Perhaps one of the more famous stories from the Gospels is the story of the woman caught in adultery found in John 8. I was recently thinking of this story as an example of how to respond to a situation a particular situation. As a result, I want to share some thoughts as I pondered this story.

First, there is no indication in the story that the woman was not guilty of adultery. Multiple witnesses testified that she was caught in the act. The woman herself does not plead innocence. So we can conclude that Jesus did not let her avoid punishment because she was not guilty.

Secondly, many commentators have pointed out that the men who brought her to Jesus were not following Old Testament law. According to the law, both partners in the adultery were to be brought and charged together for the offense. Because of their neglect of the law, the men who brought the woman to Jesus were not without guilt in this matter.

In his wisdom, Jesus confronts the men with their duplicity by saying the famous line, “He who is without sin, cast the first stone.” The accusers could not bear up under such scrutiny and they scattered without pursuing the matter further.

The third observation is the order of the statements with which Jesus responded to the woman. After acknowledging that all the accusers had gone, Jesus said to the woman, “neither do I condemn you, go and sin no more.” Notice that Jesus pronounced his pardon before he commanded her to cease from her sin.

The order of these statements is critical to our understanding of the Gospel. We don’t need to clean ourselves up before coming to Jesus. In fact, a proper understanding of Scripture would teach us that we are unable to clean ourselves up. Only God can do it.

The Apostle Paul uses the analogy of a dead man. Until God makes us alive, we are spiritually dead. Dead people do not respond to verbal commands or any other form of stimulus.

My point in all this is that we are broken people living in a broken culture and we are called to minister to people like us who have made a mess of life. We must invite them into relationship with Jesus without laying on them the impossible task of cleaning themselves up first.

I make this point because large segments of the church, whether from bad theology or just bad practice, do indeed push people to change their behavior as a condition for coming to Jesus.

If you are in a church that does this, please stop. Jesus will have a huge issue with you if you handle “sinners” in a way that goes against his example.

During the trial of Jesus, as recorded in the Gospel of John, the Jewish leaders said a curious thing. They said, “We have no king but Caesar” (John 19:15).

As he often does in his gospel, John highlights the irony in this story.
The Jewish leaders refused to recognize the authority of Rome to occupy and govern the Nation of Israel. They despised the tax collectors who were rightly seen as collaborators with the occupying army. They did not accept Rome as the rightful sovereign over the Nation of Israel. As a result, they longed for the day when Messiah would come and liberate Israel from Roman occupation.

But, because they were so desperate to have Jesus killed, they paid lip service to Caesar as their rightful sovereign. They wanted to use the Roman authorities to aid them in the removal of Jesus from society.

The difference between a compliment and flattery is that when we use the latter, we don’t mean what we say. Flattery is saying what your listener wants to hear while you know what you are saying is not entirely true.

Have you ever been tempted to use flattery to get what you want?

Have you ever told only part of the story to improve your chances of obtaining the desired outcome?

Have you ever used religion or spirituality as a means of appearing superior to someone?

We have these stories in the Bible, and we profit by reading them, so that we come face-to-face with our own sin. Honesty requires us to admit that given the circumstances and without the work of God in our lives, we would likely respond in the same way the religious leaders did.

The good news is that by taking warning and seeking wisdom and power from God, we can avoid such pitfalls. Not because we are better but because Jesus came to pull us out of the muck.