John 7:53-8:11 is a well-known story which often gets misused. It is a stand alone story that Biblical scholars haven’t quite known what to do with. It wasn’t in the original writings in John’s gospel and the writing style in Greek doesn’t fit the style of John. Some scholars have tried to attribute it to Luke and others have attributed it to a later scribe who was copying John’s gospel and felt the need to add this story to make a point to a community where he was sending a manuscript. As the letters and gospels were circulated, comments and commentary were sometimes added by scribes. This makes biblical interpretation difficult at times, especially in the letters. I don’t have any reason to doubt that this story about the woman caught in adultery actually happened. I share all of this because I keep pointing out the writing style of John and his work actually flows better if this story is left out. The scribe (or whoever added the story in at this location) might be adding it here to bring this section theme into view that the accusers are ever so willing to pick up their stones while Jesus stands at the side of hurting and broken people (they are holding stones again at the end of the chapter).
This story is one about how we view sin. There are a lot of different takeaways and I’ve found that this is often the story in which people come to make Jesus say what they want him to say. Usually, it is either “Jesus says we can’t point out sin if we have sin ourselves so leave people’s sins alone” or “Jesus told the woman to quit sinning.” You can make both of these points, but they often need to be held in tension with one another. When I read this passage, a few stories came to mind about sin.
The first one that came to mind was about two high school boys I was in conversation with years ago. The first guy had messed around a lot with his one girlfriend while the second guy had kissed a lot of different girls. The first guy justified that his actions were purer because they were only with one girl though he pushed the line as far as it could go. The other guy had not done nearly as much but had done just a little with a lot of different girls. His lines of purity were more strict but he explored those lines a lot. You’ve got to love the measurements of the purity culture in these conversations, but I digress. Which one had the more grievous sin?
The next story happened in a bar used to frequent in Oklahoma City as part of my ministry to meet people where they are (I was very hesitant to write that sentence). We had a long-standing Bible study there and I was often asked for counseling in different life situations of the staff and other regulars. One interesting conversation that stood out to me was with a guy I met who apparently used to go to the church where I was a minister. When I say “used to go” I mean that he hadn’t been there in so long that he didn’t know the name of the church had changed nearly 30 years prior. He hasn’t been part of a church since then. He was heavily intoxicated but had no problem arguing the finer points of why different denominational churches were wrong because of their worship styles and inclusion of women visible roles. It struck me funny at how readily he was able to point out the perceived flaws of other churches when he hadn’t darkened the door of a church in nearly three decades.
I have a few other stories that come to mind but the point I want to illustrate is something very interesting about sin. What is the most grotesque sin you can think of? What sins should each of us be concerned with the most? This story where a woman caught in adultery is brought before Jesus tells us a lot about how we should approach sin. It is in the presence of Christ where sins are confronted, forgiven, and restored. When those holding the stones are confronted with their sins, they chose to drop their stones and walk away from Jesus rather than towards him. My two major takeaways from this story are that first, I need to draw close to the presence of Christ to confront the sins in my own life and second, I need to draw others close to the presence of Christ and allow the Spirit to do the work that the Spirit does. Both take time and relationship. You cannot bring about change in someone else’s life by throwing stones from a distance. You have to first walk with Christ yourself and then invite others to walk with him as well.
What are your stones?
Who are your “adulterous women”?
Are you spending time with Jesus in a way that reveals the answer to both of these questions?