Lesson 24: John 7:53-8:11 - The Adulterous Woman
53 They went each to his own house,
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 with the older ones, and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him.
10 Jesus stood up and said to her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?”
11 She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more.”
Chapter 8:12 is the second of the great “I AM” statements from Jesus. In Chapter 6, the occasion for His statement was one of the great feasts of the Jews. Here the occasion for His statement is a story that does not appear in the oldest transcripts of this book; however, it was probably added from another text to be exactly what it has become – the reason for Jesus’ statement that He is the Light of the World.
So the occasion for this story of the woman caught in adultery must be seen as the backdrop for Jesus’ statement. When we look in the Old Testament for the punishment for someone caught in adultery, we find two very interesting things: 1) the man involved in this affair was always to be executed, 2) the woman in the incident would be judged based on her ability to defend herself – if it happened in a town, she would have screamed if this was an unwanted encounter. Therefore, if she did not scream, she was considered guilty and the punishment was death. If the situation took place in the country, the assumption the judges had to make was the woman screamed and there was no one to hear her, and therefore she was not guilty (Deuteronomy 22:25-27). Therefore, in this incident, the fact that only the woman was brought to Jesus for judgment is a clear indication the people bringing her were not interested in justice but only interested in laying a trap for Jesus.
We will see in the next lesson how Jesus wanted to bring false accusations to the light.
*Thought question: Think of a time in your life when only part of the whole story was presented and you were falsely judged because only that part which supported the false statement was produced. Before you judge another, how willing are you to listen to all the facts before you make a judgment?
53 They went each to his own house,
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 with the older ones, and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him.
10 Jesus stood up and said to her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?”
11 She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more.”
Chapter 8:12 is the second of the great “I AM” statements from Jesus. In Chapter 6, the occasion for His statement was one of the great feasts of the Jews. Here the occasion for His statement is a story that does not appear in the oldest transcripts of this book; however, it was probably added from another text to be exactly what it has become – the reason for Jesus’ statement that He is the Light of the World.
So the occasion for this story of the woman caught in adultery must be seen as the backdrop for Jesus’ statement. When we look in the Old Testament for the punishment for someone caught in adultery, we find two very interesting things: 1) the man involved in this affair was always to be executed, 2) the woman in the incident would be judged based on her ability to defend herself – if it happened in a town, she would have screamed if this was an unwanted encounter. Therefore, if she did not scream, she was considered guilty and the punishment was death. If the situation took place in the country, the assumption the judges had to make was the woman screamed and there was no one to hear her, and therefore she was not guilty (Deuteronomy 22:25-27). Therefore, in this incident, the fact that only the woman was brought to Jesus for judgment is a clear indication the people bringing her were not interested in justice but only interested in laying a trap for Jesus.
We will see in the next lesson how Jesus wanted to bring false accusations to the light.
*Thought question: Think of a time in your life when only part of the whole story was presented and you were falsely judged because only that part which supported the false statement was produced. Before you judge another, how willing are you to listen to all the facts before you make a judgment?