John 7:53-8:11 Caught in Adultery

This is probably one of my favorite passages in John.

53. [Everyone went to his home. This is an interesting comment by John. The meeting place of the officers and Pharisees disbanded and the town emptied out from the festival. The festival was over. Everyone was leaving Jerusalem like the NASCAR fans leave Atlanta Motor Speedway after a race. Nothing but trash, temporary custodians and vagrants remain. This accentuates the setting of the story to follow. Our text beginning here and extending to 8:11 is noted by brackets in most English translations regarding its authentication when examining some ancient texts. 1. But Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. 2. 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. Everyone goes home while Jesus retreats to His favorite place to be with His Father. The Mount of Olives is east of Jerusalem. While being known for its olive trees, it rises 200 feet above the level of city with the Kidron Valley separating them. It is from this mount that Jesus will weep over the city. The Garden of Gethsemane is on this mount. Jesus favorite Judean place of retreat. "Early in the morning." Do I do anything early in the morning, especially on the morning after a festival? Jesus arose and made the trek down the mount, across the Kidron Valley and up into the city while it was still early. Now that will wake you up and get your blood pumping. "He again into the temple." Jesus was never known for running away from the opportunity to impact the people. He went where they gathered. He "sat down and began to teach them." It is almost like He was expected to be there for there were some there to be taught. They were gathered 'early in the morning' to be taught in the temple. Class has started. The teacher and the students are assembled. Class has begun. Students are attentive to the teacher. Jesus taught (Imperfect, Active, Indicative) them. The Greek word, ἐδίδασκεν, almost always refers to the Scriptures. Jesus is not teaching them how to make coffee, bagels or how to fish, read or pitch a tent. He is teaching them Scripture in the temple. Quiet yourself for He is about the business of revealing Himself in the Ancient Torah. SUDDENLY .....3. The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman caught in adultery, and having set her in the center of the court, Talk about interrupting a class. It was like the fire alarm went off and your attention is arrested by the commotion. A group of men who managed to get up early and be at the temple where being taught by Jesus who rose early to make the trip from the Mount of Olives to the temple. The teacher and the students were on purpose to teach and hear the Scriptures. THEN, enter the scribes AND Pharisees dragging a woman caught having sex with someone not her husband. This group, scribes, Pharisees and the woman, undoubtedly stayed up late as contrasted with They took hold of her exactly, with decisive initiative, with eager self-interest." They made their way to the center, probably close to Jesus, and brought her to a standstill up front and center. She was put on display. The Greek word, μοιχείᾳ, translated 'adultery' is the form of μοιχεύω meaning 'commit adultery (of a man with a married woman, but also of a married man). LSJ states that other contemporary extra Greek literature maintains man and woman sexual connotations but spreads that breach of marital vows to a wider meanings as 'falsify,' 'to be unfaithful to God' and 'to have dalliance with the sea.' Dictionary.com gives the meaning of adultery as: "voluntary sexual intercourse between a married person and someone other than his or her lawful spouse." Enough said for now. 4. they said to Him, "Teacher, this woman has been caught in adultery, in the very act. One can easily deduce that the scribes and Pharisees either orchestrated her apprehension or they performed the apprehension of her themselves. She was literally pulled away from the person she was 'in the very act' of having sex. How were they so sure of the guilt that they could confidently storm the adultery chambers and pull her away? I think there is room here to conject that they planned the whole adulteress event in order to test Jesus. 5. "Now in the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women; what then do You say?" The scribes and the Pharisees brought this woman before Jesus on the grounds of her violating a Law of Moses. The Law they are referring to is found in Exodus 20:14 in the giving of the Ten Commandments. The seventh commandment is "You shall not commit adultery." The Law is also implied in Leviticus 20:10 "If a man commits adultery with another man's wife- the wife of his neighbor- both the adulterer and the adulteress must be put to death" and Deuteronomy 22:22 "If a man is found sleeping with another man's wife, both the man who slept with her and the woman must die. You must purge the evil from Israel." 6. 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. I have a question for you. Read again the Old Testament passages above (Exodus 20:10 and Deuteronomy 22:22). Where is the man? It takes two to commit adultery. Both are to be put to death. The OT passages mention the man first thereby placing emphasis on the man's involvement. Why did the scribes and Pharisees NOT bring him to the center of the temple and place him before Jesus? 7. But when they persisted in asking Him, They persisted and had time to persist because Jesus was probably giving time to reflect on the Scriptural knowledge and then repent. The Geneva Bible has a thought provoking comment on this passage, "hypocrites ... are very severe judges against other men and flatter themselves while sinning." Therefore, having enough of their persisting, 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." 8. Again He stooped down and wrote on the ground. 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. This passage is the passage of many sermons, but this woman, is experiencing the reality of Jesus addressing her accusers? He is her Advocate. He is her protector. He is her Defender. He is her Judge. He is her Redeemer. He is her Savior. When everyone else leaves due to their hypocrisy, she is left with the One who is anything but hypocritical. Are you ready? Here we go. This is the climax of our story. 10. Straightening up, Jesus said to her, "Woman, where are they? Did not one condemn you?" 11. She said, "No one, Lord." And Jesus said, "I do not condemn you, either. Go. From now on sin no more."] Several issues here. Jesus, in standing up is taking the same position He took when He addressed the scribes and Pharisees. Don't you love Jesus' questions? Her response declaring His LORDSHIP sets up His and His alone authority to condemn. The Greek word translated 'condemn' is κατακρίνω with the meaning of a judicial decision following a precise judicial process in which all evidence is fairly presented. The meaning in English according to Dictionary.com has several meanings but the one that fits here is that condemnation is "to declare incurable." He alone has the authority to condemn or not condemn. "Go and sin no more." Jesus does not dismiss her sin. He does not condemn and then tells her to stop sinning.

SUMMARY
Look at the chapter or section titles in your Bibles. I am suggesting that most, if not all, Bibles have something like 'The Adulteress Woman' or 'Woman Caught in Adultery' or "The Woman Taken in Adultery' or nothing at all for this section. Do not be misled by the chapter and section titles. They can lead you astray. For the primary issue of this story, hypocrisy, is centered around the absence of the male in the accusation of the woman. They were both caught, hence my title of this blog.

In Jeremiah 15 we have the LORD giving Jeremiah some personal instruction in order for him to survive and be a prophet in the perilous time of the fall of Jerusalem. In this passage, which extends from verse 19 through verse 21, Jeremiah is told to 'extract the precious from the worthless' (NASB). That is what Jesus was doing with the woman brought before Him.

GO AND SIN NO MORE!

"There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. ..." Romans 8:1-17 NASB

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John 7:14-36 Jesus: The Life of the Party

PARAGRAPHS
Verses 14-18 Jesus Amazes the Jews ... No Unrighteousness in Him
Verses 19-24 Crowd Misinterprets and Applies the Law
Verses 25-31 Ignorance Fosters Confusion
Verses 32-36 Pharisees: Where is He going?

COMMENTARY
14. But when it was now the midst of the feast Jesus went up into the temple, and began to teach. Verses 1-9 of this chapter have Jesus and His brothers planning the festival trip. Verses 10-13 tell of Jesus and His brothers arriving in Jerusalem but by differing avenues. Verse 14 picks up the story in the middle of the feast, the Feast of Booths or Feast of Dwellings. This feast was based on instruction given to Israel in Leviticus 23 to be observed 15 days after Yom Kippur. The Festival was established to commemorate the 40 year Exodus journey of the children of Israel through the wilderness living in temporary shelters. Gill's Exposition states that this was the fourth day of the Festival falling on the Sabbath. Therefore, Jesus is in the temple and teaching on the Sabbath. "In the Jewish sense of the term, a priest (kohein) is a descendant of Aaron, charged with performing various rites in the Temple, in connection with religious rituals and sacrifices. ... A rabbi is simply a teacher, a person sufficiently educated in halakhah (Jewish Law) and tradition to instruct the community and to answer questions and resolve disputes regarding (Jewish Law)" - http://www.jewfaq.org (Judaism 101). 15. The Jews then were astonished, saying, "How has this man become learned, having never been educated?" The Jews in the Temple listening to a uninvited yet wanted visiting teacher are struck by His content. The Greek word 'educated' is μεμαθηκώς () from μανθάνω meaning: learn or understand. The Liddell-Scott-Jones Lexicon (LSJ) adds the connotation of being 'under persuasion.' Jesus will address this issue of persuasion head-on. 16. So Jesus answered them and said, "My teaching is not Mine, but His who sent Me. 17. "If anyone is willing to do His will, he will know of the teaching, whether it is of God or whether I speak from Myself. 18. "He who speaks from himself seeks his own glory; but He who is seeking the glory of the One who sent Him, He is true, and there is no unrighteousness in Him. Jesus answers the persuasion (education) issue brought up by the Jews by deferring to His Father: 1. My teaching is from my Father; 2. I seek His glory, not my own. Those two methods allow Jesus to self-define a righteous teacher. A teacher is forthcoming with his sources and seeks no prestige of his own. Further, Jesus is willing to share His teaching. The Jewish religion was, and is, a closed circuit of privileges, but Jesus said that obeying God will give you access to His source, the Father.

19. "Did not Moses give you the Law, and yet none of you carries out the Law? Why do you seek to kill Me?" By quoting Moses, on the Sabbath (?), Jesus clearly states that His 'persuasion is not inconsistent with the Law. Jesus presents the Sixth Commandment, through Moses, as authoritative before the Jews. The Jews misunderstood the Sixth Commandment during Jesus time and we have also propagated their confusion. They present their misunderstanding by their answer in the next verse, but what is Jesus allowing to surface here? He is opposing His adversaries by calling them hypocrites regarding the Law. They 'know' it, but they do not 'carry it out.' The Greek word, ποιεῖ from ποιέω, commonly means: to do, make, to keep. Other Greek usages reflect nuances of: create, produce, imply, effect a solution, compose, write, represent, describe, invent, bring about, cause, procure, make, render, deem, do, prepare, or act. 20. The crowd answered, "You have a demon! Who seeks to kill You?" Jesus is addressing 'the Jews' but the crowd answers. The response of the crowd sides with most common misconceptions of Jesus: He is a lunatic. The crowd, somewhat ignorant of the ruler's plan, is asserting His voiced paranoia as resulting from demonic activity manifested in a disordered mind. Keep in mind that Jesus finds Himself in a first person object of the rulers hypocritical profession and the common crowd would never level the charge of 'hypocrisy' against their religious rulers. 21. Jesus answered them, "I did one deed, and you all marvel. 22 "For this reason Moses has given you circumcision (not because it is from Moses, but from the fathers), and on the Sabbath you circumcise a man. 23. "If a man receives circumcision on the Sabbath so that the Law of Moses will not be broken, are you angry with Me because I made an entire man well on the Sabbath? 24 "Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment." Oh, the confidence of knowing that judges judge with righteousness. Jesus is capable of doing such. Why? Our text states that He is One who perfectly represents His Father.

25 So some of the people of Jerusalem were saying, "Is this not the man whom they are seeking to kill? 25 "Look, He is speaking publicly, and they are saying nothing to Him. The rulers do not really know that this is the Christ, do they? 27 "However, we know where this man is from/ but whenever the Christ may come, no one knows where He is from." Confusion verbalized. The people, gathered near the Temple in Jerusalem during the Feast of Booths, are questioning their religious authorities regarding Him. The people are noted to wrestle with two issues. They seek to kill Him yet He speaks publicly and they do nothing for they do not know Him. We know where He is from and they, the religious rulers, say no one will no the origins of the Christ. They must not be serious about killing Him and He must not be the Christ. The people's confusion rose from one issue: they did not know the scriptures for themselves. This ignorance led them to subjugation by the religious rulers and to misinterpretation of the scriptures. If they had know the scriptures, they would not be confused. For they would identify the error or presuppositions of the religious rulers and know that the Messiah would not appear out of obscurity. 28. Then Jesus cried out in the temple, teaching and saying, "You both know Me and know where I am from and I have not come of Myself but He who sent Me is true, whom you do not know. 29. "I know Him, because I am from Him, and He sent" The way Jesus addresses the confused crowd, lets us know His priority. From the two issues He asserts in a positive manner, the paramount relation that the crowd must make between Him and the Father. The crowd might have known His genealogy (Line of David, Bethlehem, Mary, Joseph, Christmas, etc.) but He provides opportunity to make the connection of Him to His Father (YHWH, אֶֽהְיֶ֖ה אֲשֶׁ֣ר אֶֽהְיֶ֑ה, ὁ Λόγος, ἐγὼ εἰμι). Their inability to make this relational connection will continue their confusion. 30. So they were seeking to seize Him; and no man laid his hand on Him, because His hour had not yet come. 31. But many of the crowd believed in Him; and they were saying, "When the Christ comes, He will not perform more signs than those which this man has, will He?" Their confusion led to them wanting to 'seize Him' by 'lay(-ing) hands on Him.' The will of God easy trumps the will of man or the sheer madness of a crowd. Many make the relational connection of Jesus to His Father, but crowd remains confused. It is easy to extrapolate the crowd's confusion to validate their role in the future sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Greek word πιάσαι (Aorist Active Infinitive of πιάζω) translated 'seize' means: to lay hold of, seize, apprehend, take, catch. Liddell-Scott-Jones (LSJ) gives etymological nuances of: press, weigh down (heavy weight), press hard (victorious army), bare hardly upon, determine precisely, repress, stifle, outweigh, etc. The crowd, in their confusion, was pursuing to stifle Jesus which aligned their will with that of the rulers seeking to kill Him.

32. The Pharisees heard the crowd muttering these things about Him, and the chief priests and the Pharisees sent officers to seize Him. The rulers follow the lead of the people by seeking to 'seize' Him. The difference is that the crowd wanted to handle the 'seizing' themselves while the Pharisees and chief priests send the officers to do their stifling. Some commentators believe that the Pharisaical action was in response the crowd's belief while some promote the view of the crowd leading the way of 'seizing' for the Pharisees and chief priests. The Greek word translated 'seize' is the same as in verse 30 above. The Greek word γογγύζοντος (Masculine Singular Genitive Present Active Participle from γογγύζω) translated 'muttering' means: murmur, mutter, grumble. LSJ traces this word also being used in the following Biblical texts: Numbers 14:29; Numbers 17:5; Matthew 20:11; John 6:41; and Numbers 11:1. Each of these Biblical citings place this verb in a negative context. Each cited text is illustrating a time of unbelief, mistrust and disobedience of man towards God. John 6:41 describes the crowd in Capernaum who 'grumbled' at Jesus proclaiming that He Is the Bread of Life. The Pharisees heard this believing to ride on the wave of the general populous tide, reported it to the chief priests, then summoned the officers to apprehend Jesus. 33. Therefore Jesus said, "For a little while longer I am with you, then I go to Him who sent Me. 34. "You will seek Me, and will not find Me; and where I am, you cannot come." His time is not yet and where He is going only He can go. Many will not chose to follow Him. Some will chose to follow Him. All will end up abandoning Him. 35. The Jews then said to one another, "Where does this man intend to go that we will not find Him? He is not intending to go to the Dispersion among the Greeks, and teach the Greeks, is He? 36. "What is this statement that He said, 'You will seek Me, and will not find Me; and where I am, you cannot come'? The Jews thought Jesus was looking for a way of escape. No, He will continue to be with them, teaching them and in the midst of them, but His agenda is from and of the Father which man cannot thwart.

SUMMARY

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