Devotionals for September 4, 2023
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READ
John 8:1-11
8 Jesus returned to the Mount of Olives, 2 but early the next morning he was back again at the Temple. A crowd soon gathered, and he sat down and taught them. 3 As he was speaking, the teachers of religious law and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in the act of adultery. They put her in front of the crowd. 4 “Teacher,” they said to Jesus, “this woman was caught in the act of adultery. 5 The law of Moses says to stone her. What do you say?” 6 They were trying to trap him into saying something they could use against him, but Jesus stooped down and wrote in the dust with his finger. 7 They kept demanding an answer, so he stood up again and said, “All right, but let the one who has never sinned throw the first stone!” 8 Then he stooped down again and wrote in the dust. 9 When the accusers heard this, they slipped away one by one, beginning with the oldest, until only Jesus was left in the middle of the crowd with the woman. 10 Then Jesus stood up again and said to the woman, “Where are your accusers? Didn’t even one of them condemn you?” 11 “No, Lord,” she said. And Jesus said, “Neither do I. Go and sin no more.”
8 Jesus returned to the Mount of Olives, 2 but early the next morning he was back again at the Temple. A crowd soon gathered, and he sat down and taught them. 3 As he was speaking, the teachers of religious law and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in the act of adultery. They put her in front of the crowd. 4 “Teacher,” they said to Jesus, “this woman was caught in the act of adultery. 5 The law of Moses says to stone her. What do you say?” 6 They were trying to trap him into saying something they could use against him, but Jesus stooped down and wrote in the dust with his finger. 7 They kept demanding an answer, so he stood up again and said, “All right, but let the one who has never sinned throw the first stone!” 8 Then he stooped down again and wrote in the dust. 9 When the accusers heard this, they slipped away one by one, beginning with the oldest, until only Jesus was left in the middle of the crowd with the woman. 10 Then Jesus stood up again and said to the woman, “Where are your accusers? Didn’t even one of them condemn you?” 11 “No, Lord,” she said. And Jesus said, “Neither do I. Go and sin no more.”
REFLECT
Try to put yourself in the shoes of the woman in this passage for a moment, caught in her sin, probably full of shame and humiliation, drug in front of a crowd by a bunch of angry religious leaders so she could be used to trap the Son of God. I can only imagine what thoughts may have raced through her mind as her heart pounded…Will I be stoned to death? Maybe I deserve it. I can never face these people again. It seemed as if her fate was in the hands of the angry teachers of the law and Pharisees, or was it? Without saying a word, Jesus began to write in the sand before the woman, the crowd, and the angry religious leaders. Maybe, he exposed their sins. Maybe he wrote additional laws of Moses they had not considered. We will never know exactly what Jesus wrote. Regardless, the angry religious leaders kept pressing Him to execute punishment on this woman. With His handwritten message in the sand, Jesus conceded, “All right, but let the one without sin throw the first stone.” I can almost hear the stones dropping to the ground as one by one, they walked away, leaving the woman standing in front of Jesus and the crowd. Here is where it gets good. Jesus engages with the woman to bring reality to her. No one could condemn her because no one is without sin. In that crowd, only Jesus was without sin, and this is what He tells her, “I don’t condemn you either. Go and sin no more.” What a beautiful reminder and example Jesus has given us to follow here as we relate to those who are in bondage to sin.
APPLY
Q: What was the attitude of the religious leaders toward the woman? What was Jesus’ attitude toward her? What impact do you think that interchange had on the witnesses?
Q: What stones in your attitude toward lost sinners will you drop?
Q: What will you change in your conversations with people about other people?
Q: What stones in your attitude toward lost sinners will you drop?
Q: What will you change in your conversations with people about other people?
SING
PRAY
"Our Father in heaven, may your name be kept holy."
May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, Lord, my Rock, and my Redeemer.
May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, Lord, my Rock, and my Redeemer.