In John 8
there is a woman who is on the verge of being stoned to death because she is caught
in adultery. Numerous men have caught her and are all getting ready to stone
her but then a man full of love decides he is willing to risk his reputation
for her. Jesus stands before her and the men confront him and tell him the
situation, afterwards they demand that he moves aside and let them stone this
woman who has committed a crime/sin to her death.
Jesus then does something that is
very interesting. He doesn’t pay any attention to the men but (being still in
front of them) kneels down and writes in the sand with his hand. I think the
reason he did that could have been for a lot of different reasons; however, I think
it was to give the woman some time to get her composure. This is a woman who
was just caught having sex with a man who is not her husband and who probably
still doesn’t have too many clothes on. She is probably very embarrassed to be
thrown out and onto a stand in which she is the main attraction for the worst
reason. I think by Jesus kneeling down and writing in the sand he was able to
take all of the attention off of her and onto him so that, as I said, she could
pull herself together for a second.
After a little while Jesus then gets
up and tells them to go ahead and stone her… but states “let the one who has
NEVER sinned be the first to throw the stone.” After saying that he kneels back
down and starts writing in the sand again paying no attention to the men. One
by one they all walked away beginning with the oldest and all the way down to
the youngest. Eventually all of the men were gone and Jesus looked to the woman
and said “go and sin no more” thus freeing her from the sin she was controlled
by.
I love this passage because it shows
how loving and courageous Jesus is. If he were to say the wrong thing the men
could have accused him as well and stoned him to death; however, Jesus is so
much smarter than we ever give him credit for. His love for this woman is evident
because he was so willing to step up and stand for her when no one else in
their right mind would have. It is a great passage that shows a cool side of
Jesus that many often overlook.
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