Recap of 5/20/2012 (John 7:53-8:11):

1. In an attempt to trap Jesus, the religious leaders brought a woman to Jesus who was caught in the act of adultery.  The Law of Moses prescribed death for both a man and woman guilty of adultery.  However, only the woman was brought before Jesus leading some to believe this was a set-up on the part of the religious leaders, an attempt to bring Jesus into conflict with either the Law, the Romans, or the people.  It didn’t work because Jesus in His answer both upheld the Law and prevented them from acting.

2.  There is much speculation about what Jesus wrote in the dirt.  Some believe He wrote the text of Jeremiah 17:13: “O LORD the Hope of Israel, all who forsake You will be put to shame.  Those who turn away from You will be written in the dust, because they have forsaken the LORD, the spring of living water,” as a rebuke to these religious leaders.

3.  The crowd melted away, starting with the older ones.  “Only two remained the sinner and the Friend of Sinners.  Jesus could have cast the stone for He was sinless; but He was more concerned with the rehabilitation of the sinner than with seeing that the Law was meticulously satisfied.” (Harrison)

4.  Some have wrongly concluded from this passage that we have no right to judge another believer for their sin, after all we are not perfect.  They also site Matthew 7:1, “Do not judge, or you too will be judged.”  As Dr. Louis Barbieri points out: “This passage does not teach that judgments should never be made; Matthew 7:5 does speak of removing the speck from your brother’s eye.  The Lord’s point was that a person should not be habitually critical or condemnatory of a speck of sawdust in someone else’s eye when he has a plank in his own eye.  Such action is hypocritical.  Though judgment is sometimes needed, those making the distinctions must first be certain of their own lives.”  The key is Galatians 6:1ff, confronting the one who has fallen with a spirit of humility and sense of our own sinfulness with a view toward restoring them to usefulness to God.  Lastly we are to be concerned with dealing with sin in the church, but leave sin outside the church to God’s judgment (1 Corinthians 5).