Writing in the Sand

[RETIREDFAN1]

 

Writing on the Ground

 

John records the things that he does in order to show us the Divine nature of Christ. 

John 1: 1 - 5

John 1: 9 - 18

 

He wrote what he did so that we might read and believe.

John 20: 30 - 31

 

We read of an event that occurred in the life of Jesus in John that we can learn a great deal from. Let’s look at that today. 

John 8: 1 - 11

 

Now this text is actually disputed by so-called experts. The problem being is that on some of the manuscripts, it has been worn off. However, it is in other manuscripts. The dispute is irrelevant anyway, because every truth taught in this passage can be found in other places throughout the Bible. 

 

One interesting note about this passage is that it is the only time that Jesus is said to have written anything. This causes a lot of false doctrine to be thrown out there as people speculate what, exactly, did our Lord write? 

 

Speculation is not wise though.That’s because speculation often gives birth to false doctrine. 

Deuteronomy 29: 29

 

While He was writing, Jesus did not say a word. Why is that? He was ignoring the people around Him because they didn’t have anything to say that was worth being said. All they were doing was shouting and speaking condemnation. 

 

There are several things we can learn from this. 

 

First, His silence was the only response to such a risky situation. This mob was just that, an angry mob. They were not an official judicial tribunal and as such, had no legal authority to try her case.

Deuteronomy 19: 16 - 19

 

If Jesus had listened to them and endorsed what this mob was trying to do, He would have been helping them do something that was unlawful. Even further, if they had sentenced the woman to death, they would have also been violating Roman law, since under Roman law only the Romans could carry out capital punishment.

John 18: 31

 

What we learn from our Lord here is that in no-win situations such as this, silence is often the best thing.

Second, His silence was actually making a very clear statement. His silence was not sanctioning the actions of this mob, as some people claim that remaining silent does. Jesus was most certainly not sanctioning mob rule. He was not sanctioning this woman caught in adultery, either. Silence is the absence of information. It is a false presumption to think that by remaining silent, someone is on your side or sanctioning the things you are doing. 

Acts 15: 24

 

His silence said that the current time was not the right time, the right place, the right people, or the right circumstances for what was going on. 

 

His silence was also a prelude to a reply that they could not have seen coming. The Mosaic Law demanded that the witnesses to a crime be the ones to cast the first stone.

Deuteronomy 17: 6 - 7

 

Notice back in verse 4 of John 8 that those who claimed to be witnesses said that they had caught her in the act of adultery. If that were actually true, then where was the man that she had committed adultery with? 

Leviticus 20: 10

 

This is the real significance of why Jesus said that he who is without sin should cast the first stone. In this specific matter, there were no true eyewitnesses, and the second party to the adultery was not there. 

 

Now many people will say that we can’t judge anyone since we all have sinned. Well if that were the case, then civil justice could not exist because none of us are without sin. However, God established civil justice.

Romans 13: 4

 

You hear people all the time when there are judgments to be made telling us to let the one without sin cast the first stone. They are wrong. Jesus intended that to fit this specific incident recorded in John 8. 

 

Finally, His silence was not an endorsement of adultery. Contrary to popular opinion, He did NOT ignore this woman’s sin. In fact, He called it sin right there to her face. He did not condemn her because He was not a witness to her sin, and under the Law of Moses as we have shown above, had no say in the matter. He told her to go and sin no more, which was basically simply telling her to repent. When we show compassion to sinners, we are not giving our approval to their sin.

Matthew 9: 10 - 13

 

What Jesus wrote on the ground in this incident is irrelevant. We hear it taught, falsely, that He was writing the sins of individuals in the crowd. There are many other false things that people speculate about what was written. What was written does not matter, or we would have been told what it was. The important things are what we were taught. The main thing we can pick up from this is to look before we leap.

James 1: 19 - 20

 

Just like Jesus kept silent because He had not witnessed the woman doing anything wrong, though He knew she had because He is God, we should remain silent in situations such as this where we have not actually witnessed anything. We should never be drawn into joining the crowd. We should wait until there is actual evidence before we draw conclusions. Hopefully we can learn these lessons from the time that Jesus wrote on the ground.