A Higher Court

John 8:6b-11

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Our reading today comes from John chapter eight. This is the story of the woman who was caught in adultery. And we begin reading there with in the middle of verse six,

Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “If any one of you is without sin, let him begin stoning her.” Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground. At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left with the woman. Jesus straightened up and asked her woman, “Where are they? Has no one condemned you?” “No one, sir,” she said. “Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.” (John 8:6b-11)

Back during the Vietnam conflict, there were a lot of protests on campuses here in the United States, and one of the most famous was the Kent State protest in Ohio. And during that protest, some National Guard soldiers thought something had happened and began shooting, ended up killing four students. One of the bullets from their guns went all the way across campus and struck a young student who was heading into his dormitory and he suddenly fell down. He wasn’t killed, but he thought he was going to die. And he later admitted that while he lay there bleeding, he began confessing all of his sins that he could remember to God.

It’s interesting when someone is about to die, the kinds of things that might start to run through their head, that come out of their conscience. We can imagine how terrifying this scene was for the woman in our text convinced that she was just going to die in a matter of minutes, and she’d been caught in the act of adultery, the overwhelming sense of guilt she probably felt. And Jesus had now come into the scene.

Now, Jesus has not come into this world to get involved into the earthly courts. What He cares about is the spiritual eternal court that people have before God. He once said, My kingdom is not of this world. Our Lord is capable of reading hearts. And not only could he look into this woman’s heart to see that she was sorry for her sin, but he could also look into the hearts of those who are going to throw stones at her to kill her and saw their self righteous pride as well. And so we’re told Jesus stooped down and wrote on the ground with his finger as though he did not hear. And he sort of recalibrates the whole situation and he resets the scene and he now changes their mindset about what they’re going to do.

And if you think about it, this is such a masterful approach by Jesus merely requesting that the first one to throw the stones would be one who has no sin inside of himself. And so he engages their consciences to make a judgment of themselves before actually now bringing this judgment on her. And the whole scene is set up in a way to show the marvelous grace of God, this bad sin of adultery that had been done. Jesus still shows his mercy and tenderness and forgiveness toward her. Martin Luther had a great way of describing what happens here, he says, Christ drapes the mantle of his righteousness over her to protect her. I love that. Kind of like a cloak of his perfect life, his righteousness to cover her the way he does for all of us who believe in him.

So what tenderness he shows to this woman. Where are your accusers? Neither do I condemn you. Jesus is speaking here on behalf of a higher court, the highest court. And that is the Court of God. And then he turns to her, who is now forgiven, and he says, Go and sin no more. This woman had been in trouble in the court of public opinion and in the earthly court of these who are now judging her and putting her to death. And at the same time, there’s a higher court that overrules all of that.

There may be in your life a particular sin that really burns in your conscience and troubles you. It’s maybe even one that other people know about. It could be you’re going to commit a sin someday that the court of public opinion will know about. But how wonderful it is that there is a greater and higher court. That of our Heavenly Father. And because of Christ, he so willingly forgives us. And there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Amen.