Go and Sin No More

John 8:1-20

1 But Jesus went to the Mount of Olives.

2 Now early in the morning He came again into the temple, and all the people came to Him; and He sat down and taught them. 3 Then the scribes and Pharisees brought to Him a woman caught in adultery. And when they had set her in the midst, 4 they said to Him, "Teacher, this woman was caught in adultery, in the very act. 5 Now Moses, in the law, commanded us that such should be stoned. But what do You say?" 6 This they said, testing Him, that they might have something of which to accuse Him. But Jesus stooped down and wrote on the ground with His finger, as though He did not hear.

7 So when they continued asking Him, He raised Himself up and said to them, "He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first." 8 And again He stooped down and wrote on the ground. 9 Then those who heard it, being convicted by their conscience, went out one by one, beginning with the oldest even to the last. And Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst. 10 When Jesus had raised Himself up and saw no one but the woman, He said to her, "Woman, where are those accusers of yours? Has no one condemned you?"

11 She said, "No one, Lord."
And Jesus said to her, "Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more."

12 Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, "I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life."

Jesus Defends His Self-Witness

13 The Pharisees therefore said to Him, "You bear witness of Yourself; Your witness is not true."

14 Jesus answered and said to them, "Even if I bear witness of Myself, My witness is true, for I know where I came from and where I am going; but you do not know where I come from and where I am going. 15 You judge according to the flesh; I judge no one. 16 And yet if I do judge, My judgment is true; for I am not alone, but I am with the Father who sent Me. 17 It is also written in your law that the testimony of two men is true. 18 I am One who bears witness of Myself, and the Father who sent Me bears witness of Me."

19 Then they said to Him, "Where is Your Father?"
Jesus answered, "You know neither Me nor My Father. If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also."

20 These words Jesus spoke in the treasury, as He taught in the temple; and no one laid hands on Him, for His hour had not yet come.

Jesus went to the Mount of Olives from the temple after everyone else went home (John 7:53) following their refusal to believe that He was the long-expected Messiah, the Christ.  This recollection of an adulterous woman caught red handed is in the majority (over 900) of original Greek manuscripts still in existence, but some think it is still suspect for various reasons.  We will look at it with expectant eyes for the truth God allowed in the scriptures for all but the last one hundred fifty years or so as authentic due to the number of witnesses to it and the flow of the account from Jesus speaking in the temple to the woman forgiven here to then stating because of this He is the light of the world in verse 12, even of some manuscripts had it in other places erroneously.  The account then is of Jesus coming from the temple as rejected by men to the accepting of a sinful woman forgiven and accepted by Him as the other accusing sinners are exposed for their own sin and challenged as if asking whether they also want to be rejected as they did the woman or forgiven and accepted as well.  They caught the woman in the act but apparently were only holding her accountable for adultery since we do not hear what happened to her lover who also was a sinner as much as she was.  They tossed her before the Lord expecting judgment from Him for her sin or refuting Him if He did not judge her harshly acc to the Law.  It was a trap to discredit Jesus and prove He was not the Christ as they had just thought they had proven by not understanding His lineage as promised in Micah 5:2 right before coming back into the temple the following morning.  The scribes and Pharisees quoted Moses who commanded in the Law that women like her should be stoned (Leviticus 20:10, Deuteronomy 22:22). They tested Him with this harsh text to enact judgment for what many of them had been guilty of themselves in heart or action (Matthew 5:27-28).  They then arrogantly asked Jesus, “But what do You say?”  This they did to prove their supposed righteousness and disprove His if He did not demand harsh action without forgiveness or grace in mercy.  The Lord therefore challenged them because He knew their hearts by asking them to begin killing her if they were so innocent of adultery themselves and did not deserve the same punishment according to the law which they angrily quoted.  Slowly they all were convicted by their consciences and left the scene of the crime they almost committed and then the Lord asked where her accusers were who wanted her dead.  She replied that nobody was left to convict her and Jesus likewise told her He forgave her sin and did not condemn her either.  He then followed the message of mercy in grace with the command to stop sinning like that as she went her way.  We are to also remember to confess our sins and go on to sin no more as a serious unction and no mere suggestion to be ignored as if further sin could allow more grace to be shown us (Romans 6:1-2) if we just went back to rolling in the mud (2 Peter 2:22) of such immortality.  

Jesus followed this message of forgiveness with the declaration that He is the light of the world (John 1:9) to follow out of the darkness of sin’s bondage like this woman’s sin and that of her accusers just as our Accuser in heavenly realms seeks to judge we who are in Christ night and day (Revelation 12:10) but have been forgiven as well.  Jesus then was asked to prove Him once more by the Pharisees after letting this woman go free and not stoned to death (though they again did not speak of the lynch mob who also deserved the same punishment according to their judgement without mercy (James 2:13).  They said that Jesus had no right to witness whom He was without corroborating witnesses besides Him.  The Lord made it clear that the divine witness was proven in Him knowing exactly where He came from m a fact which they did not know nor could prove.  He had His Father who is God as His expert witness and absolute proof of His identity and authority.  Only His judgment is true because of His testimony.  Theirs was flawed and uncorroborated.  Jesus left them with this truth to challenge them, “If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also.”  seeing Jesus was seeing God among them, Immanuel!  This they could not and would not grasp as the truth.  Because of this authority, Jesus then turned from them to continue teaching of the kingdom of heaven from scripture in the temple unharmed because He controlled what events and timing of His suffering and sacrificial atoning death on the cross.  We are then to honor the authority and example of Jesus in forgiveness and mercy as displayed to the adulterous woman and all the guilty crowd of which we are as well (Romans 3:9, 20, 23) and not in judgment as we commit ourselves to His judgment and mercy.  May we humbly also go and sin no more in response when forgiven by confessing and forsaking our sin.