As the Light, Jesus Christ reveals our need for grace and truth and points us to the forgiveness and life with God we can have through Him...

During the weeks leading up to Christmas, we spent our time as a church looking at an account of Jesus life that is recorded for us in the Bible called the gospel of John. Today, I would like for us to look at an event that occurred during Jesus life here on earth that is recorded for us in the gospel of John. And it is in this event from history that we will see all of the timeless truths that we have discovered during this series play out in a powerful way. So let’s look at this event from history together, beginning in John 8:1:

But Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. Early in the morning He came again into the temple, and all the people were coming to Him; and He sat down and began to teach them. The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman caught in adultery, and having set her in the center of the court, they said to Him, "Teacher, this woman has been caught in adultery, in the very act. "Now in the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women; what then do You say?" They were saying this, testing Him, so that they might have grounds for accusing Him. But Jesus stooped down and with His finger wrote on the ground.

John brings us into this event in history from Jesus life by explaining that early one morning, Jesus entered into the Temple in Jerusalem. Now at this point in history, the Temple was the only church. So to worship God, every person would have to make the trip to Jerusalem. John then tells us that as Jesus entered into the Temple, He was followed by a large crowd of people. Upon seeing the all people follow Him into the Temple, Jesus responded to their presence by sitting down and teaching them.

However, Jesus was quickly joined in the Temple by the scribes and the Pharisees. The scribes and Pharisees were two different groups of Jewish people who were the self-righteous religious leaders of the day. These self righteous people were opposed to Jesus and were far from God. The previous evening, Jesus had a heated confrontation with these religious leaders who believed that Jesus had violated some of their religious rules.

And the scribes and Pharisees were not alone. John tells us that as Jesus was sitting in the center of the court, these self righteous religious leaders brought before Jesus a woman caught in adultery. These religious leaders then confronted Jesus with this woman and posed a question: "Teacher, this woman has been caught in adultery, in the very act.”

Now in the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women; what then do You say?” Now, to fully understand the question that these religious leaders were posing to Jesus, we first need to understand a few things. The first thing that we need to understand is what this woman was accused of. This woman was accused of adultery, which in this case involved having sex with a man in addition to her husband.  

The second thing that we need to understand involves the Law. When John refers to the Law here, he is referring to the first five books that are recorded for us in our Bibles today.  These first five books contain a list of commands that reveal God’s nature and character and the nature and character that the Jewish people needed to possess and display in order to experience a right relationship with God. And in Leviticus 20:10, we read what the Law says when it comes to adultery:

'If there is a man who commits adultery with another man's wife, one who commits adultery with his friend's wife, the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death”

Now the question that these Jewish religious leaders posed, if communicated in the language that we use in our culture today, would have sounded something like this: “The Bible says we should put this woman to death for committing adultery, but what do you say we should do?” John then gives us a glimpse into the motivation behind the question by explaining that these self righteous religious leaders were attempting to trap Jesus. You see, if Jesus said that they should stone the woman, then Jesus would offend those who were opposed to the death penalty and were driven by grace. For those people, they would be offended because Jesus was not giving any grace. However, if Jesus said that she should not be stoned, then He would offend the legalists of the day, who were driven by truth. For those people, they would be offended because Jesus was compromising the truth.

So, the self righteous religious people thought that they had placed Jesus in a no win situation. Now here is a question: has anything changed? Do we not often find ourselves face to face with the same question? Do we not find ourselves wrestling with the same tension between the legalism of religious performance based on a list of rules that is driven by truth and the license of living however we want to live because God is a God of grace and He will just forgive us anyway?

How often can we find ourselves surrounded by people who are either religious legalists or irreligious license liver’s that are lobbing bombs of criticism at one another? And that is exactly where Jesus found Himself.

Now place yourself in this story. Imagine that you are in church and, all of a sudden, the doors to the sanctuary suddenly burst open and a group of men were dragging a naked woman into the sanctuary down the aisle. This group of men then dropped this naked woman at Jesus feet and then said “Hey Jesus we caught this woman in the middle of having sex with a man who is not her husband. The Bible says that we need to pass judgment on her and punish her. But what do you think we should do?”

What would you be thinking? What would you be feeling? What would your answer be? Would you be on the side of legalistically punishing her? Or would you be on the side of simply extending grace and letting her go on her way? How would you respond? John reveals for us how Jesus responded in verse 7:

 But when they persisted in asking Him, He straightened up, and said to them, "He who is without sin among you, let him be the first to throw a stone at her." Again He stooped down and wrote on the ground.

As the crowds who had gathered to hear Jesus teach looked on, Jesus responded to the self righteous religious leaders question by simply stooping down and writing on the ground. Now a natural question that arises here is “well Dave, what was he writing on the ground?” While we could all try to guess what Jesus was writing on the ground, John does not tell us. You see, the issue was not what Jesus was writing on the ground; the issue was the Jesus was ignoring their question.

These self righteous religious leaders, however, were not going to allow Jesus to ignore or sidestep their question. These self righteous religious leaders kept on asking Jesus the same question over and over again. “Well Jesus what should we do? What is your answer?” After being badgered by these self righteous religious people, Jesus stood up, looked them in the eye, and made a powerful statement: "He who is without sin among you, let him be the first to throw a stone at her." Jesus basically says “Everyone who is perfect, just line up right here and you can go ahead and pass judgment on her by killing her”.

Can you imagine what that must have looked like? Can you imagine a group of self righteous religious people, stones in hand, standing in the middle of church ready to throw them at this naked woman who had been exposed in front of the entire church for the selfish and rebellious person that she was? Can you imagine what they were thinking? Can you imagine this naked and exposed woman at the feet of Jesus?  Can you imagine what she was thinking? Can you imagine what the crowd was thinking as they watched this go on? Who was going to throw the first stone?

 If you were to place yourself in this story, who would you be? Would you be the self righteous religious person? Would you be the woman? Would you be the licentious person saying “let her live however she wants, God, doesn’t care?” We see John provide the answer in verse 9: 

  When they heard it, they began to go out one by one, beginning with the older ones, and He was left alone, and the woman, where she was, in the center of the court.

John tells us that as Jesus returned to the position of stooping down and writing on the ground, one by one, beginning with the oldest, the self righteous religious leaders left the church service without throwing a single stone. You see, the self righteous religious leaders recognized the reality that they were not perfect. And because they were not perfect, because they themselves recognized that there had been times in their lives where they had selfishly rebelled against God, they were not in a position where they could get in line to pass judgment on the woman by killing her. And the older that they were, the quicker they left, because the older they were, the quicker they were able to recognize that they were not perfect, because their list of selfishness and rebellion was longer.

John tells us that all that were left in the center of the sanctuary was Jesus and this naked woman that had been caught in adultery. Jesus was still there because Jesus was perfect. Jesus was there because He had no sin. However, the woman was there because she had sinned. And this woman was now left before the one person who could pass judgment upon her by taking her life. This woman was left naked and exposed as the selfish and rebellious person who deserved death because of what she had done. John then gives us a glimpse into Jesus response to this woman in verse 10:

Straightening up, Jesus said to her, "Woman, where are they? Did no one condemn you?" She said, "No one, Lord."

Jesus basically says to the woman “Hey, where did all the self righteous religious people go who wanted to pass judgment upon you and execute you? Isn’t there anyone left here besides Me who could throw a stone of judgment at you?” Notice the woman’s response: “No one, Lord”. In other words, the woman recognized that it was just her and Jesus. Jesus would be the One that she would answer to for her act of selfishness and rebellion that had left her naked and exposed in front of the entire church. We see Jesus response to this woman in the second half of verse 11:

And Jesus said, "I do not condemn you, either. Go. From now on sin no more."

Jesus looks this woman in the eye and simply says “I do not pass judgment upon you to kill you either. From now on, let’s stop the selfishness and rebellion”. Notice what Jesus does not say here. Notice that Jesus does not say “You are guilty and you are a lost cause. Just get away from Me. You don’t belong anywhere near Me because you do not measure up to Me”. Jesus does not say that. Notice what else Jesus does not say. Jesus does not say “Hey that’s o.k. just go on your way and live however you want to because I will just forgive you anyway”.  Jesus does not say that.

 Instead, Jesus says. “I forgive you for that, now stop doing that. I love you where you are at, and because I love you, I’m calling you to live better than that.” You see, Jesus responded the way that He did because, as we discovered last week, Jesus is full of grace and truth. “I do not condemn you”, grace. “Go and sin no more”, truth.  I forgive you for that, Grace. Stop doing that, truth. I love you where you are at, grace. And because I love you, I’m calling you to live better than that, truth. Jesus loved this woman where she was at, and Jesus loved the woman enough to not allow here to remain where she was at. Jesus then turns His attention from this woman and towards the crowds that He had been teaching and makes a powerful statement that reveals for us a timeless truth when it comes to Jesus as the Light in verse 12:

  Then Jesus again spoke to them, saying, "I am the Light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life."

Jesus resumes teaching the crowds that had come to listen to Him by stating I am the Light of the world. As we have discovered during this series, Jesus, in very being, is life and light. There is a Creator who is light and there is creation that was covered in darkness as a result of the selfishness and rebellion of man. John is revealing for us the reality that Jesus, in His very being and nature, is life and light that helps us see that there is a Creator who is light and life and there is creation that was covered in darkness. Jesus is explaining that, as the Light of the world, that He came to humanity in order to point people to God. And for the person who follows Jesus, that person will not walk in darkness, but will have the Light of life.

Now when Jesus uses the phrase follow Me, this phrase means to place Jesus as large and in charge of your life and strive to follow His message and teachings. Jesus point here is that for the person who places Him as large and in charge of their life, that person no longer live their lives in the darkness that is driven by our selfishness and rebellion. Instead, the person who places Jesus as large and in charge of their life will experience forgiveness and the relationship with God that they were created for as a result of Jesus being the source of life and a light for all of humanity.

And it is here that we see revealed for us a timeless truth when it comes to Jesus as the Light. And that timeless truth is this: As the Light, Jesus Christ reveals our need for grace and truth and points us to the forgiveness and life with God we can have through Him. As the Light, Jesus Christ reveals for us the reality that all humanity is in desperate need of God’s grace in our lives. All of humanity is in desperate need of God’s transformational activity in our lives.

And as the Light, Jesus Christ reveals for us the reality that all humanity is in desperate need of God’s truth in our lives. All humanity is in desperate need of truth in our lives. The truth of who God is, the truth of who we are apart from God, the truth of how we can experience forgiveness and the relationship with God that we were created for. And as the Light, Jesus Christ points us to the forgiveness and the relationship with God that we can have through Him.

You see, that is what Christmas is all about. Christmas is about an event that occurred in history. Christmas is about an event in history where God revealed our need for grace and truth in our lives by sending His Son Jesus to become a man and enter into humanity. Christmas is about God demonstrating His transformational intervention and activity in the world through His Son Jesus, who says “I forgive you for that and I love you where you are at.

And Christmas is about God demonstrating His truth in the world through His Son Jesus, who says “because I love you, I’m calling you to stop doing that and to live better than that.” And Christmas is about an event in history that points us to the opportunity that we have to experience forgiveness and life with God through Jesus. The forgiveness and life that does not come as a result of living a life of religious performance for God that is based on the belief that we need to legalistically keep  a list of rules for God. The forgiveness and life that does not come as a result of living a life of license that is based on a belief that because God is a God of grace and He will just forgive me anyway.

 Instead, this forgiveness and life comes as a result of responding to God’s transformational activity in the world through Jesus life death and resurrection by believing, trusting, and following Jesus as Lord and Leader. 

So here is a question to consider? How are you responding to your need for grace and truth? How are you responding to God sending His Son into humanity in order to point you to the forgiveness and life with God that you can have through Jesus?