Journey Through The Bible
     Old Testament Reading: Psalms 55-59
     New Testament Reading: John 8

When Jesus stood up, he said to her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” “No one, Lord,” she answered. “Neither do I condemn you,” said Jesus. “Go, and from now on do not sin anymore” (John 8:10-11).

Jesus is teaching in the temple courtyard and the religious leaders of the day, the Scribes and the Pharisees, rudely and crudely interrupted Him. They brought to Him a woman who was caught in the very act of adultery. We don’t know her name. Scripture doesn’t reveal it to us. We don’t know anything about her or what happened to her. I would hope and believe that she became a follower of Jesus. And I want to believe that in the book of Acts, one of those women that we read about was this woman Here in John Chapter 8.

The text states that she was caught in the act. The phrase means to be snatched up or taken away, to be pulled forceable. She was snatched out of the very act of adultery. If you would, she was pulled forcibly away from her partner and brought to Jesus.

Now that raises the question, where is the Man? If they caught her in the act of adultery, then he had to be there. They would have also caught him in adultery as well.

His absence leads us to see how this was a carefully planned trap. The woman did not matter to them. She was just a pawn to be used to fulfill their plan. They were not there for justice—they were there to trap Jesus.

If Jesus said to stone her, the people that were following him would turn against Him. He taught them to love one another, to have compassion, and to forgive each other. It would go against everything He had been teaching throughout His ministry, and He would lose His followers. And the leaders knew that.

If He told those leaders to forgive her, then the religious leaders had made their case. He would be guilty of breaking the law of Moses and they would have their grounds for accusing Him. They could bring their charges against Jesus. It was a No-Win situation for Jesus. The scribes and the Pharisees thought they had devised the perfect trap.

Jesus, of course, saw through their plan and stooped down and started writing on the ground with his finger. Then, standing up said, “The one without sin among you should be the first to throw a stone at her.”

One by one, you heard the thud of the stones hitting the ground. As the men dropped their stones and turned and walked away. Jesus was left standing there with the woman.

She stood trembling before Jesus. Embarrassed by the situation she was found in, totally ashamed of her past life. She was standing there in utter humiliation. Perhaps she was naked or at most with a robe or bed sheet she pulled around as she was dragged away from the act she was caught in.

And Jesus, with a look of compassion on His face, asked, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” “No one, Lord,” she answered. “Neither do I condemn you,” said Jesus. “Go, and from now on do not sin anymore.”

As you imagine that scene, place yourself in the place of that woman. The Apostle John says; If we say, “We have no sin,” we are deceiving ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we say, “We have not sinned,” we make him a liar, and his word is not in us(1 John 1:8 & 10). Every one of us is like that woman. We have committed sins against God and we need His forgiveness.

Jesus is standing there with that look of compassion on His face, willing to forgive us of our sins. Jesus does not stand with a stone in His hand to condemn you. His hands are empty. And He stretched out His arms and died on the cross to forgive you of your sins. He is not only willing, but He is able. You can ask for forgiveness right where you are. All you have to do is go to Him in prayer and confess your sin to Him and repent of your ways. And He will forgive you.

As Christians, we not only need to go to God for forgiveness from our sins, but we also need to model His example and forgive those who sin against us. Jesus not only has the power to forgive, but he gives us the ability to forgive others just as we have been forgiven.