Naked Grace, Dressed Works

  • David Fairchild
  • Mar 9, 2008
  • Series: Encountering Jesus

TEXT

John 8:2-11: "Early in the morning he came again to the temple. All the people came to him, and he sat down and taught them. 3 The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery, and placing her in the midst 4 they said to him, ‘Teacher, this woman has been caught in the act of adultery. 5 Now in the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. So what do you say?' 6 This they said to test him, that they might have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground. 7 And as they continued to ask him, he stood up and said to them, ‘Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.' 8 And once more he bent down and wrote on the ground. 9 But when they heard it, they went away one by one, beginning with the older ones, and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him. 10 Jesus stood up and said to her, ‘Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?' 11 She said, ‘No one, Lord.' And Jesus said, ‘Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more.'"

INTRODUCTION

For the last several weeks we've been going to the Gospels and extracting from them various conversations Jesus had with broken people. The reason for this, as we've said, is to soak our hearts in His words and to learn how Jesus interacts with a wide range of people-some morally virtuous and strong like the Roman Centurion, and some moral train wrecks and reviled like the woman at the well. In each of these stories we've come to see our God and His compassion more clearly.

What we've been asking as we eavesdrop is important-if Jesus treats hurting, broken, spiritually blind, emotionally lame, sinners who are dying of thirst this way, how will He treat me?

We've also come to see our flaws and sins more clearly as we realize that the way Jesus responds to people is often a far cry from how we treat marginalized outsiders.

We're learning that if we think we're full without Him we're actually starving. If we think we can see without Him we're actually blind. If we think we are quenched without Him we're actually thirsty. If we' think we're alive without Him we're actually dead. And this week we'll come to see that if we think we have peace without Him we're actually condemned.

Encountering Jesus through these words leaves us both mystified and yet strangely attracted to Him. He's a stranger, yet he moves close to sinners. He's a Jew, yet he cares for a Samaritan. He's a man in the first-century, yet he treats a sexually loose woman with dignity. He's compassionate, yet honest. He's right, yet winsome. He's a man who grows hungry, yet is full of the Father. He's unlike any person who ever existed. The more we look at Him the more clearly we can see how fractured and broken we are. He is humanity as it should be.

This story is set the day after the Feast of Tabernacles when Jesus says, "If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink." The religious rulers send guards to arrest Him, but when they return empty-handed, the priests ask them, "Why did you not bring Him?" They reply, "No one ever spoke the way this man does" (John 7:45-46).

Napoleon Bonaparte, the famous French Emperor and military commander, had the same reaction as the guards when he began reading the Gospels in his last days on the island of Elba. He told General Bertrand;

I know men; and I tell you that Jesus Christ is not a [mere] man. Superficial minds see a resemblance between Christ and the founders of empires and the gods of other religions. That resemblance does not exist. Everything in him astonishes me. His spirit overawes me, and his will confounds me. Between him and whoever else in the world, there is no possible term of comparison. He is truly a being by himself.

Historical Problems with this Story

Now before we jump in, I need to mention a caution on the outset. If you look in your Bibles from 7:53 to 8:11, you may see this story bracketed or with an asterisk next to it. The reason for this is because in the earliest manuscripts we've unearthed this story is missing. Some textual analysts have contended that it shouldn't be considered part of John's Gospel because it was probably added by the early church and it contains several words which are not included in any of John's writings.

My take on this passage is simple, there is not enough evidence to prove that it deserves to be taken out of the Bible or skipped over in our studies.

There seems to be enough evidence to indicate this event did occur and that it has been kept for our benefit. Some of the positive reasons to keep this story and trust it are:

1. The Christ in this passage is "in character" as He is described elsewhere. In other words, it's completely consistent with how Jesus would treat a woman like this.

2. Papias, who was a disciple of John, seems to have known this story and to have expounded on it. Eusebius, an early church commentator expounds on Papias' story.

3. Augustine has stated that certain individuals had removed from their translations this section regarding the adulteress because they feared that women would appeal to this story to excuse them from their infidelity. So the fact that it was taken out, and not found again until later manuscripts explains the gap.

4. This story is in agreement with the whole of Scripture and does not contradict any portion of it.

I don't mean to bore you with details, but I thought it should at least be addressed.

So what do we learn from this story? We learn of consistency of Jesus' compassion and tenderness towards people that this world has discarded. Jesus seems to continuously love the unlovely.

A Bruised Reed and Smoldering Wick

In Matthew 12 we see the prediction of the Old Testament Messiah coming to pass.

a bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not quench, until he brings justice to victory -Matthew 12:20

What does this mean? It means that Jesus combines compassion and justice-traits in Him that the world has never seen. He is the most complete human being that we've ever seen. He's not a compromise between strength and tenderness. Instead He's just and righteous to its fullest as well as gentle and tender to its fullest. These two traits don't fight in Jesus, they unite in Him.

To not break a bruised read or put out a smoldering wick until He brings forth victory means that Jesus is absolute power and majesty; He will put down evil once and for all. But in the mean time, He is so gentle and tender that a bruised heart, barely held together, will not be broken but mended in His hands. A flickering soul just about to go out will be kept alive and in His hands won't be harmed but fanned into life. He is what we need.

STUDY

This startling combination of traits is demonstrated through this portrait of Jesus and the woman caught in adultery.

We can see His tenderness towards her and that teaches us His tenderness towards us, and that becomes our only hope and lasting motivation for our tenderness towards one another. Let's look at this woman's predicament and Jesus' response.

Verses 3-4: "The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery, and placing her in the midst 4 they said to him, ‘Teacher, this woman has been caught in the act of adultery.'"

The word "caught" means that she was literally found in the act of adultery. According to Jewish law she would have had to have been caught in order to bring her up on proceedings for capital punishment. She couldn't have simply been with a man in his home, not even lying on his bed with him, but actually caught in the very act itself.

Also, Jesus isn't disputing that she's been caught, or being asked by the Pharisees if she was guilty. That's already been proven. What the Pharisees and scribes want to know about is the penalty for her adultery. They're referring to Leviticus 20:10 and Deuteronomy 22:22 and pointing out that the Law of Moses says that adultery is punishable by death.

So grievous is adultery that God places this as the seventh of the Ten Commandments. In Exodus 20:14, God says clearly and directly, "Thou shall not commit adultery."

American culture has defined adultery as sexual intercourse between two people, when at least one of the members of the couple is currently married to someone else.

The Bible defines adultery as the violation of the marriage bed. The marriage bed is the same as the marriage union. The marriage bed is to be held in honor and it is to be undefiled. Those who defile the marriage bed will be judged by God. Fornication and adultery are both acts that defile the marriage bed.

Laying the Trap

The Pharisees and scribes lay a very sharp trap for Jesus, one up to this point no one had been able to figure out.

They realize that Jesus would be stuck between two problems: the life of the woman who was caught and the demands of God's justice and Law.

If He allowed the woman to be executed, then everything He had said about Himself to this point would have been a lie. How could He be the Messiah who is lowly and humble of heart, who will not cast anyone out who comes to Him? They would say "What a great Messiah you have. Come to Him if you weary and are heavy laden and He'll execute you!" They knew Jesus' entire ministry was based upon compassion and forgiveness. They were confronted by Him again and again for their lack of compassion and grace. Jesus taught that to enter into His Kingdom comes through grace and forgiveness. They were banking on His character to trap Him.

Yet if He didn't hold up the Law of Moses, then He wasn't from God as He said. He said on the Sermon on the Mount that the Law of Moses was from God and that every jot and title would not pass away until it is fulfilled. If He refuses to stone this woman then He's refused God's Law, which means that He's refused God. It was an ingenious trap.

The Problem of the Gospel

This story raises a problem that our society, with all its advancements, still has a great difficulty understanding how to handle. In the time of this story neither religion nor society had been able to reconcile it.

Even in our day, if we have nothing but compassion we make morality an afterthought. But if we have nothing but morality we crush people and lack compassion. How do we escape from this problem?

The Pharisees thought they had Him, but this was no ordinary man; it was God Himself. So what does Jesus do with them? He does what He seems to love to do-He disturbs the comfortable and comforts the disturbed.

Disturbing the Comfortable

The first thing He does is disturb the comfortable. What Jesus does next is astonishing. He never says that a stone shouldn't be thrown does He? He tells them to go ahead and throw a stone, but the one who does it better make sure they are without sin. He's not arguing against punishment, He's not saying that sin doesn't deserve punishment. So what is He saying?

Jesus isn't arguing capital punishment, He doesn't even get into the subject. What He is saying is that these men were disqualified to be witnesses or executioners. "Your testimony is invalid and you're not qualified to throw a stone." How could He say this? Why would He say this?

The Jewish legal experts knew that capital punishment was easily abused. It was very difficult to actually execute someone because the Law made it extremely difficult to do so. The Jewish Law required that there were at least two witnesses, that these witnesses had to actually have seen the act, and upon cross examination their stories had to match perfectly without error.

There is a story of a woman who was caught under a tree doing something which broke God's Law and when they cross examined the witnesses they dismissed the case because the men couldn't agree upon the size of the leaves.

The Mishnah, which is a commentary on the Jewish Law, said in its writing that if a court executed more than one person a year it was considered a slaughterhouse.

In order for this woman to be caught in the act of adultery, she almost certainly had to be set up in a trap. Otherwise, where is the man? If the witnesses caught her in the act and saw her, they would have seen the man, and the Old Testament Law is clear that the man and woman would be put to death. The OT was totally against partiality in judgments. Meaning, the Law was not to be partial to men or women, rich or poor. But the fact that they brought only the woman leads us to believe it was entrapment and was planned. Perhaps the man who she was caught with worked with the Pharisees and scribes.

Also, the Law demanded a trial. To bring this woman, half-dressed, and to throw her at Jesus' feet like some discarded waste in front of all the people to humiliate her was against the Law they were trying to uphold.

What does Jesus do?

Verses 6b-8: "...Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground. 7 And as they continued to ask him, he stood up and said to them, ‘Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.' 8 And once more he bent down and wrote on the ground."

Jesus says, "Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her." He isn't saying that only a perfect and sinless person could punish someone. No one believed that and these men wouldn't have been convicted of that statement.

Instead, Jesus is saying something far worse to them. Jesus is saying, "I know you, and the very Law of Moses that you say you're concerned with, you yourself have broken." What? How could Jesus say that? How could He claim that the very sin of adultery that this woman is being brought here for had been committed by them? Well, what does Jesus say on the Sermon on the Mount as He teaches on the spiritual and internal nature of the Law?

Matthew 5:27-28 "You have heard that it was said, 'You shall not commit adultery.' 28 But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart."

How did they all know she was in the act of adultery? If they were all peering through a window or a doorway, is it fair to say that perhaps they had committed adultery in their own hearts?

Here are several heterosexual men watching a naked woman have sex. If they said they did not lust, they were either blind, didn't like women, or they were liars.

Jesus is showing them that their hypocrisy is a stench in God's nostrils. What about the Law against conspiracy? What about the Law against partiality? What about the Law that you yourselves have broken with your adulterous hearts?

Jesus doesn't deny the Law of Moses, but by the Law of Moses He disqualifies these men to be witnesses or executioners of this woman. What an incredible stab to the heart of their hypocrisy and slowly but surely, starting with the old first, they began to leave. They knew they had just been spanked like a baby and of course the older men, a little more wise in their years, leave first.

Hypocrisy in the Church

Why do you think Jesus is so concerned with a show of being religious? Well, from this story it's pretty simple, it kills. Hypocrisy kills relationships. It kills deep community. It kills truth. It kills compassion. It kills spiritual vitality. It kills worship. It kills mission. It kills the sense of our common union in Christ. And for many through the centuries, it can turn deadly and literally kill us like these men wished was done with the woman.

This is why Jesus in a hilarious yet scathing rebuke to hypocrisy calls us to be lumberjacks and get rid of our own logs.

Matthew 7:1-5: "Judge not, that you be not judged. 2 For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you. 3 Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? 4 Or how can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' when there is the log in your own eye? 5 You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye."

It's not that we're to ignore the specks in each other's eyes, but to hypocritically attempt to remove your brother or sister's speck without first noticing the massive 4x4 in your own eye is not only unwise, since you're of no practical help to your brother, but you're of no help to yourself.

We judge each other for our failings (specks of sawdust) even as we overlook our own considerably larger ones (log). Let's see if we do this?

What bugs you about other people? Do you, in some way, do the same thing? For instance, does it bother you when you see someone speak disrespectfully to another? Have you ever been so frustrated by this that you spoke disrespectfully to them? Instead of saying, "How can you be so stupid to treat other people like this?" you should say, "I know how hard it is. I do the same thing." Jesus wants us to examine ourselves and remove our own flaws before pointing out someone else's.

Our inner sin affects our eyesight. Our self-righteousness, our sense that "we would never do that," distorts our vision so that the other person's errors seem larger than our own. So when someone doesn't listen to me, I just increase the volume. Truth becomes a weapon and we continue the cycle of blaming and defending. But if I focus on myself first, I can break the cycle to make peace possible.

You might say, "This is why I won't go to church, it's full of hypocrites," to which we might respond, "Well come on in, one more won't hurt us!" Also, if you ever find a church that is without hypocrites, don't go to it because you'll ruin it!

It's not that we ignore sin. It's not that we don't try to remove another's speck. But if we've done so in a way that is hypocritical and condemning, Jesus says we're running the risk of being judged by the same judgment.

Jesus deals with the hypocrites first, before the woman caught in adultery. Because they refused to name their sin first, He named it for them.

Jesus not only disturbs the comforted, He now turns to comfort the disturbed.

Comforting the Disturbed

He stood up, looked at her with dignity and respect which she may not have experienced for some time and says:

Verse 10-11: "‘Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?' 11 She said, ‘No one, Lord.' And Jesus said, ‘Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more.'"

What an incredible demonstration of both righteousness and grace. In one swoop He's chased away the accusers and then turns to comfort this woman.

But notice that He doesn't allow a victim mentality with her. He refuses to allow blame-shifting. By confronting the witnesses' hypocrisy, they're disqualified to act as witnesses and therefore the case would have to be dismissed. But this doesn't mean that there's no case.

Jesus knows, and the Bible teaches, that you can't entrap a righteous heart. You can't bribe and honest man. It is out of the heart, out of our desires that we do what we do, not the circumstances. Our heart tempts us, not simply outside conditions.

Jesus addresses her sin by saying to her, "Go, and from now on sin no more." What does He mean? He means that she is no longer to give herself to sin but to Him. She's no longer to pursue that which will no only harm her, but harm her relationship with God.

He is calling for her life to be converted. He wants a change of her life. Yet before this call to obedience He says, "Neither do I condemn you..."

Do you realize the subtlety and yet shock to His statement. He's essentially claiming that every sin we commit, every deviation from God's Law is not done in abstraction but in relationship to Him. Every sin, according to Jesus is against Himself. The only One who can say, "Neither do I condemn you..." is the one whom you've offended and who has the right to condemn, and that's God Himself. Our sin is against a person, not some arbitrary Law. The Law flows from and is consistent with the Person. God's character is seen in the Law because God desires that we are conformed into His image.

This makes sin so much more profound and serious because we're not simply spitting on a sign of laws, we're spitting in His face. It's personal. One of the greatest insults that can be done to a leader is to take a statue created in his image and throw it down and break it, or to take a paining of him and destroy it. Yet we are created in God's image. We are His image bearers. One of the greatest insults to Him is to deface His image and we do this through sin. It's an insult to His goodness and kindness.

But doesn't Jesus know what the Law says? You can't just wink at sin and pretend it's not there. You can't just ignore the sin and not punish her crime against God. How can He make such a scandalous claim to her?

Jesus doesn't say she's not guilty. Telling her not to sin anymore is to admit she is guilty. But what does He say? The answer to this gets us right into the heart of true Christianity.

Jesus essentially says, "You're guilty, but I don't condemn you." How can He say such a thing? In the human, legal sense the witnesses are gone and there is no case against her. But we know Jesus isn't simply thinking at this level. It goes much deeper because the case between her and God still stands whether the human courts acknowledge it or not.

Jesus raises Himself to look at this woman face to face, and He begins by speaking to her with dignity. He starts by saying to her "woman." This is the same word used when Jesus addressed His mother in chapter 2 of this Gospel.

He begins with just the opposite of what she would expect. He begins by restoring dignity to her in the midst of those watching. This woman has probably not had a man look at her in the eye and address her with respect in many seasons. She is sexually loose and has allowed herself to be used by men seeking their own pleasure.

Instead of looking at her half-naked and giving her a look from head to toe, Jesus simply says, "Woman, where are those accusers of yours? Has no one condemned you?"

How beautiful these words must have been to her. How she must have looked into the eyes of the Messiah and marveled at His poise and compassion. She responds with respect by saying, "No one, Lord".

Christ looks at her as a woman created by God in His image, not as a whore that deserves to be stoned.

Jesus responds to her with words that must have broken through the years of being used and abused, "Neither do I condemn you."

Here she stands, guilty, deserving nothing but what she knew was coming one day. Instead, Jesus Christ, our great God and Savior, acquits her of her crime. He sets her free in many ways.

He sets her free from the trap of the Pharisees. He sets her free from the guilt and shame from the years of the wear of her own sin. And now He sets her free from sin itself to live a life that can glorify God the way she was created.

How can Jesus do this? How is it possible that He could set her free? Is He not falling into the trap of those that sought His death by breaking the Law of Moses?

On the contrary, He looks into her eyes and sees His own cross. He would go to that very cross she deserved. He would keep the law of God by becoming a sacrifice in her place. He would keep the law perfectly to satisfy God's anger and justice towards the very sins she committed.

He sees her adultery, he sees how she has broken marriages, how she has wrecked homes, how she has allowed her body to be used, and He plants the cross right down in the middle of all of it!

This is how the Apostle Paul can say in Romans 8:1: "There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus."

He takes the condemnation away from the ungodly. The Scripture teaches in 2 Corinthians 5:21: "For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God."

Do you realize that He took your condemnation? Do you believe He took your punishment? Will you trust in Him like this woman? If you do, all the penalty is removed.

You can only imagine what Jesus was feeling when He said, "Neither do I condemn you." Now you know what it cost Him to say that. "My sister, I don't condemn you, I will be condemned for you. Yes, stones should be thrown, but they'll hit Me. Spears should be launched, but they'll pierce my side. Nails out to be driven, but they'll be driven through my hands. Thorns should be brought down, but they'll come down on my head. Come sister, you're now free."

He is the perfect physician of our soul. Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

This truth should affect us substantially.

1-If you have a bruised heart, you need to go to Him. Have you been thrown down by things others have done to you? Have you been caught because of things you have done? Jesus is calling you to come to Him. Don't wait.

How? Stop your blame-shifting and accept that you are far more flawed and broken than you care to admit. But also look at Him broken and beaten upon a cross and realize that He can say the same words to you, "Neither do I condemn you."

If you feel like you're far too gone, you haven't seen Him yet. Can't you see what He's saying to this woman and therefore to you?

You might say, "I've done too many things that He can't possibly forgive me." But with Him there is forgiveness beyond your sin.

You might say "I've got so many problems." But with Him there is power beyond your problems.

You might say "I'm too confused." But with Him there is wisdom beyond your confusion.

You might say "I'm too oppressed." But with Him there is victory beyond your oppression.

2-Whenever Jesus gives you a word of grace it also includes a challenge to change. Most movies that portray this scene end at "Neither do I condemn you." But nobody loves like that. If you love someone, your love for them desires the best for them and you can't stand to see them destroyed. Grace intrudes self-destruction. Real love has to get into someone's life and help them.

If you adopt a child who comes from a horrible background and is a total mess, you don't adopt them because they're a wonderful person; you adopt them because of grace, because they're not a wonderful person.

But in doing so, you bring them in and care for them. You don't say, "Live how you want now." No one does that. If you love them you call them to change to become something great. If you're afraid of how Jesus might change you it's because you don't really understand true love. True love desires change for the best, not to stay the same.

3-Some of us are not changing because we're taking our sins, flaws, and habits to the Law instead of the cross. Jesus doesn't say, "Go and sin no more and then I'll not condemn you." No! He says "Neither do I condemn you, go and sin no more." The order is absolutely critical and creates two different kinds of people.

Stop trying to make yourself worthy to God, to others, to your bosses, your neighbors or even yourself. Get God's stamp of approval which reads, "No Condemnation" and then you'll want to change because you're no longer under the burden of trying to live up and keep standards.

Do you know what happens when you only hear the Law? You say things like, "Yeah, make me!" So we dig in our heels because our hearts haven't been melted. But when we hear that He's already died on our behalf, already taken our condemnation, already proven His love and approved us, we want to change because of what He's done for us.

4-How does this affect how we'll treat others?

The platinum rule: "Do unto others as Christ has done for you."

If we say we have peace without Jesus, He says we're condemned; but if we say we are condemned without Jesus, He says we have peace.

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