Jesus draws the line

Captain Shelley Ward considers how Jesus invites everyone into a new way of living.

Key text

• John 8:1–11

'The only difference between a saint and a sinner is that every saint has a past, and every sinner has a future.’ While this line from Oscar Wilde’s A Woman of No Importance has a rather different meaning in its original context, some people have taken inspiration from it, believing we should neither write off a person for their behaviour nor assume that saints are as perfect as they seem.

Pause and reflect

• Have you ever been labelled a 'saint' or a 'sinner'?

In our study passage, the religious leaders – the ‘saints’ – bring a ‘sinner’ before Jesus. They say this woman has been caught in the act of adultery and, therefore, according to the Law of Moses, should be stoned. With a sense of moral superiority, they ask Jesus what he thinks should happen to her.

Pause and reflect

• Had you been there, what judgement would you have made concerning the woman?
• Which sins do you find most difficult to forgive?

The story tells us that the Scribes and Pharisees are less concerned about upholding the Law than about setting a trap for Jesus. In fact, they aren’t even following the Law, which states that the man and the woman should both be stoned (see Leviticus 20:10).

The leaders are simply hoping to humiliate and discredit Jesus by giving him an impossible choice. If he forgives the woman, he goes against the Law of Moses. But, if he upholds the Law, he goes against his own message of compassion and forgiveness. The Roman rulers would also have something to say, as they do not allow Jews to put anyone to death (see John 18:31).

Pause and reflect

• Have you ever felt trapped in a difficult situation with no good way out?

As he so often does, Jesus chooses to do something wholly unexpected: he takes the focus completely off the woman and her sin as he begins writing in the sand. When the leaders press him for an answer, he stands and utters some of his most quoted words: ‘Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her’ (v7). Then, one by one, those who hear these words begin to leave.

One of the big mysteries of this story is what Jesus wrote in the sand. We have no clue, but there has been plenty of speculation. Was he writing down the woman’s sin, or a list of other sins? It has been suggested that Jesus was remembering the prophet Jeremiah’s words: ‘Those who turn away from you will be written in the dust because they have forsaken the Lord’ (Jeremiah 17:13). 

The story may have further meaning if we shift our thinking to the question of why Jesus wrote in the sand. Richard Rohr suggests that Jesus did it to avoid looking at the Scribes and Pharisees in condemnation, choosing not to watch as each person walked away. He wanted the men to take responsibility for themselves and allowed them to walk away out of their own conviction.

In his peaceful yet revolutionary way, Jesus offered an alternative way to respond to conflict, inviting us to look inward and examine our hearts.

Pause and reflect

• Imagine yourself in the story at this present time. Are you ready to throw a stone at someone, forgetting your own failings? Are you in the crowd, but afraid to speak up for others? Are you with the woman, feeling judged or in need of protection or grace?
• Do you see yourself somewhere else in the story?

In the end, Jesus’ response to the woman was quite radical. Women were treated as inferior and a sinful woman was thought to have very little worth. Gail O’Day points out in The Women’s Bible Commentary that the religious leaders had dehumanised the woman, making her an object for debate and discussion. However, Jesus treated the woman as their social and human equal.

Jesus gave the woman her humanity back. He saw her and didn’t condemn her but invited her into a new way of living and being – a sinner with a future.

Pause and reflect

• Who in your life, community or society could you stand up for and protect through your words or actions?
• Which social groups might be dehumanised in our world today – nameless and powerless, placed in the middle while we discuss and debate issues around them?

One of my favourite people – and someone who embodied the gospel of Jesus in his life and words – was Desmond Tutu. In an interview in The Sunday Times he said: ‘The wonderful thing about God’s love is that maybe we are going to be surprised at the people we find in Heaven that we didn’t expect, and possibly we’ll be surprised at those we’d thought would be there and aren’t.’

Jesus offers hope to all of us – sinner or saint – as well as a challenge to treat each other, and ourselves, with as much love and forgiveness as God does.