Saturday after Jubilate
Scripture: St. John 8:1-11 (NKJV)
8:1 But Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. 2 Now early in the morning He came again into the temple, and all the people came to Him; and He sat down and taught them. 3 Then the scribes and Pharisees brought to Him a woman caught in adultery. And when they had set her in the midst, 4 they said to Him, “Teacher, this woman was caught in adultery, in the very act. 5 Now Moses, in the law, commanded us that such should be stoned. But what do You say?” 6 This they said, testing Him, that they might have something of which to accuse Him. But Jesus stooped down and wrote on the ground with His finger, as though He did not hear.
7 So when they continued asking Him, He raised Himself up and said to them, “He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first.” 8 And again He stooped down and wrote on the ground. 9 Then those who heard it, being convicted by their conscience, went out one by one, beginning with the oldest even to the last. And Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst. 10 When Jesus had raised Himself up and saw no one but the woman, He said to her, “Woman, where are those accusers of yours? Has no one condemned you?”
11 She said, “No one, Lord.”
And Jesus said to her, “Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more.”
Devotion
Moses commanded the Old Testament Israelites, “He who commits adultery with his neighbor’s wife, the adulterer and the adulteress, shall surely be put to death” (Lev. 20:10). It takes two to commit adultery. Where was the adulterous man in today’s reading? The Pharisees didn’t bring him, because they weren’t interested in understanding or fulfilling the Law of Moses. They were hoping Jesus would openly speak against the Law so that they could hold it against Him. He wasn’t about to play along.
Sometimes people get distracted by wondering what Jesus was writing on the ground. That’s not the focus. His laid-back writing on the ground was His way of showing He took the Pharisees’ accusation against the woman as seriously as they did; that is, not at all. It also allowed them time to ponder His words, “He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first.”
Jesus did not come to hold the secular office of judge, jury, and executioner, though He will do those things when He comes again. He came the first time to call sinners to repentance and to remove God’s condemnation from those who repented, as He did for the woman caught in adultery. God has never desired the death of the sinner, “but that the wicked turn from his way and live” (Ezek. 33:11). “Go and sin no more,” Jesus said to the pardoned woman. So He says to all pardoned sinners, that we may walk daily in repentance and faith, and be filled with joy and hope as we cling to Him, in whom alone we have forgiveness.
Prayer: Father in Heaven, move us by Your mercy to show the same mercy to others, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
