Knowing God through His Word … Day by Day

John 8:4-9  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 with the older ones, and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him.

Ray Stedman, in s sermon, “Judging the Judges,”  takes a stab at what Jesus may have written in John 8:

Once, reading in the prophet Jeremiah, I ran across a verse in the 17th chapter that struck me as possibly suggesting what Jesus wrote:

  O Lord, the hope of Israel,
all who forsake thee shall be put to shame;
those who torn away from thee
shall be written in the earth,
for they have forsaken the Lord,
the fountain of living water. {Jer 17:13 RSV}

That suggests that Jesus wrote their names on the ground on that occasion. Whatever he wrote, the scribes and Pharisees apparently misunderstood him. They thought he was stalling for time, and they kept pressing him, asking him again and again to answer them and tell them what he would do. So, standing up, Jesus looked them right in the eye and uttered these famous words, “Let him who is without sin cast the first stone.” Actually the word he uses is “sinless,” “let him who is sinless…” This is the only time Jesus ever employed this word in the New Testament: “Let him who is sinless cast the first stone.”

The result is almost humorous. They are stunned. Speechless! He has taken the wind right out of their sails. They were sure he was going to let this woman go, but instead he completely upholds the Law of Moses. He says, in effect, “Yes, she must be stoned. But I am going to appoint the executioners.” They are dumbfounded at his words.

It is very important to notice that Jesus does uphold the Law. Many people take his later words to the woman to mean that adultery is but a minor peccadillo.

I read an account of a marriage quarrel recently where the man said to his wife, “All I did was have an affair. What’s the big deal?” Today we have come to regard adultery as nothing.

But Jesus does not say that. He upholds the Law. Adultery is sin. It violates marriage. It destroys society when it spreads and becomes commonplace. It wrecks homes; it injures innocent children; it attacks everything that God holds dear!

We who are counseling here at the church have frequent reason to see how terribly destructive adultery is, how it destroys marriages, wrecks relationships, and injures far and wide. What a terribly hurtful, fragmenting, shattering sin it is!

In the eyes of strict justice it is deserving of death, and Jesus upholds that fact, much to the surprise of the scribes and Pharisees.

But that is not all Jesus does. He also sees the hearts of these men. What he says, in effect, is, “You are no better off than she is. Your hearts are filled with murder and hatred.” Malice gleamed in their eyes as they sought to exploit this woman’s unfortunate situation in order to get at Jesus. But he read their hearts, and what he saw was worse even than her sin.

Someone has well said, “If the inner thoughts of a man were written on his forehead, he would never take his hat off!” I wonder if that is true of women also? I won’t ask you to testify. But it is certainly true that God, who reads hearts, knows what is going on inside both men and women.

While these scribes and Pharisees were standing there, stunned, Jesus stooped down and began to write. Again, we are not told what he wrote. When you realize that this is the only time recorded in the Scriptures that Jesus ever wrote anything, you cannot help but wish that someone had preserved what he wrote.

My guess is that he wrote the four words, written once before by the finger of God, in the history of Israel. In the book of Daniel there is the story of King Belshazzar who put on a great feast and drunken revels and debauchery of every type was going on. Finally, the king resorted to the ultimate blasphemy of using in the revelry the sacred vessels that had been taken from the temple in Jerusalem. Suddenly a great hand appeared and wrote four words on the wall. The king turned ashen, and all the lords and courtiers were stunned and silent. They did not know the meaning of the Persian words, “MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN,” which appeared, so they called in the prophet Daniel to interpret them. His interpretation was, “You are weighed in the balance and found wanting,” {Dan 5:25-29}.

If that is what Jesus wrote, we can understand the actions of these men. Verse 9 says, “But when they heard it…” They could see what he wrote and the words rang in their heads as though they had been spoken. “When they heard it, they went away, one by one, beginning with the eldest.” What a tremendous disappearing act takes place here! The oldest one (the one with the longest record of sin) suddenly remembered that he had a previous appointment. The next one thought he heard his wife calling. Another had a sudden fit of coughing and had to leave. Another felt it was time for lunch. They disappeared one by one until no one was left but Jesus and the woman alone.