I hope you’re familiar with the story of the “woman caught in adultery” recorded in the Gospel of John, chapter 8*.
Introduction
Like many stories in the Gospels, it reveals our human frailty and the need to be rescued. But who will rescue us?Who will care for our heart? Who will be present with us? Who will Father and shepherd us?
Who will fulfill the longing in our heart to know and be known? And how and when do we fight for what we long?
The Story – Exposed, Caught In The Very Act
Christ finds himself in the midst of a flurry of emotions and accusations. A woman caught in the act of adultery is brought to him as a trap, to accuse him and destroy her.
Jesus and her are on trial. The teachers of the law and Pharisees are enraged over her sexual transgression. She’s broken the law and deserves to be murdered! And Jesus as well. (John 5:18)
They’re incensed over her infidelity and his claims of sonship. Jesus and her have disrupted their lives and they’re going to pay for it!
The View From The Inside
Israel’s watchmen are obsessed over her brokenness. They’ve lost touch with their own losses and abandonment!
Jesus sees a woman trapped, broken, desperate for attention, care and love. He sees her need for a Father and a shepherd. Israel’s watchmen were supposed to be that for her. To Father and shepherd her.
What brought her to this place? A place of dishonor and guilt. Imagine the thoughts of her heart screaming at her, exposed, a soul and heart in utter anguish!
And what about the accusers’ own torment?
Are We Any Different?
Are her actions or theirs any different than some of our own thoughts and actions?
Judging has been a tremendous struggle in my life, much of it stemming from childhood. Immoral thoughts have been a battle as well. Thankfully, Jesus has been doing a deep work in my heart and mind in these and other areas. What about you?
This story is really about you and me. The secret places in our hearts and lives separated from Christ’s Fathering.
A noted Christian psychologist said the core brokenness in man and woman is rooted in murder and adultery. Calvary is proof of that! (Acts 2:36 and 7:52)
Some of you reading this know you have a lot of stuff going on inside in need of healing. And, most likely, you do not know what to do about it. Others of you may feel everything is great. And that may be the season in your life right now.
At some level all of us have secret loves in our life separating our heart from the affection and dominion of Christ. Is this not where Jesus finds us in our journey? Caught in the clutches of our lovers, shamefully serving our wounds in sin.
The Law And Hearts Of Stone
The adulteress is a type of the new Christian who starts their journey in Christ. Once in love with the world, he or she turns to follow Jesus.
She’s also a type of the mature Christian’s hidden sins and wounds, which left unhealed and unrestored manifest.
And the would be “stoners” may represent mature Christians as well. Easily angered and outraged at others’ sins, forgetting their own desperate state before God.
Enter Christ
Jesus did not ask anything about her. After her accusers left there was no one standing to condemn her.
“10 Jesus straightened up and asked her, ‘Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?’ 11 ‘No one, sir,’ she said. ‘Then neither do I condemn you,’ Jesus declared. ‘Go now and leave your life of sin.’” (John 8:10-11 NIV)
I love the use of the word go.
The word “Go” is inviting. It has the sense of travel, test, and piercing. See Greek Strong’s Numbers 4198, 3984 and 4008. (1)
Jesus is inviting her to a life journey in him. He’s offering to bind up the broken pieces of her heart. It will be a “travel”, “tests” and some “piercing” of wounds for cleansing. He’s brought good news to her! Prophetically speaking forth freedom and liberty to her.
Jesus does not send sinners away, he invites them to him. He knows we cannot heal and clean ourselves.
His GO, is “come follow me”, I’ll show you how to die to sins, restored, and resurrected to walk in newness of life! You’ll no longer be a servant to adultery, but a new creation in me.
Jesus is saying, I will remove your orphan identity and give you a new identity and destiny.
You, like her, will not be abandoned by Jesus if bad fruit ripens in your life, publicly exposing your wounds and sins in some manner.
And if Christ chooses to go to the deep places in your life, revealing himself, he will give you the grace to endure and hold firm in your time of conviction. (1 Peter 1:13 and Hebrews 3:14, see literal Greek for latter reference)
He’s offering her, you, and me a way to cross over Jordan into Canaan’s land, the new birth and the retaking of territory the enemy has stolen from us. The same offer is extended to the watchmen, her accusers.
This account reminds me of the age-old picture of Adam blaming Eve for his and hers’ brokenness instead of offering healing and restoration. A sharp contrast to Christ’s gentleness and tenderness toward her. Isn’t that what we want?
What the teachers of the law and the Pharisees saw as a lost cause Jesus saw as a treasure. Did she accept his offer? What about you and me?
Your thoughts?
*There is debate whether this story is actually “scripture” or a later addition to the Bible. I’ll let the scholars fight that one out.
Scripture quotations marked (NIV) are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright© 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.Zondervan.com The “NIV” and “New International Version” are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblical, Inc.™
(1) James Strong, S.T.D., LL.D., Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible with Hebrew Chaldee and Greek Dictionaries, Riverside Book and Bible House, Iowa Falls, Iowa
