Today’s topic...Jesus FORGIVES.
John 8:1-11
A woman had been caught in adultery, and she was brought to Jesus. There was a group assembled, so the Pharisees “reminded” Jesus that, according to Moses’ law, she should be stoned, but they wanted to know what He had to say. Not once, but twice, Jesus stooped and wrote on the ground with His finger, and there is mysterious significance as to why John included this detail in the passage. Now, we shouldn’t miss what Jesus said in between His stooping — which is fairly critical to the story — but what was He writing?
- [ ] Have you ever wondered what Jesus wrote on the ground?
* Maybe the Pharisees’ names & sins?
* God carved the 10 Commandments w/ His finger. Maybe Jesus was writing the new law – Love God, Love Others?
* Maybe the Pharisees’ names & sins?
* God carved the 10 Commandments w/ His finger. Maybe Jesus was writing the new law – Love God, Love Others?
- [ ] Imagine being one of those holding a stone ready to condemn the guilty. What could they have been thinking?
- [ ] Now, imagine yourself as the accused woman facing condemnation and anticipating being stoned to death. What must that have been like to be saved from a brutal death and forgiven so dramatically?
We don’t know for sure what Jesus was writing, nor do we know who saw His message. It’s possible, however, that once the crowd had dispersed and He was left to deal with the woman Himself, He’d written only one other word:
Forgiven.
And whether that message was erased by Him or the wind, her sins were forgiven.
1 John 1:9, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”
Are you the one throwing the stone - or the one dropping the stone?
