“Teacher, this woman has been caught in the act of adultery. Now in the Law, Moses commanded us to stone such women. So what do you say?” John 8:4-5
There were only a few issues that brought the death penalty in the Old Testament, and they all had to do with spurning what is sacred, such as abusing God’s name, defying parents, taking human life, and breaking the bonds of marriage. The law tells us what God calls sacred, specifically in the third, fifth, sixth, and seventh commandments.
So here is what seems like an insoluble dilemma for Jesus. On the one hand, Jesus came that we might have life (John 10:10); on the other hand, He came to fulfill the law (Matt. 5:17). So what will Jesus do when the law has clearly been broken?
Jesus spoke often about mercy, and the issue presented to Him here is very clear: “If you are for mercy, then you cannot be for justice; but if you’re for justice, then you cannot be for mercy.”
So notice how Jesus deals with these accusers. “Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground” (John 8:6). There has been a great deal of speculation about what Jesus wrote, but John doesn’t tell us. What matters here is not what was written, but that Jesus “wrote with his finger.”
The Pharisees were asking Jesus a question about the law. But how was the law written? The law was written on tablets of stone by the finger of God (Ex. 31:18). When Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger, he was communicating, “It was my finger that wrote the law!”
Today, as we point our finger at others and condemn them, we play God, taking His place as the lawgiver. From this position, not only do we fail to see the One whose finger actually wrote the law, but we condemn ourselves, because there is also a finger pointing at us.
How do you typically deal with accusers, including others, your own heart, and God?
