John 7:53-8:1-11 Jesus and The Adulteress

~ Vincent

Video Teaching
Verse-by-Verse Commentary
Full Transcript

From the Pulpit

Commentary

Background of John 7:53–8:11

  1. The Controversy

    1. This story of the woman caught in adultery is absent in some of the oldest Greek manuscripts of the New Testament.

    2. In other ancient manuscripts, it appears elsewhere, such as in Luke or later in John (chapter 21).

    3. Some churches feel concerned that addressing these “academic” issues with biblical manuscripts are a waste of time.  People should focus on applying the Scripture to their lives!  But in the era of social media, stumbling onto misinformation about passages like this is a key possibility, and it touches on major questions about the Bible: is the Bible untrustworthy?  Is this something that disproves the faith?

    4. It’s important to understand why this Scripture is here so that we can have full faith in the Scriptures before us.

  2. Understanding Textual Variances

    1. The original handwritten New Testament documents no longer exist; they were penned on perishable materials about 2,000 years ago and did not survive due to climate, frequent handling, and suppression by non-Christian authorities.

    2. The Bible is among the most copied works in history, with thousands of ancient manuscripts available.

    3. Scholars compare manuscripts to reconstruct the most likely original text.

    4. Textual variants arose during manual copying before printing.

    5. Over 99% of variants are minor, like typos or substituting “he” for “Jesus.”

    6. Fewer than 1% are significant textual variants; the beginning of John 8 is one of these.

  3. Historical and Scholarly Resolution

    1. The issue with this stretch of text isn’t new; it is ancient; Christian leaders discussed it as early as the fourth century, when reliable records increased after Christianity’s legalization in the Roman Empire.

    2. Early church leaders and most orthodox, traditional biblical scholars today affirm the passage’s place in Scripture, commonly in its current location in John 8.

    3. Two criteria especially guided the inclusion of this passage:

      1. Apostolicity: This appears to be written by someone who knew Jesus and carried the first-generation authority of an apostle.

      2. Inspiration: Christians throughout the generations have acknowledged the Holy Spirit’s original inspiration and continuing power present in the passage.

  4. Dominant Theories on Omission and Inclusion

    1. Theory 1 (Written by John, later omitted): John wrote the story, but some scribes in certain regions excluded it as too scandalous due to its portrayal of forgiveness for an adulterous woman; it was retained elsewhere, producing variations.

    2. Theory 2 (Apostolic tradition, later added): A true apostolic-era account not in John’s original draft was added later by an authorized figure. Individuals like Simeon or Jude, the second and third bishops of Jerusalem, who lived long and knew Jesus, could have placed it where it fit best.

  5. Main Takeaway on the Textual Variances

    1. There is no translator conspiracy; questions about the text need not cause suspicion or fear.

    2. Faithful compilers did extensive research to ensure Scripture is trustworthy and inspired.

    3. Faith should remain steady; scholars have rigorously examined these issues for centuries.

53 Then they all went home,

1 but Jesus went to the Mount of Olives.

2 At dawn he appeared again in the temple courts, where all the people gathered around him, and he sat down to teach them. 3 The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group 4 and said to Jesus, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. 

  1. “…Jesus went to the Mount of Olives.”

    1. “[U]nto the fruitful mount, unto the mount of ointment, unto the mount of chrism. For where, indeed, but on mount Olivet did it become the Christ to teach? For the name of Christ is from chrism; χρισμα in the Greek, is called in Latin unctio, an anointing. And He has anointed us for this reason, because He has made us wrestlers against the devil.” -Augustine, Tractate 33, 3.

  2. “…he sat down to teach them.”
    1. “His sitting down is the humility of the Incarnation, through which he shows mercy and teaches.” -Glossa Ordinaria, John 8.

  3. “They made her stand before the group…”

    1. “When the Evangelist says that the scribes brought to him a woman, he means that it was done by an agreement among them, in order to lay traps for Christ.” -Calvin, Calvin’s Commentary on John, 8.3.
    2. The woman evokes both pity and guilt: she is mistreated and humiliated, drawing our compassion.

    3. It’s more than understandable to identify with her.  Just like her, we wandered away from the one who loved us.  We fell short of our obligations and need mercy.

    4. It’s also worth noting that she definitively sinned.  She was caught in the act of adultery.  There was a family that was devastated by what she did.  Sympathizing is good, but remembering that her sin was serious (just like ours is) is important too.

5 In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?” 6 They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him.

  1.  “They were using this question as a trap…”

    1. They asked, “In the law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?”

    2. The trap set conflicting legal demands at odds with each other:

      1. The Mosaic law clearly orders that someone that is caught in adultery be stoned (Lev. 20:10, Deut. 22:22-24).  If Jesus ignores this, he is a hypocrite the ignores the law he claims to teach.

      2. Roman law demands that the death penalty only be issued by a Roman judge, and Roman law usually handled the matter with divorce, exile or property loss.  Enacting Mosaic law meant ignoring Roman law.

    3. The trap also threatened his popularity and legacy, forcing a choice between being just (and harsh) or merciful (and someone who ignored the Scriptures).  Either way, the people could turn on him.

But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. 7 When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” 8 Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground.

9 At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there. 10 Jesus straightened up and asked her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?”

11 “No one, sir,” she said.

“Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.”

  1. “But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground…”

    1. Scripture doesn’t reveal what he wrote; the act itself is what matters.

      1. Jesus bent down and wrote on the ground instead of answering immediately, resisting their pressure and heightening tension.

      2. He stooped again to write after he spoke, refusing to intimidate them into doing what he wanted, leaving the decision to their consciences.

    2. This response affirms the law yet introduces a higher standard: justice must be administered by the just.

    3. This particular act has been interpreted in a variety of ways since the dawn of Christianity.  For more information on interpretive history, check out this article where I give a broad view of how interpreters have pondered why it tells us Jesus wrote without telling us what he wrote.
  2. “At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time…”

    1. One by one, they left, starting with the older first—perhaps recognizing their own sin more quickly through age and experience.

    2. Their departure was a silent confession, leaving Jesus alone with the woman.’

    3.  “I suppose that woman was the more terrified when she had heard it said by the Lord, He that is without sin of you, let him first cast a stone at her. But they, turning their thought to themselves, and by that very withdrawal having confessed concerning themselves, had left the woman with her great sin to Him who was without sin. And because she had heard this, He that is without sin let him first cast a stone at her, she expected to be punished by Him in whom sin could not be found.” -Augustine, Tractate 33, 6.
  3. “Go now and leave your life of sin.”

    1. Jesus forgives her for her sin, literally forgiving something worthy of death according to the Scriptures.  He also warns her that she needs to change.  This isn’t cheap grace.  There is abundant grace, but it asks everything.

    2. Christ’s character is like that wonderful meeting of truth and love in Ps 85:10: “Mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other.” (KJV)

    3. Jesus did not judge her that day, but not because he’s unwilling to judge.  Scripture teaches he will return to judge the living and the dead (2 Timothy 4:1). He is merciful and patient, awaiting repentance, yet a day of final judgment will come.

    4. Ultimately, each of us will stand before Jesus alone to hear the final verdict. Jesus is merciful, but he’s just.  He asks all of us to go and leave our life of sin.

Full Transcript

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So we’re in John chapter 8 now. We just wrapped up John chapter 7. We have that one little passage, John chapter 7 verse 53, and well this particular passage there’s some controversy around it. And I was wondering months in advance, should I talk about this? Is this something that should be in Sunday morning worship? Because basically the thing of it is, here is a passage that’s got a bit of a history. It doesn’t appear in some of the oldest Greek manuscripts of the New Testament that we have, and in other ancient manuscripts it’s in a different place. Sometimes it’s in the book of Luke, sometimes it’s later on in John. What’s the deal? And this really is a matter of biblical scholarship, so I wondered for a while, do I even really need to bring it up on a Sunday morning? Or is this something we just get to the story as it is, and we don’t worry about that kind of thing?

I had actually resolved to just ignore it and move on until one of you, just a few weeks ago, asked me a question about textual variation in the New Testament. Now let me just tell you this: I have been in ministry for 10 years now, and in that 10 years, that is the first time someone has asked me a question like that, which to me is a very clear nudge from God. “Hey, you should talk about that. People need to know.” And I think it is important to talk about things like this together, because if we don’t talk about it in church, it doesn’t mean the knowledge isn’t out there. It just means the context that you might hear about it in might be a little more jarring than expected. I’ve met people that find out about textual variation and it shakes their faith because they say, “Well, I trust the Bible. There’s variation in it. What’s that about? Sounds like it’s not very trustworthy after all.”

Or sometimes people think that there’s some kind of conspiracy on the part of Bible translators to take out certain pieces that they don’t like or put in certain pieces that they do like. Now let me tell you, there are reputable Bible translators and translators that aren’t so reputable. I mean, this is a bit of a tricky area. There are some people that are good translators that sincerely want to get the word of God into your hands. But if we don’t know what they’re doing, we can’t really say for sure. So it does look like it could be a problem. But again, if we just follow the rules here, then we need to make sure that the translation is correct.

So then you know that John chapter 8, the earliest manuscripts don’t have that story. It was added later by the church. They didn’t tell you about that. I wonder why they want you to believe it, but don’t explain it to you. So you can see there’s good reasons to talk about this together.

So let’s talk about it. This story right here, this is a textual variance. And to explain that, you got to remember, we do not have the original gospel written by John with his own hands. We don’t have it. We don’t have any of the original New Testament documents. We don’t have any of Paul’s letters. We don’t have any of Peter’s writings. We just don’t have them—and not for any big wild crazy reason, it’s just they were written on paper. And things that are written on paper 2,000 years ago tend not to last 2,000 years. Trust me. I have a toddler in my house. There are some papers that don’t make it to the end of the week if I put them in the wrong place. Papers, and especially if you’re in a region that’s sometimes humid, if you’re dealing with documentation that is being handled often, or if you’re a part of a religious group that the authorities in the region are actively trying to suppress, your documents have a much lower chance of surviving all that long. So we don’t have them.

But the Bible is one of the most copied documents in all of history. And that’s true not only in the modern era but in the ancient era. We have thousands of manuscripts of the New Testament. What we do is we take those manuscripts that we have, and we compare them to one another to try to see what the original probably said. You have to keep in mind, they didn’t have printers back then. You couldn’t just print out a copy of the New Testament for someone. Let’s say I wanted to get a copy in the ancient world of the New Testament. Imagine copying the whole New Testament by hand. How often do you think, even if you’re being very, very careful—and we should assume that they were, right? This was Scripture. They took their job seriously. But how often during that process might you accidentally write something that’s a little different than what the original said? Nothing wild, but I don’t know. Have you ever made a typo? That’s what we’re talking about. That would count. Have you ever, maybe the original said Jesus did this and you just wrote he did this? That’s a textual variant. Any time someone did something a little different when they were copying it, that is a textual variant.

Now over 99% of textual variants we have from those ancient New Testament manuscripts aren’t really that big a deal. They’re not significant. For example, stuff like typos. Stuff like they said “he” instead of “Jesus.” The kind of thing that you can tell, we kind of get the story, someone made a mistake. Got it. Now less than 1% though are significant textual variance, and this is one of those. This story, like I said earlier, it doesn’t appear in the oldest Greek manuscripts that we have of the New Testament. And for that matter, in some of the other ones it appears in other places. Sometimes it appears in John chapter 21. Sometimes it appears in the book of Luke later on, sometimes it’s just in other places. Now where we have it in our Bibles today, this is the most common place for it to appear and by a pretty wide margin. But we do have these outliers, right? So what’s the deal? Was this a part of what John originally wrote or was it added later? Should we even consider this as part of the Bible?

And this is not a new question, by the way. Sometimes people think that we are so smart and so advanced today, we have found new things that no one knew about before. Not so. This is a question people have been asking since the fourth century. And you may wonder, well if they were talking about it in the fourth century, why not the first, second and third? The fourth century is when Christianity got legalized in the Roman Empire. It’s hard to get reliable records from before that point, because at any point, you might get killed and your papers burned. The fourth century is about the earliest you can reliably get really high quality Christian records. And sure enough, we can see a lot of people that were in the process of compiling scripture asking, “Where does this belong? Why do some of you have this in your Bibles and some of you don’t? And why is it in different places in some places? What’s the deal?”

And they ultimately decided that this did belong right where it’s at as a part of Scripture. And to this day, I would say the ultra majority, practically all of the Bible scholars that are orthodox, that are traditional, that are biblical agree with that. And here’s some of the reasons why they feel it’s that way. And the logic hasn’t changed wildly. Two of the things they really concern themselves with when it was the question, “Does this belong?” is first off, is it apostolic? And that just means did the person who wrote this actually know Jesus? Did this happen? Because there are a lot of people that wrote good Christian things. That doesn’t mean they’re scripture. Was this someone who was actually a part of that first generation of Christians that could write with the authority necessary to be in Scripture? And then, is it inspired by the Holy Spirit? And ultimately they determined that it was.

And here were some of the explanations they gave for why this belongs. I’ll give you two. These are different, but they both are, I think, sound explanations. So one popular theory is that this was written by John the apostle. This was written by his hand. The reason that certain very old documents don’t have it, especially Greek ones, is because in that region where it was being translated or copied, it was so scandalous that they didn’t want it written down! We get it. Jesus forgives sins. You don’t need to tell adulterous wives that they can get forgiven like that. We don’t need to write that one down. Let’s just leave that out and people will get the picture. That is one theory, that in certain regions, certain disloyal scribes and certain concerned powerful people got this one to not get copied in some of the documents we have. But ultimately it was copied in other regions, which is why eventually people noticed and ended up with a different version.

And added during the process of editing to the Gospel of John as they went through and were getting things ready. That’s why some of the earliest drafts of John may not have contained it, but that it was added later. There are people who would have had the authority necessary to do that without it being wildly controversial. For example, Simeon was the second bishop of Jerusalem. And Jude was the third bishop of Jerusalem. Both of them from the apostolic era, some of the longest living people from that era, who would have known Jesus and had that authority to say, “Hey, there’s a story that fits here.”

If you just want to know the story and you don’t need the story behind the story, you could have left this out. If that’s you, make this your takeaway: The Bible was written by people that were inspired by the Holy Spirit. The Bible was compiled by people who were incredibly faithful and asked the hard questions and did a lot of research to make sure that what they got into your hands is indeed good, inspired by the Holy Spirit, Scripture that can help you grow. If you ever hear about something getting snuck in and you don’t know how it got there, you don’t need to be afraid of asking questions, and you don’t need to be suspicious. People have asked all of these questions before. There is no grand conspiracy. There is no hope that people stay ignorant. To the contrary, there are many books written by people that if you wanted to know more, they would be delighted if you picked up and read. You don’t need to be afraid. Have faith. You never know when you run into these little instances what you might learn along the way.

But let me get to the story proper, right? And this is a story that is well loved. This is one that people really tend to know by heart. I think part of that being because it showcases Jesus’s mercy and his justice so well. Jesus is just and Jesus is merciful, and that’s kind of tough for us to wrap our minds around. We like things to fit entirely in one box or in another. We like things to be good or bad. We like things to be yes or a no. It’s really hard to hold two things that have some tension together. But Jesus was merciful and he was just, and this story is all about the Pharisees trying to get Jesus to pick: which are you really? Are you just or are you merciful? You can’t be both. And Jesus shows just how he is both.

And just as another minor note, I think it’s even interesting that the person that this is all about—the woman in question—even she evokes kind of this mix of is she in need of mercy or justice? Because ultimately we see someone who is very clearly being mistreated, that is in a situation that would be deeply humiliating, very publicly, that was nearly stoned. Our heart goes out to her and a lot of people read this as her being a stand-in for themselves, and I think that’s a good reading. We should do that because here’s the thing: that’s exactly what we are. We are indeed people who have not lived up to the covenant that we should have with God. We are people who have fallen short. We are every bit the same as this woman and every bit as in need of mercy. But I think it’s also important to remember this: she’s not innocent. They got her dead to rights. As much as she is worthy of mercy in these circumstances, remember, she tore her family apart. There is a spouse that she didn’t care about. There are kids that she wasn’t thinking about, and they have to deal with her mess. She may be worthy of mercy, but she’s also not innocent, much like us. We are guilty. Even if we hope that God will be merciful, we’re not perfect. We are worthy of punishment in many ways.

Let me dive in. So verse 53 of chapter 7, then they all went home, but Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. At dawn, he appeared again in the temple courts where all the people gathered around him, and he sat down to teach them. The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group and they said to Jesus, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. In the law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?” They were using this as a trap in order to have a basis for accusing him.

Festival of Tabernacles is over. Jesus doesn’t go home; he instead goes just a little ways. He goes to the Mount of Olives. And the next day he comes back to Jerusalem, to the temple courts, where some of the people—not everyone left after the end of the festival—some people had been listening to what he was teaching. They liked it and they showed up again, because they were hoping he’d come and teach more. And sure enough, that’s exactly what Jesus did. He came back and he kept teaching those that wanted to be taught. And as he was teaching, he gets interrupted by the Pharisees and the teachers of the law. And they have this woman with them. They are dragging her with them. You got to imagine, this is the last place she wants to be. She doesn’t want to be there. She is being dragged in front of a crowd, being accused of adultery. There are some people that imagine that because it says she was caught in adultery, they propose, “Well how recently? Maybe she’s even disheveled looking. Maybe she’s even visually in a place that is humiliating.” The Bible doesn’t tell us whether that’s true or false. It’s possible, you’re welcome to think in terms of that if it helps you to kind of visualize it. But whether it’s true or false, who can say? All we really know is what the text gives us.

With the law of Moses, he could say, “You’re right. She should be stoned.” If he says that, he is guilty of breaking Roman law. Remember, Israel is under Roman occupation, and according to Roman law, no one can administer the death penalty except for Roman judges. That’s a big deal because it means that if Jesus were to say, “She’s guilty,” he would be guilty of violating Roman law and they could get him. But on the other hand, he has repeatedly publicly said that he is not violating the Law of the Land. So if they can get him to say that the law shouldn’t be kept, well, everyone can see this guy that says he’s so great, that says he keeps the law—you know what? He doesn’t actually do it. Not when it’s tough and not when it’s inconvenient. He only does it when he wants to. And now you can all see that he is a hypocrite. They’ve got him between two codes of law. Which one will he actually have loyalty for?

And this is more than just a legal problem. This is also about his legacy. Jesus is someone that so many people in the crowds have been able to relate to, someone that gets them. This is their guy! They trust him! This is a guy that is just and fair, every bit as just as you could hope. He keeps the law better than the Pharisees, but he also cares about them. He’s merciful, unlike them. He is right there with the people. Depending on how he answers this, now he has to choose: Are you just or are you merciful, Jesus? Are you going to show this crowd that you keep the law? Are you going to have this woman stoned? If so, they are going to remember forever that you had someone executed. You’re not so different from us. You’re just as harsh. You are just as rigorous. We don’t even do this, and we will do it because you told us to. You will be just, but you will be terrifying. Or, you can just shrug it off. You can say that we don’t need to do it. And everyone will see you are every bit the hypocrite that every other leader is, because being a leader is hard and sometimes you have to make tough decisions. And sometimes Jesus, when things get hard, makes bad decisions. Sometimes he’s not any better than the rest of us. He is merciful, sure. He’s got a big heart, but he’s not someone you can really trust to do what’s right when the time comes.

This is a legal problem and a problem for his legacy. And in true Jesus fashion, when he is given two choices and told, “You gotta pick one,” he picks a third option and takes that instead. It says, “Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger.” Can you imagine that? You are there. You are with a crowd. You have got people coming in, the Pharisees and the people that keep the law. They are demanding Jesus give an answer. You’ve got this woman who looks scared to death. Maybe she’s going to die today. She’s being held there. You’ve got a crowd sitting on the edge of their seats, waiting for Jesus to answer. He is interrupted in the middle of his teachings and he sits there, he looks up at them, and he just starts writing on the ground.

And people have wondered since the very beginning, what did he write? And I have heard every theory under the sun. And I am here to tell you the actual correct answer: We don’t know! The Bible doesn’t say that! It’s not in there! We can’t tell what he wrote. A lot of fanciful theories, but none of them are actually grounded in the Bible. The Bible only says that he was writing, not what he wrote. And that tells us something, right? It’s not what he wrote that mattered; it was the fact that he was writing. That’s the takeaway. What is Jesus showing by writing in the dirt at a moment like this? Certainly not a lot of respect for the Pharisees. “Jesus, we’re going to interrupt your teaching. You have to make a decision. Tell us what you want done.” He just goes off, kind of does his own thing, doesn’t look up. He does not answer to the Pharisees. They are not his boss!

And they get irritated by that, right? They don’t know what to do with him. They don’t let it go. Verse 7, “When they kept questioning…” They badger him. They came in here to make a power play, and now they’re the ones that look silly because they got to wait on him. “When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, ‘Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.'”

Justice should be administered, you’re right. But wouldn’t it be unjust to have someone that is not just administering justice? That would be ridiculous. We need to make sure that whoever executes this punishment is someone that doesn’t themselves need punished. So whoever it is that you’re absolutely confident that after this is done, we’re not going to have another thing where you yourself get in trouble, if that’s you, go for it. Administer justice.

And look, even after that, again he stooped down and wrote on the ground. Such an interesting detail because it kind of shows us Jesus is not eyeing down the crowd, right? This is not intimidation. He’s not up there saying, “He who is without sin throw the first stone.” That’s not what he’s doing. This is not a show of intimidation. He is going back to what he was doing. How the crowd responds is based entirely on them. What are they going to do?

One by one, they walk away. And it tells us that it is the older ones first. It’s just an interesting detail because not always, but often, older people have more experience in life and work. Sometimes the younger generation has new ideas and approaches—they know what’s supposed to be there, and they are often dissatisfied with the way things currently are. But sometimes in that pursuit of the ideal, they have not taken enough time to know the way the world is and why it got that way, and the details in all of it. There’s wisdom in knowing that, and that is why some of the older people, I would guess, are the first to recognize, “I’m sinful.” And they walk away. And one by one, people see their example and they also walk away. Their footsteps are their confession. Even the Pharisees walk away until it is just Jesus and this woman.

You got to wonder what she’s thinking, especially if she has heard what’s going on in Jerusalem lately, what happened just a few days before at the festival. In John chapter 7 verse 18, Jesus said, “Whoever speaks on their own does so to gain personal glory, but he who speaks for the glory of the one who sent him is a man of truth. There is nothing false about him. Has not Moses given you the law? Yet, not one of you keeps the law. Why are you trying to kill me?” He said in no uncertain terms before a crowd that could accuse him if he was wrong, “I am beyond reproach. You don’t keep the law; I do. There is no falsehood in me.” He said let he who is without sin throw the first stone. This is the man who claims to be without sin, and she is in front of him. Other people may not want to throw that stone, but if he wants to, he could. He reserves that right as the person who has not sinned. What’s he going to do?

Jesus straightened up and asked her, “Where are they? Has no one condemned you?”

“No one, sir.”

“Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared.

There’s that mercy. There’s the mercy that we all crave to see from Jesus. Here is a woman—they’ve got her dead to rights. She has obliterated her family life. She has been trotted in front of leaders and the populace. We don’t know what kind of social outcast she is going to spend the future of her life as. She is someone who is so clearly guilty of something where the punishment in the law is death, and people seemed eager to administer it just moments ago, and Jesus has mercy on her. There is no sin that is so big that Jesus is done with us. We cannot sin so many times that it’s just a lost cause because at this point—come on, you said you were done 50 times ago, you come forward again, God’s not going to waste his time on you anymore. No.

The classic image of mercy: Jesus is the father in the parable of the prodigal son. God is waiting for us to return, even after we make mistake after mistake. God doesn’t give up on us. He waits. He waits for us to come home. God is merciful. He does not condemn her.

Yet he ends on a note of justice: “Go now and leave your life of sin.” Jesus doesn’t say it’s not that big a deal, people get bent out of shape about this kind of thing. He doesn’t say, “I get it, take your time to get to a comfortable place, I’m sure you’re going to figure this out as things go on.” Jesus says, “Go and sin no more.” It matters. It makes a big difference, what we do and the way we live our lives. God is merciful, but God is also just. He’s not just going to ignore the things that are uncomfortable. And ultimately, he may not have judged today, but even right there in the Scriptures, Second Timothy chapter 4 verse 1—this is what we say every week when we say the Apostles Creed, right?—Jesus will come back and judge the living and the dead. He will judge. He didn’t that day, but he will ultimately.

In our lives as we live them, there are so many people that want to give their two cents. They want to say what they think you should be doing. They want to say where you’re right and where you’re wrong. And sometimes they might be right and sometimes they might be wrong. Everybody’s got an opinion; there’s always a crowd. But in the end that crowd will diminish. And in the end, all of us will stand in front of Jesus awaiting the words, “Well done, my good and faithful servant,” or “Depart from me, I never knew you.” Jesus will judge. He did not judge this woman yet. He is merciful, he is longsuffering, he will wait day after day, year after year, sin after sin in the hopes that we will repent and return to him. But there does come a day where there are no more days left. There does come a time where there will be judgment.

I’ve done enough funerals lately that it seems especially obvious, the seriousness of life, the fact that we don’t have infinite chances. As much as we might sometimes like to see God as purely merciful, as purely delightful, as purely this big comfy guy that just says, “Don’t worry about it, you can wait till next week, it’s fine”—someday there’s not going to be a next week. Jesus is merciful, but he’s just. Go and leave your life of sin.

Amen.