bunch of angry men forced their way into the home and dragged her out into the street.
“Whore! Adulteress! Slut! Whore!” chant the group of angry men.
Imagine having your most secret and most grievous sin exposed to the world. The words of the angry men piercing you to your soul. As they drag you through the street in the early morning sun, crowds begin to line the sidewalks, mocking you, and raining down curses upon you. Her life was over, and it was her own fault. The chant of “Stone her!” Stone her!” bounces off the walls and echoes down the alleys.
She screams inside…“They are going to stone me! God have mercy on me!” But God’s Judgement was clear; she was to die by stoning:
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. Deut. 22:22
She was dragged halfway through Jerusalem. “They are going to drag me out of the city and stone me to death!” She was shaking and crying. Suddenly they stopped and they entered the temple. She was brought before a teacher of the law who looked at her, hardly with any expression on his face.
One of her accusers said, “Teacher, this woman has been caught in the act of adultery. Now in the Law, Moses commanded us to stone such women. So what do you say?”
The teacher looked at her, and then at her accusers, then He knelt down and began to draw in the dirt. Why was he writing in the dirt? Irritated, her accusers demanded a verdict from this teacher of the law. He stood back up. She was probably very afraid, she knew that she was guilty; she knew the judgment that was about to be cast on her and she probably dared not look Him in his eyes. I can imagine the tears were streaming down her dirty face, she was undoubtedly shaking as she cast her eyes on the floor before the man who would decide her fate.
“Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.”
The crowd was…well it was confused! This is not what the law demands at all! She lifted her eyes off the floor and looked at him. He was writing in the dirt again. She could hear the mumbling from behind her. Then the sound of people walking away. People were leaving! No one grabbed her. No one took outside the city. No one cast the first stone. Her accusers had left! She looked at the teacher. He was standing now, staring at her.
“Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?”
She said, “No one, Lord.”
And Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you; go and from now on sin no more.”
I admit I took some artistic liberty with this retelling. But I want you to forget for the moment the arrogance and self-righteousness of the accusers. Forget for a second that this was also a plot to find something against Jesus. Listen to the words that Jesus said. This woman was guilty. Her sin was real. She really committed adultery. God had commanded her death according to the law. But God the Son said, “Neither do I condemn you.”
How could he say that? Is God contradicting himself here? If God contradicts his own law, that would make God unjust. Right? Well God did not break his own law here. God fully intended for this sin of adultery to be punished to the full extent of His holy law. And he still does. But the woman would not bear her own punishment, not that morning, not ever. She would go free, in this life and the next. This young teacher would be punished for her.
I have often wondered what Jesus wrote in the dirt that morning. It is a musing that many theologians have wondered as well. Some say that he was writing the accuser’s sins in the sand, others say he was writing their names in the sand. Still others say he was writing the 10 commandments. Maybe he was just doodling. Maybe he drew a smiley face. I have no idea. Some say he wrote words of Isaiah 53, those prophetic words about himself,
“But he was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all”
The story of the adulteress is not just some short, random story in the Bible. It is not about Jesus getting some people off her back. It is not about a woman getting away with sin. It is not about the Pharisee’s trying to trap Jesus. This story is about the Gospel. It is the Gospel in its purest form.
We are just like that woman. Our sins all are exposed before God as clearly as the adulteress’ sins that morning. Our guilt is clear and our condemnation to death is totally justified. Yet, even though we deserve death, we hear “Neither do I condemn you.” Why? Because Jesus has been condemned in our place! What amazing grace, what glorious mercies unknown, what radical love.
That morning, in the temple courtyard, Jesus was the only one who could require the woman’s death, and because he had not sinned he actually could throw the first stone. Likewise, because of his sinless life and divine nature he was the only one who could pardon her. And he did the latter.
Perhaps you are like the adulteress and have broken your marriage vows. Perhaps you have committed other grievous sins. Perhaps you have heard the words “Whore! Adulteress! Slut! Sinner!” And that is really what we all are in the eyes of God. We are all adulterers. We are all sinners. We have all fall short of the glory of God, we have all broken his commands and deserve death, yet Jesus says to us, neither do I condemn you. Go and sin no more.
Repent and believe. Go and sin no more.
1 but Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. 2 Early in the morning he came again to the temple. All the people came to him, and he sat down and taught them. 3 The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery, and placing her in the midst 4 they said to him, “Teacher, this woman has been caught in the act of adultery. 5 Now in the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. So what do you say?” 6 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. 7 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.” 8 And once more he bent down and wrote on the ground. 9 But when they heard it, they went away one by one, beginning
I have often found this story interesting, the Mosaic law required that both man and women are to die, yet the leaders of the day took only the women, what about the man. I have heard it theorized that the leaders had set up the whole incident and the women had committed adultery with one of their own. If this is true, I imagine Christ writing out their plot in the sand so that the leaders new that they all deserved to be stoned for planning and plotting this adulteress act. The pharisees were very proud and saw themselves as righteous and hearing that “he who is without sin” I cannot imagine would have slowed them down too much unless they were all being implicated in that exact sin. Also unless they were not being implicated here then they would have something against Jesus cause we was not following the Mosaic law, but if they are being implicated they would not want Jesus to follow the Mosaic law then they would all have to be stoned.
Just a thought and a theory.
That is a very interesting theory, and actually the most realistic one I have heard! Thanks for sharing.
Sin is sin and we are all equally guilty….Diane.
Thanks for your comment Diane