Devotional - John 8:1-11 - The Woman Taken In Adultery

Passage To Study:

John 8:1-11

[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.”

What are the facts of the passage?:

(Verse 1-2) - Jesus ends the day by going to the Mount of Olives. The next morning He returns to the Temple and teaches the people.
(Verse 3-6a) - The Pharisees bring a woman taken in the act of adultery and question Him as to what to do with her.
(Verse 6b-9a) - They do this to try and trap Him. He responds by uniting in the sand and what He writes cosivicts everyone and they all go quietly home.
(Verse 9b-11) - Only the woman is left, Jesus asks her where her condemners went and was there no one to condemn her. She replies that there was no one. Jesus replies that He does not condemn her either.

What do those facts mean?:

(Verse 1-2) - It is interesting that Jesus, after the strenuous emotional, mental and spiritual conflict with the Pharisees, Jesus went out to the quiet solitude of the Mount of Olives. It has always mystified me why Jesus did these kind of things. On the one hand, it can't be that Jesus ''needed" some recharging from God that He got from spending time with Him. Christ, after all, was God and had all of the resources of the Father as His own. It could not have been need that caused Christ to go to the Mount of Olives.

On the other hand, I have never been satisfied with the ''He did it as a pattern for us" interpretation either. This explanation just doesn't seem to be sufficient to explain the actions. I would certainly agree that it should serve as an example for us; but I simply have a hard time believing this it is the sole reason (or even the main one).

I think the main reason why Jesus sometimes retired to a private place was because of the trauma of such close exposure to the incredible wickedness of man. I think that there were simply times when He wanted (not needed) some relief from being beset on every side by sin. I remember substituting in the hospital nursery once when I worked at Cooper Hospital after coming out of the service. It was a wonderful experience but a noisy one! I remember the relief of the quiet once we left the nursery. It was marvelous.

This is kind of what I think of when I think of why Christ went up on the Mount to spend time with the Heavenly Father. It was not a matter of need. Christ had no needs as such. He was entirely self-sufficient as God. It was a matter of want. I think there were times when the world was just too wicked, too sinful and He wanted to be free of it for a moment and so retreated into the holy and pure presence of His Heavenly Father.

How do those facts apply to my life?:

We are not like Christ. We do have needs. But, we can learn from this that there is an essential quality to our time with the Lord that does parallel this! We need time away from the muck and the mire of living in the world. We should also want to come away separate from the world. The dirt and filth and wickedness of the unredeemed world ought to wear on us and we ought to long for the ultimate release of the time when we will go to be with Him forever. Until then, we should cherish the moments we spend in His presence. They ought to be the most precious moments of our day!

What should I do in response?:

I need to be sure that I value the quiet time I spend with God - it is more valuable than I can ever know.

Day

The Woman Taken In Adultery