neither do i

Water cooler conversation:  

  • What was your biggest win this week? What was your biggest challenge?

  • What image is on your phone’s lock screen?

Unpack the Message:

In John 8, Jesus teaches in the Women's Court of Herod's Temple. Though, as a man, He had access to all temple courts, He deliberately chose the Women's Court so that everyone could hear His teaching. A group of religious leaders brings a woman guilty of open sexual sin before Jesus. The woman had been caught in the act of adultery, yet only she was brought before Jesus. 

With condescension, the scribes and Pharisees remind Jesus that her punishment, as outlined in the book of Leviticus, was to be punished by stoning. Jesus, as "The Friend of Sinners," constantly showed compassion for the unfortunate and outcasts of society. He eschewed the company of the religious elite and the wealthy, preferring instead to spend time with publicans and sinners. They expected him to turn this woman loose, thus contradicting the Law of Moses. 

Instead, He speaks into the situation with wisdom and grace, and contrary to expectations, calls out the religious leader's self-righteousness with equal condemnation. 

Instead, Jesus kneels and begins to write in the sand. The Pharisees, assuming He is stalling, press Him for an answer. Instead, scripture records that Jesus "straightens up," implying He stands and looks them in the eyes, and says, "Let he who is without sin cast the first stone." More accurately, He says let the one who is sinless—the only time in the New Testament He uses that word—cast the first stone. 

They are speechless. Jesus concurs, yes, under the Law of Moses, she must be condemned. The caveat is that only the sinless may judge her and carry out her sentence. Jesus is in no way excusing her sin. Adultery is a sin, violating an oath taken before God. But Jesus can see what lies in the hearts of the Pharisees and religious leaders, and while they are standing there, in shock, Jesus stoops down and begins to write once more. Though we don't know what He wrote this second time, it's not unfair to assume it mirrored the words of Daniel 5:25-29, "You are weighed in the balance and found wanting," because verse nine tells us, "When they heard it, they went away, one by one, beginning with the eldest." 

Jesus then looks at the woman and says, "'Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?' She said, 'No one, Lord.' And Jesus said, 'Neither do I condemn you; go, and do not sin again.'" Notice how Jesus calls her attention to the fact that she has no human accusers. He has dismissed them as a jury - He alone stands as her judge. Jesus then tells her, "Neither do I condemn you." He alone—as the Sinless One—had the right to condemn her, yet He chose grace instead. 

Jesus wanted everyone present to understand that He came not to condemn the world but to redeem it. No problem is too complex, no sin too shameful, no condemnation too great that the blood of Jesus cannot cover it. 

  • Some scholars suggest that Jeremiah 17:13 foreshadows what Jesus writes. If this is so, what does it tell us He wrote? 

  • It is vital we read verse 7 as "let the one who is sinless" cast the first stone. Why? What is the distinction? 

  • Which is harder for you to do – to seek forgiveness or to forgive others? Why?

  • Think about a time where you were “caught with your hand in the cookie jar” – when your sin was exposed for others to see. How did you feel? What did you want more than anything at that moment? What happened?

  • What parallels are found in Jesus’ words to the man he healed in John 5:1-15 and the adulterous woman in John 8:11? What does that say about accusations that Jesus was dismissive of their sin?

  • What can you learn from Jesus about helping someone who has fallen? 

  • How do we live out Jesus' response to this woman through our core values of Meeting Needs, Welcome Home, Passion Over Comfort, Dependent in Prayer, and being Outward Focused?

Make a Move: 

Who do you need to offer grace and forgiveness as Jesus forgave the woman in John 8? 

Prayer Prompt: 

Father, thank You that my sins have been forgiven. I thank you that there is no condemnation to those that are in Christ Jesus. Forgive me for the times I have been critical of others, forgetting that all sin separates us from You. I want to live a life that is pleasing to You and I ask that you help me to see others as you see them, sinners in need of a savior. May I show others the same grace and forgiveness you have shown me. AMEN.