FIFTEEN WORDS AND ONE FINGER
Introduction: Being a typical child in a household of four children, I did my share of tattling on my three brothers. And they most certainly did their best to give me fodder to tattle about! The need to point out someone else’s shortcomings, misdeeds, etc. must be engrained in all our carnal natures as I now listen to my two grand-daughters tell on each other daily! In some ways, relating the sins of another may, in our minds, negate our own. Jesus didn’t subscribe to this theory.
(John 8:1-11)
I. The Detractors
A. The scribes and the Pharisees made it their up most goal to put Jesus in a compromising position. I have often wondered…didn’t these guys have jobs they needed to show up to do? Didn’t they have a time clock somewhere to punch?
But most ironically, these “gentlemen” were church workers; be warned…some of the detractors to God’s work are within the walls of the church.
- Knowing they aren’t smart enough to outwit Jesus in matters of the spiritual, they determine to bring him an indisputable example of unforgivable sin… an adulterous woman. This time they were certain the “law” was on their side.
- I am sure that many individuals over the years have wondered the same thing I wonder: how were they so handy that they took her in “the very act?” How did they just happen to be there; was it a set-up? And where was the man? We don’t know, but Jesus did.
D. The gauntlet is thrown down: they refer to Moses and the law. But apparently they didn’t read it closely since both
(Lev. 20:10 and Deut. 22:22 refer to both parties in the adulterous act.
E. There is no room for forgiveness here----stoning, in their estimation, is the only solution.
II. The Dirty
- In the midst of the religious group’s accusations, the woman says nothing.
Undoubtedly overwhelmed by the vehemence of the church group, she stands mute as she realizes her fate.
B. Unlike the scribes and Pharisees, this woman probably had a clear assessment of her own sinful nature and, therefore, had no defense for her actions.
C. It would seem to me that everyone in Jerusalem would be on the outlook for the “sin police” since they seemed to have taken on the job of investigating the morality of everyone else. How seldom do we weigh our neighbor in the same balance as we weigh ourselves.
III. The Deliverer
- Often the simplest action can have the most profound impact. Jesus silently stoops down and writes on the ground with His finger. (vs.6)
[1]. Remember, this finger is the same one which wrote the Ten Commandments on stone tablets. (Ex 31:18)
[2]. Jesus only speaks when the accusers don’t have the sense to shut up! (vs.7) And what He says should have been enough to quench their vigilante zeal, but apparently not, because He stoops to continue writing.
B. The accusers finally get the message.
[1]. There has always been much speculation as to what Jesus wrote. Was it reminders of the law about which they should have been so familiar?
- Perhaps it was a lengthy and detailed list of the sins of each man standing there. They had been warned in (vs.7), but maybe they needed to see it in black and white….or dusty brown!
- Since the eldest left first, we can assume that would be because he had the most sins for which to account. But at any rate, Jesus thinned the crowd out drastically with fifteen words and one finger.
- I find it most encouraging that in vs.9 we are told the scribes and Pharisees were “convicted by their own conscience.” At this point, there was still hope for them.
- As if He didn’t know, Jesus inquires of the woman the whereabouts of her accusers. (vs.10)
- No witnesses = no condemnation.
- There is some irony in that God, in the person of Jesus, was most assuredly a witness of her sin, but he tells her in vs.11, “Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more.”
Conclusion: What a comfort this story is to those of us who find ourselves in the state of perpetual sinning. And doesn’t there always seem to be someone ready to tattle on us whether it be Satan, the accuser, or one of our fellow saints. Somehow we all think our sins are less offensive than another’s!
One thing we can assume: the woman, saved from stoning by the Deliverer, probably at least quit that particular sin! As we read through the gospels, we realize the scribes and Pharisees learned little from this encounter with the Lord. The finger pointers lost the battle with the finger writer!
