John 7:53-8:11
“Notice what you notice.” Today’s reading is another incident where it is difficult to find something to say that has not already been said. We can easily marvel at Jesus’ wisdom in responding to the Jewish authorities and the final outcome for the woman. There is a lot of controversy over whether these verses are actually part of John’s Gospel or whether they were added by later writers. Setting the controversy aside, it is clear that the entire incident is consistent with many other dealings between Jesus and the Jewish authorities:
- The leaders want to test Jesus’ knowledge or authority;
- They bring to Jesus a test case, a woman caught in adultery;
- They ask Jesus to pronounce judgment;
- Jesus responds in a way that evades their trap and puts the leaders on the spot; and
- Jesus wins the day!
I looked online for other insights that I might gain from the story and saw something that I had not seen before. In bringing the woman forward the leaders were obviously asking Jesus to pronounce judgment. But they went one step further by putting Him to the test of the Law: “…Now in the Law, Moses commanded us to stone such women. So what do you say?” (v. 5) Had Jesus responded as the authorities hoped, He would have condemned the woman and initiated the stoning. At that point He would have been in violation of Roman law which allowed no one but the Roman authorities to put someone to death. They thought they had Jesus trapped. By answering their question with His question He evaded their trap.
I daresay this is one incident that ranks near the top for most Christians in how Jesus responds to the Jewish tests. He was filled with the Holy Spirit in responding as He did. We are all also filled with that same Holy Spirit (to the extent that we allow ourselves to be filled). So that same “wisdom” is available to us. Don’t be trapped by difficult questions. Stoop down and write on the ground (that is, pause to allow the Holy Spirit to speak to you), then give a Spirit-inspired response.
Slava Bohu!
Hi Fred, I really like your point that we should “stoop and write on the ground” before responding! One addition I found was that the law was that BOTH the woman AND the man were to be stoned. By bringing only the woman, the Jewish authorities had misspoken/broken the law.
VERY interesting… and they are trying to trap him into breaking the law.
There is so much about this incident that is intriguing!