John 8:1-30 "The Light of the World"

Sometimes what's interesting isn't so much the story but where the story is located. The famous story of Jesus writing in the sand and refusing to condemn a woman caught in adultery is a mysterious one in the book of John. We actually have this story showing up in multiple places in the ancient copies of John- some copies exclude the story altogether. But the story, placed here, gives a great perspective on Jesus as the light of the world.

This story begins in a pretty cut-and-dry fashion. A woman has been caught in adultery and brought to the public for trial. At first glimpse, the case is open and closed. She was caught in the act, as it seems. The penalty in the Levitical law for adultery is death. Again... cut and dry.

But Jesus slows things down a little bit, and suddenly the issue becomes less cut and dry. While Jesus is writing in the sand, we enter an awkward pause. The people keep questioning Jesus, but Jesus ignores them at first. During that time, I find some sad realities come to the surface. The first is that this woman was "caught in the act of adultery," but no man is present. Doesn't adultery take two? Second, if they really dragged this woman to the Temple having caught her red handed, this poor woman would have been disheveled at the least. Some biblical scholars claim that she would have been naked to increase her shame.

And so Jesus' words "If any one of you is without sin, let him cast the first stone" is about a lot more than a general comment on the sinfulness of every human being. It is a comment about this particular incident. Jesus turned the lights on this situation and exposed that there is a lot of sin to go around. This woman was set up and hung out to dry by a religious culture that demonized certain people (and as in many cultures, demonized sexuality and sexual sins more than others).

The light of the world revealed the truth. The truth was more uncomfortable than the crowd was willing to take, and rather than take the road of repentence, the crowd left (defeated). By the time Jesus talks again to the crowd, the woman has a new life and the crowd of Pharisees is unchanged. May we all be lifted to the light of Jesus and invited into His transformative grace.