John 8:1-12

Communion Sunday: John 8:1-12
Sermon preached at Barclay Church, Edinburgh by Rev D. Graham Leitch
30 March 2003

During the past week there can be few of us who haven’t flicked on the television, from time to time, to pick up the latest news about what’s happening in the war or Iraq. Whether it’s right or healthy for such images to be continuously fed to us may be doubted by some - what cannot be doubted is the power of images to challenge our preconceived ideas, to provoke our sympathy and to shock.

GOSPEL PICTURES AND STORIES
Its a tactic Jesus used with his hearers - the teaching of Jesus is full of pictures and stories. Some, like the parables, depict imaginary scenes and situations. Other stories told by may be based on factual incidents - the stories of the Prodigal Son, the lost sheep and the Good Samaritan And then there are the true stories where Jesus steps into the picture and becomes one of the players on the stage.

Looked at from one point of view, the Gospels are simply collections of coloured snapshots of Jesus.

Today, from that collection, I want to pick out vivid images which capture the story read to us this morning - the story about the woman who was caught - was she trapped? we’ll never know - having sex with someone not her husband.

JOHN 8 :1-11
The story is simply told by John. It’s early morning and Jesus is in Jerusalem. Arriving at the temple He’s pressed by the crowd, and sitting down He speaks to them of the Kingdom of God. The religious authorities are keen to catch him out, to trip him up, to discredit him. Soon there’s a stir and the sound of shouting and, as the crowd parts, the religious zealots haul before him a distraught woman who half falls, sobbing,, and is thrust to the ground and then dragged to her feet.

Scorn and contempt fill the air. “Teacher” they say - the scorn and contempt is directed not only at the woman but at Jesus too - the pharisees and teachers of the Law despise Him.“Teacher” they sneer, “this woman was caught in the act of adultery. In the Law it says the likes of her should should be put to death - stoned. What do you say?”

Jesus bent down and, amid palpable tension, began to write on the ground.“What's going on?” the crowd murmur. “Can anyone see?”“What’s happening?

While the woman’s accusers keep asking Him questions and demanding an answer Jesus simply keeps writing - then, standing up, he looksher accusers in the eye:

“If any of you are without sin - you cast the first stone!!”

Again he bent down and wrote in the dust, until one and then another - “hearing” the Bible says though Jesus spoke no word - one and then another began to leave - “the older ones first,” until Jesus alone confronted this tragic traumatised woman.

He looked at her, not with they eye of lust that had lured her into sin, but with the eye of the divine love.

“Has no-one condemned you?” He asked. “No-one!” she whispered. “Neither shall I?” He told her, smiling, as I have always imagined it, with a tenderness born of great compassion - “Neither do I! Go and sin no more!”

THE REVELATION OF THE HEART OF GOD
What an unforgettable story! But it’s a story with a purpose - a double purpose. We need to remember that every Gospel story which is a revelation of the heart of God is, at the same time, an invitation to be like Him.

And in this story we find a revelation of the heart of God in the contrast we find between the attitude of the teachers of the law, on the one hand, and the attitude of Jesus, on the other, towards the woman at the heart of the story - two kinds of religion and two ways of treating people.

By looking at Jesus we can learn about the heart of God - what God is like, on the one hand. And on the other, we can learn what He wants US to be like too. The Bible tells us that, in our attitudes and approach to other people, we are to be like him!! The Bible tells us we are to be “imitators of God.”

The contrast between the behaviour of the Pharisees, who hauled the woman into his presence, and Jesus himself is stark.

1. PRIDE AND HUMILITY
In the first place, the Pharisees were proud, self-righteous and condemning of others. They were sure of their own goodness - as confident of their own superiority as they were certain of others sinfulness.

Whenever I read this story I can’t help imagining that they were pleased to catch this poor woman sinning - it gave them someone to sneer at at, someone to despise, someone to condemn!! When they said “this women was caught in the act of adultery” they were practically bragging!! Theirs was a self-righteous religion that majored on finding fault with others and putting them down. It’s religion with a bitter taste!!

Sometimes in its history the church has shown more the face of the Pharisee than the face of the Father in its dealings with other people. To the extent that we have it is something we need to repent of!!

What a contrast there is between the Pharisees and teachers of the law, on the one hand, and Jesus. on the other!

Think of it!! The Pharisees had little reason for pride yet were full of it. Jesus had every reason to be proud - for he was perfect, yet showed none. He alone, of all people, was “without sin.” No-one before Him and none since has equalled Him. He was (and is) unrivalled in his perfect obedience towards God and moral superiority - yet no trace of pride or hint of arrogance is ever identifiable in his life or ministry!!

Here in Jesus is PERFECTION without PRIDE. Power and position meant everything to the Pharisees, but Jesus put PEOPLE first. We’ll come back to that shortly!!

When the Pharisees marched the poor, traumatised woman - the “victim” of their religious fervour - before Jesus, they were pointing the finger of condemnation at her. Finding fault with others was their full time hobby!! But the way of Jesus is different - He says “Do not judge!”

The Pharisees had got religion all wrong. To them the words of Jesus apply:

“3 Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? 4 How can you say to your brother, `Let me take the speck out of your eye,' when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? 5 You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye.....”

We have a God (Psalm 145:8) who is “gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and rich in love...” - as those loved into life by Him, our calling is to be like Him!! In Jesus treatment of the sinful woman grace, compassion, humility and love are all present in perfect measure!!

2. THE HUMANITY OF JESUS
The second thing we see in this story is the humanity of Jesus - I don’t mean the fact that Jesus was “fully human” but that Jesus treated others in a fully human way - He treated others with respect - He valued them as individuals, He cared for them as persons.

The way we treat people is a good index of the measure of grace in us and the maturity of our faith. Christianity should have a humanising influence upon those who espouse its teachings and follow its Lord.

One of the frightening things about war it its frequent dehumanising of others - not according people the dignity owed to those made in the “image of God.” In Christianity both “using” people and “abusing” people is wrong!!

When the Pharisees dragged this woman to Jesus they had no concern for her - they may be didn’t even know her name. It wasn’t important! It didn’t matter to them!! They were “using” here. She was just a pawn not a person - a pawn in their religious game.

Look at v.6: “In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women.. what do you say? (6) They were using this question as a trap in order to have a basis for accusing him.”

They had no care for her, no respect - they didn’t treat her as a human being, just as a convenient tool in their plot to catch Jesus out! Using people for our own dubious ends is always wrong!

How differently Jesus regarded her!! He saw what they were doing and knew why. By using her in this way they were no better than the man who had “used” her!! Like him, in “using” her they were “abusing” her!!

POWER AND POSITION mattered to the Pharisees, but Jesus always put PEOPLE first. To Jesus she was first and foremost a person - perhaps a person as much wronged as wrong! It wasn’t that her sins didn’t matter and it wasn’t that her sin didn’t need forgiven. But when Jesus looked at her it wasn’t a pawn he saw but a person - a precious individual, scorned by others and treated like dirt, but loved by God!!

Our faith encourages us to treat others as God treats us - to him we are not fractions of the mass but individuals - people, not cases!! Some say this is why the Bible contains long lists of individual names - to tell us that every single person matters and is important to him!! As our meditation said:

“God is FOR you - had he a calendar your birthday would be circled! If he drove a car you name would be on his bumper. If there’s a tree in heaven he’s carved your name in the bark. We know he has a tattoo, and we know what it says:

“I have written your name on my hand...” (Isaiah 49:16)

We matter to Him. He cares about us as individuals - the very worst as much as the very best of us. Whatever we’ve done and however far from Him we feel!!

And God invites us to have the same care for others as He has for us - to treat people as persons, individuals and neither just as things, nor just as sinners, because as Jesus himself says in this story:

“Let him who is without sin cast the first stone!”

Who are WE to condemn others for their sins? - it is ourselves we must answer for, not others!!

A PUZZLE AT THE HEART OF THE STORY
At the heart of this story there’s a puzzle - it’s in vv 6m - 9a -

“But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. 7 When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, "If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her." 8 Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground. 9 At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first....”

The puzzle is this - what was Jesus doing? What was he writing? Some say that Jesus was simply playing for time - “doodling” is what we’d call it.

But an early tradition found written in to the story in an old Armenian manuscript offers a more intriguing suggestion. This is how it reads:

“He himself, bowing his head, was writing with his finger on the earth to declare their sins; and they were seeing their various sins on the stones...”

And as one by one he wrote, say, the ten commandments from Exodus, one by one,seeing that they were sinners too, they left..... you see SIN is a great leveller and before the cross of Jesus Christ no-one is “better” or “worse”. We’re all equal because, equally, sinners!!

3. THE COMPASSIONATE FORGIVING HEART OF GOD
The third thing we notice is the compassionate and forgiving heart of God the Father, revealed in the actions of God the Son:

Scorn and condemnation was the response of the Pharisees - their delight was to expose her sin and put her down. There’s a kind of religion that does that still! Their desire was to expose her sin and put her down. But Jesus’ desire was to forgive her sin and lift her up....

One by one the people left until she was alone in His presence. It’s only face to face with the beauty - the holy perfection of Jesus - that we come face to face with our true selves!!

There she stood - traumatised, weeping, ashamed. Jesus was still bending down. Then, in the midst of a silence that seemed to her to last for eternity, He stood up and looked her in the eye -

She saw not condemnation there but compassion, not the loathing of hate but the tenderness of love for sinners:

He looked at her and looked around. “Has no-one condemned you?” “No-one Sir!”

And then He speaks that all -important word. - “Neither do I condemn thee!” He tells her he doesn’t either and sends her off to start again - to live a new life. “Go and sin no more.”

Here the heart of the Father is revealed as one of tender compassion - not harsh and condemning but understanding of our frailty and standing ready to pardon our weakness and forgive our sins.

And the Sacrament we celebrate today is both a summons to come to Him and an invitation to be like Him!!

As He is slow to judge and condemn us, let us be slow to judge or condemn others.

As He looks upon us and values our individuality - treating us as persons not things, let us respect others and treat them the same.

And as He is compassionate and forgiving towards us, so let us be patient, compassionate and forgiving towards others and thus be like Him!!

We can begin to become like Him today at His table!

AMEN

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