John 8:2-11
Jesus Forgives a Woman
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.”
When Jesus wrote something on the ground with His finger the Pharisees saw what it was and there attitude and mindsets changed....They were ready to stone a girl...And the author does not offer to tell us what the words were that He wrote on the ground...They must have been pretty stirring and effective words...But we do not know what He wrote that day...
But we do know is that Jesus is the Messiah and that the Pharisees did not recognize that He was sent from God...We have an advantage over the Pharisees, we have the New Testament and four gospels, so we have Jesus’ Word...Many of the things that He said are given to us...
Today, I think there are many of us who still have these Pharisee like thoughts and ideas...Do we see Jesus as He really is?...Do we believe He came and is in heaven...Do we make Him a part of our lives and listen to Him?...Do we treat some people like the Pharisees treated the adulteress woman while we ourselves have sinned?...Do we judge others like the Pharisees were judging her?...If Jesus were here today, would He be writing something on the ground specifically for us?...And would our mindset change when we see His written word and what He was writing for us?...