Jesus: believing the best

“…neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.” (John 8:11)

One of the most loved stories surrounding Jesus’ earthly ministry involves the interaction he has with a woman who had been caught in adultery. This exchange is recorded by John in the 8th chapter of his gospel.

The religious leaders brought this woman to Jesus to trap him. The Jewish law said that those who were caught in adultery should be stoned, (Lev. 20; Deut. 22,) but the Romans didn’t allow the Jews to carry out the death penalty. If Jesus said that she should be pardoned, they could say that he was breaking the law of Moses. On the other hand, if he said they should go ahead and carry out the punishment they could say that he was going against the Roman law, (and it would also tarnish his reputation as a man of compassion and a friend of sinners.) Should she be stoned or not? They asked.

Their intent was to put this woman and Jesus, both, on trial. Jesus turns the table on them, though, and puts the religious leaders on the stand for their bloodthirstiness and hypocrisy. He stooped down and began writing something in the ground with his finger. As they continued to question him, he stood back up and said, “Let the man who is sinless cast the first stone.” Stooping down he began to write in the dirt, again.

The text doesn’t reveal what Jesus was writing in the dirt, so we can only conjecture. He may have just been doodling to give them time to reconsider their actions. Or, as some have suggested, he may have been writing down the names of her accusers, who may have “spent time” with this woman as well. If that was the case, they themselves must, by law, share her fate.

To their credit, each realized that his conscience would not allow him to “cast the first stone.” Whether for adultery or not, they each had broken the Law of Moses and they found their own guilt staring themselves in the face. They dropped their stones and went away.

Jesus turns to the woman and lovingly asks if anyone was left to accuse her. She answers, “No.” In response Jesus says those comforting yet challenging words, “Then neither do I condemn you. Go now and leave your life of sin.”

Jesus understood the goal of the law. It isn’t simply to punish wrongdoers, indiscriminately. It was to be a tutor, to reveal the wrongness in us. His desire was for healing from her sin and into rightness. (His statement to her accusers came from the same loving heart; to reveal to them their own sin and to humble repentance.)

Jesus wasn’t excusing her behavior. He was signaling to her that condemnation may indeed have to come upon her if she didn’t come out of her sin. But that forgiveness and freedom was hers for the taking if she did. He was believing the best for her, as well as for her accusers, just as he continues to do for you and me.