The Woman Caught in Adultery

It’s Your kindness that leads us to repentance
O Lord (Romans 2:4)

The Teachers of the Law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group and said to Jesus, “Teacher, this woman was caught in adultery. In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?” They were using this question as a trap in order to have a basis for accusing him. But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with His finger. When they kept on questioning Him He straightened up and said to them, “If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.” (John 8:3-8)

Why are Christians so hypocritical?

A man once told me, “I’m not coming to your church … too many hypocrites go there.” “Please join us,” I replied, “One more won’t hurt.” By the way, if you ever find a church with no hypocrites, don’t go there, you’ll ruin it.

Someone remarked that the Christian army is the only one that goes through the battlefield after the fight and bayonets its wounded. Do we think we’re winning points with the Lord by condemning the actions and people we think He’d condemn? “Do not condemn,” He said, “And you won’t be condemned.” (Luke 6:37)

Psychologists claim that we subconsciously hate in others those weaknesses we most despise in ourselves. When we become Christians we don’t stop being sinners and if we’re not careful this subconscious loathing of our own sinfulness can cause us to harden our hearts toward others instead of having the compassion that should result from the forgiveness we’ve received.

Think of the woman who’s had an abortion and has now become a militant Pro-Life activist … the alcoholic intolerant of drinkers … the man with a disaster for a marriage who loudly condemns divorce. Are their motives pure or are they projecting their anger with themselves onto others? Like the Pharisees who caught the woman, do they want to punish someone else for committing sins of which they themselves are guilty? (Often behavior we think of as righteous is merely self- righteous.)

Some Christians hate people who do things they themselves would secretly like to do (or have done and still carry the guilt for). It’s like we’re saying, “If I can’t get away with this then I’ll make sure you can’t either.” And yet the only difference between the sinner and the saint is the decision to accept the pardon the Lord purchased with His blood.

WWJD

What would Jesus do? The only anger He ever expressed toward man was in response to the self-righteous officials who somehow convinced themselves they weren’t sinners anymore and publicly condemned those who still were. When He wrote in the sand in John 8:6, perhaps He was writing the secret sin of each accuser. Maybe that’s what made them all slink away. It’s clear that something He did underscored His comment that the one without sin should cast the first stone and reminded the woman’s accusers that they were sinners too.

He then refused to become the woman’s accuser Himself (the Hebrew word for accuser is Satan) while reminding her that her behavior was a sin. I believe He would have welcomed her into His company at that very moment. How many sinners like her would be welcome in our company? The officials of His day criticized Him for associating with sinners, but who else was there for Him to associate with? Who needed the comfort of God? Surely not those who didn’t think they were sinners.

Was our Lord soft on sin? Absolutely not! And coming to Jesus does not grant one a license to sin, but once we recognize our behavior as sin and confess, His example is to forgive and forget. Paul demonstrated this in 2 Cor 2: 5-9 when he admonished the church to welcome back the sinner he had them expel in 1 Cor.5: 1-5 fearing the man would otherwise be overcome with excessive sorrow.

We’re only too willing to expel the sinner and turn him over to Satan to be punished, forgetting that Paul also taught that our failure to forgive and forget is a tool of Satan as well … to be used against us (2 Cor. 2:11).

So what’s the point?

The world laughs as the church condemns it for doing the very things it sees us doing, and our credibility is destroyed in its eyes. Reps. Henry Hyde, Bob Barr, and others learned that the hard way during the Clinton impeachment hearings.

Many in the Church respond by saying “Well, if the church was above reproach we’d have more credibility when we criticize the world.” Jesus was above reproach in a way none of us could ever be, and yet He showed only compassion … not accepting the behavior but never rejecting the person.

Maybe if we showed the same kind of love Jesus showed toward sinners, we’d have more power and influence for good in the world and appear less like the hypocritical Pharisees. It’s His kindness that led us to repentance after all (Romans 2:4). Maybe our kindness could lead others.