John 8:1-11
Jesus Shows Great Mercy towards a Sinner
1 but Jesus went to the Mount of Olives.
2 At dawn he appeared again in the temple courts, where all the people gathered around him, and he sat down to teach them. 3 The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group 4 and said to Jesus, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. 5 In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?” 6 They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him.
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, “Let any one of you who is without sin 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, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there. 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.”
Jesus helps us learn about morality...He helps us learn about Old Testament Scripture...He interprets the Old Testament the correct way, because He is the Way, the Truth, and the Way to lead your Life...
The Bible verse "I desire mercy, and not sacrifice" is found in Matthew 9:13 and Matthew 12:7 again...The verse is a quote from Hosea 6:6...Jesus would quote the verse of Hosea twice in the gospel of Matthew...So it must have impressed Him and be very important to Him...And it helps us learn more about God...
Jesus' disciples were hungry and began to pick some heads of grain and eat them on the Sabbath...When the Pharisees saw this, they said to Him, "Look!...Your disciples are doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath."...Jesus tells them what David and his companions (fighting for the homeland of Israel) were hungry and they entered the House of God to find food, because they were hungry...He and his companions ate the consecrated bread in the Temple—which was not lawful for them to do, but only for the priests...Jesus added these spoken words to the Pharisees: Or haven’t you read in the Law that the priests on Sabbath duty in the temple desecrate the Sabbath and yet are innocent?...He tells us that something greater than the Temple is here, that He is here...If the teachers of the law and Pharisees had known what these words mean, I desire mercy, not sacrifice, then they would not have condemned the innocent...For the Son of Man is LORD of the Sabbath...
As Jesus tells the reader the verse reads, "Go and learn what this means: 'I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.'...For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners"...It is like Jesus is telling us that it is the sinful man who desires a sacrifice, and not God...God wants us to show love in our relationships and friendship to our neighbors...We are to love God, and love neighbor...Jesus has forever tied God and Man and Grace together in the Greatest Commandment...
The, I desire mercy not sacrifice, verse is about relationships with others, with neighbors, even enemies, sinners, and adulterers...It is about the Greatest of Commandments...Jesus calls us to move beyond sacrifice and harm to others and promote love and mercy...Mercy involves goodness and kindness in our moral behavior, having a loving and compassionate heart that is associated with LOVE of God, and us getting to know Him better...
When Jesus gives us the Story of the adulteress woman in John's Gospel, we see this mercy, this forgiveness, LOVE, and the morality of God -in action...Jesus one day was confronted by some Pharisees and teachers of the law...They read the Scriptures completely literally and did not bring in love, forgiveness and mercy into the verses of the law of Moses...So they said "Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery...The law of Moses says to stone her...What do you say?"...They were trying to trap Him into saying something they could use against Him, but Jesus stooped down and wrote in the dust with His finger...They were seeking death of this captive woman...They kept demanding an answer from Him...He stood up again and said, "All right, but let the one who has never sinned throw the first stone!"...Then He stooped down again and wrote in the dust...When the accusers heard this, they slipped away one by one, beginning with the oldest, until only Jesus was left in the middle of the crowd with the woman...Then Jesus stood up again and said to the woman, "Where are your accusers?...Didn’t even one of them condemn you?"..."No, LORD," she said...And Jesus said, "Neither do I...Go and sin no more."...
Jesus wants us to learn mercy over sacrifice...He wants mercy and forgiveness and love to be a part of our everyday lifestyle...Because you cannot have love without forgiveness and you cannot have justice without mercy...