Continuing in the Gospel of John
‘Who made you judge and jury,’ some ask the Christian who applies the Law? “Don’t judge sin,” some even preach deceptively. Many a sinner will quote Jesus to you: “Judge not, that you be not judged. – Matthew 7:1
We have been following the Good News of the Messiah Jesus told by John, only surviving disciple after all others had died for their witness of Truth, rather than recant the only Way to heaven, Christ Jesus. His Good News is explanation and not necessarily chronological.
Previously in John 7 at the Jewish Festival of Booths Jesus shouted out an invitation to the crowds:
“He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.”
Now we move on to a discussion the following day about authority in the Law. Religious authorities who love to judge sin confront the Messiah with one of their favorites, adultery.
2 At dawn he went to the temple again, and all the people were coming to him. He sat down and began to teach them.
Let’s not miss that Jesus had been teaching on the Holy Spirit of God the previous day.
He said this about the Spirit. Those who believed in Jesus were going to receive the Spirit, for the Spirit had not yet been given because Jesus had not yet been glorified.
John 7:39 CSB
Jesus said this about the Holy Spirit as witness to Himself as the Messiah of the Living God!
Wouldn’t you want to know more about this Man claiming the very power of the One Lord and God? So the crowds came, along with those who claimed earthly authority over the Law of Moses.
How do YOU judge sin?
3 Then the scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman caught in adultery, making her stand in the center. 4 “Teacher,” they said to him, “this woman was caught in the act of committing adultery.
Now, dear christian in this twenty-first century crowd, you think very little of the seriousness of her first century indiscretion with a man to whom she was not married. In fact, in all likelihood many of you commited a different and similar sin when you first loved the significant other of your own life. We are oh so ready to condemn any man who claims the authority of God over our own less severe way to judge sin.
5 In the law Moses commanded us to stone such women. So what do you say?”
So does Jesus believe in capital punishment?
How dare she sleep with another man! After all, she is married.
6 They asked this to trap him, in order that they might have evidence to accuse him.
You know the old (not so funny, really) question of the lawyer: “When did you stop beating your wife?” No right answer to the prosecuting question as stated. There’s more to her story than the evidence presented.
By the way, have you already answered without having had additional evidence presented – facts which perhaps only God may know?
Is accusation not guilty until proven innocent in these last days?
So here we look to the Messiah confronted an accusation of adultery in a court having already judged sin of the accused woman.
Jesus as Judge
The crowds look on. Religious officials have stated the Law clearly and ask for sentence confirming their judgment of this accused violator. Surly the Messiah who claims that every jot and tiddle of the Law must be fulfilled will not show mercy to this woman who sinned.
Yet Jesus does not speak a sentence to judge sin clearly accused of this woman.
7 When they persisted in questioning him, he stood up and said to them,
“The one without sin among you should be the first to throw a stone at her.”
8 Then he stooped down again and continued writing on the ground.
How does the Messiah of God judge sin?
Jesus has already witnessed the standard by which the Lord will judge sin.
“I can do nothing on my own. I judge only as I hear, and my judgment is just, because I do not seek my own will, but the will of him who sent me.
John 5:30
“Stop judging according to outward appearances; rather judge according to righteous judgment.”
John 7:24
One reason the Pharisees confront Jesus rather than having arrested Him at that time is continuation from a previous confrontation.
John 7:50 Nicodemus—the one who came to him previously and who was one of them [the Pharisees] —said to them,
51 “Our law doesn’t judge a man before it hears from him and knows what he’s doing, does it?”
Neither does the Lord Jesus judge this woman accused of adultery without full evidence of what she has done. In His judgment Jesus shows mercy.
God is Light and Life – Sin is Darkness & Death
Do you, man or woman of flesh, judge sin?
Jesus stood to render His decision as Judge:
“He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.
John 8:7b KJV
8 Then he stooped down again and continued writing on the ground. 9 When they heard this, they left one by one, starting with the older men. Only he was left, with the woman in the center.
Justice?
Was the full justice of the Law served here? Certainly not.
Did Jesus grant mercy to the woman who sinned against her husband and the Law of the land? Yes, mercy and grace where penalty could have been demanded.
Would He judge sin at a later time? (Perhaps you had not thought of His temporary grace calling this sinner to repentance.)
Will Jesus judge sin – adultery, dishonesty, failure to show mercy to the poor or unjustly accused, victims of hateful vengeance?
- “Put boundaries for the people all around the mountain and say: Be careful that you don’t go up on the mountain or touch its base. Anyone who touches the mountain must be put to death. – Exodus 19:12
- “Whoever strikes a person so that he dies must be put to death. – Exodus 21:12
- “If a person schemes and willfully acts against his neighbor to murder him, you must take him from my altar to be put to death. – Exodus 21:14
- “Whoever strikes his father or his mother must be put to death. – Exodus 21:15
- “Whoever kidnaps a person must be put to death, whether he sells him or the person is found in his possession. – Exodus 21:16
- “Whoever curses his father or his mother must be put to death. – Exodus 21:17
- “Whoever has sexual intercourse with an animal must be put to death. Exodus 22:19
“Observe the Sabbath, for it is holy to you. Whoever profanes it must be put to death. If anyone does work on it, that person must be cut off from his people. Work may be done for six days, but on the seventh day there must be a Sabbath of complete rest, holy to the LORD. Anyone who does work on the Sabbath day must be put to death.
Exodus 31:14-15
His Merciful Sentence
“He who is without sin among you, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.” –
Jesus’ question to accusers who would judge sin – John 8:7 NASB
“I am the light of the world.
You judge by human standards. I judge no one. And if I do judge, my judgment is true, because it is not I alone who judge, but I and the Father who sent me.
Jesus’ standard to judge sin – John 8:15-16 CSB
Is Jesus the Messiah?
If Jesus was, IS, and will always be the Lord God, the Messiah, then He IS Light itself. Jesus is the very image of Light of the Father God our Creator, sustainer and Judge.
12 Jesus spoke to them again: “I am the light of the world. Anyone who follows me will never walk in the darkness but will have the light of life.”
13 So the Pharisees said to him, “You are testifying about yourself. Your testimony is not valid.”
14 “Even if I testify about myself,” Jesus replied, “My testimony is true, because I know where I came from and where I’m going. But you don’t know where I come from or where I’m going. 15 You judge by human standards…
Is this not true of every man or woman who must judge another man or woman?
Therefore what is our standard of temporal justice, prior to the judgment of our souls?
Leviticus 19: Laws of Holiness – Separation to the LORD
לֹא־תַעֲשׂ֥וּ עָ֨וֶל֙ בַּמִּשְׁפָּ֔ט לֹא־תִשָּׂ֣א פְנֵי־דָ֔ל וְלֹ֥א תֶהְדַּ֖ר פְּנֵ֣י גָדֹ֑ול בְּצֶ֖דֶק תִּשְׁפֹּ֥ט עֲמִיתֶֽךָ׃
John does not present every proof of witness that Jesus is the Messiah of Israel, but closes his Gospel written after many proofs of the resurrection of Jesus with this:
But these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.
John 20:31 CSB
Light of Life from beyond the grave
12 Jesus spoke to them again: “I am the light of the world. Anyone who follows me will never walk in the darkness but will have the light of life.”
… “You know neither me nor my Father,” Jesus answered. “If you knew me, you would also know my Father.”
20 He spoke these words by the treasury, while teaching in the temple. But no one seized him, because his hour had not yet come.
… and you will die in your sin. Where I’m going, you cannot come.”
… You are of this world; I am not of this world. 24 Therefore I told you that you will die in your sins. For if you do not believe that I am he, you will die in your sins.”
25 “Who are you?” they questioned.
“Exactly what I’ve been telling you from the very beginning,” Jesus told them.
Do you believe the Light or hide in the darkness of death?
26 “I have many things to say and to judge about you, but the one who sent me is true, and what I have heard from him—these things I tell the world.”
To be continued...
Though you claim to be a follower of Jesus, so had Judas!