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by Sandy Shaw
We come to an incident in the life of Jesus Christ which is so full of meaning, but it almost did not make it into God’s Word. We move on in our study of the Gospel of John to Chapter 8 and verses 1 to 12.
It is about a woman being brought to Jesus, and it was almost lost! In some early manuscripts it does not appear. Why was it left out? Well – if read superficially it could look as though adultery is all right. I can see some people’s fear and problems and apprehensions with this passage.
It is almost saying that no human being has the right to judge or punish another.
That would mean closing down the courts, and disbanding the police.
Why was it included? Because it is true!
Nobody would invent a story like this. It has all the marks of a genuine event, and it fits the character of the Pharisees, and it fits the character of Jesus, “a wisdom so profound – a tenderness so delicate – a hatred of sin so intense – and an insight into human nature so searching” – that it just has to be true!
Jesus Christ’s primary concern here is not to punish the wrongdoer, not let him off, but to put him right. That is the message. It is a blending of justice and mercy.
Now, that is the Gospel of Jesus Christ – a blending of justice and mercy – and that is Good News.
We also see how to escape a trap set by evil men. They were always doing this, but they could never catch Jesus.
It is the Feast of Tabernacles, when around a million Jews were in Jerusalem. It was an enormous massive important Festival, where people would live in booths or tabernacles or tents, and one man’s wife was found in another man’s tent!
The Pharisees knew only too well what would be going on. They were looking for it to happen, and when they found what they were looking for they pounced, and brought the woman along to Jesus who had returned to the Temple to teach.
These Pharisees could have brought both culprits, but no. Why could they not have brought the man too?
They were judging her, and almost gloating over their discovery.
They were not interested in the morality or immorality in Jerusalem! They were not interested in cleaning up Jerusalem, or the moral welfare of Israel, nor were they interested in the woman. They show no care whatsoever for her.
They were using this woman for their own purposes – spiritual adultery. They were going to use her as bait to trap Jesus.
Now, that is as wicked and as serious as anything they had found her doing!
Sometimes it is wicked people who want to punish others the most. They were so callous and hardhearted that they could not see it. They were so spiritually and morally blind.
It is an attempt to put Jesus on the spot and discredit him.
They were exasperated by Jesus. He was challenging their whole way of life.
Note who are present in this scene. We have Jesus and people who want to hear Jesus teach, and who want teaching from Jesus – and we have the teachers of the law and the Pharisees – and this woman caught in adultery.
Alexander 'Sandy' Shaw is pastor of Nairn Christian Fellowship in Nairn, Scotland. Nairn is 17 miles east of Inverness - on the Moray Firth Coast - not far from the Loch Ness Monster!
Gifted as a Biblical teacher, Sandy is firmly committed to making sure that his teachings are firmly grounded in the Word.
Sandy has a weekly radio talk which can be heard via the Internet on Saturday at 11:40am, New Orleans time, at wsho.com.
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