One On One: 100 Days With Jesus--Ministry YearsНамуна

Accused: The One who scribbles in the dirt

It wasn’t even about the woman caught in adultery. She was just a pawn in the trap the Pharisees set for Jesus. 

An important, “religious” mob of men interrupted Jesus’ teaching one morning by throwing a half-dressed woman in front of Him. “Teacher, this woman was caught in bed with a man who isn’t her husband. In the Law, Moses says to stone her. What do you say?” 

Jesus knew what they were doing. They accused her so they could accuse Him. They picked up rocks, ready to throw them (at her? At Him? Either would be fine.) If they could just catch Him either breaking Roman law or breaking Moses’ law, they could get Him. Their righteous indignation would be satisfied. They wanted to catch Him more than they wanted justice executed on her. 

To their frustration, Jesus answered their unanswerable question by bending down and writing something in the dirt. Everyone’s attention moved from the shamed woman to the ground. 

As He scribbled the message with His finger, the crowd stopped shouting and the dust settled. Jesus then straightened up and looked around, “The sinless one among you, you go first: Throw the stone.” 

Their angry eyes shifted from Jesus to the words. Feet shuffled. Eyes dropped. Silence. And though they came as one, they left one by one. The thud of rocks hitting the dirt. The sound of footsteps scurrying away. 

We’re not told what Jesus wrote in the dirt. Could it have been a list of the men in the crowd who were also guilty of adultery? Maybe it was a list of sins—secret sins—and every accuser saw theirs plain as day. 

That’s the funny thing about sin. It sneaks up on you. You think it’s private—but secret sin on earth is open scandal in heaven. Nothing is hidden from God. In Him there is no darkness at all.

Not until Jesus and the woman stood there alone, did He turn His attention to her. We don’t even know her name, but Jesus does. He knows the name of her lover, too, and all about the betrayal and the lies that brought her to this dark place. 

Jesus told her to look up. “Is there anyone to condemn you? . . . then neither do I.” 

Jesus isn’t going soft on adultery; He’s giving her a chance to repent. “Go and sin no more.” 

Perhaps that was the first mercy she’s been shown all her life. And for the first time, the darkness in her life began to lift. 

Funny, too, that in the very next verse, John tells us:

Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness but will have the light of life.”

Tomorrow: One on one with Jesus at the well