These verses describe a short conversation Jesus has with a woman accused of adultery. The Jewish leadership brought her before Jesus in hopes of trapping Him. If Jesus followed through with the Mosaic consequence, she would be stoned. If He didn’t, Jesus would be accused of not enforcing the Jewish law.
In this account, John says that in the middle of this intense scene Jesus stooped over and wrote in the dust on the ground with His finger. This story does not describe what Jesus wrote, but one commentary I’ve read before suggested that Jesus was writing the sins of the Jewish leadership before Him in the dust. This interpretation has always been very interesting to me. It potentially creates a clearer picture.
Imagine you are a Jewish Pharisee, and this man Jesus is undermining your leadership left and right. You and other men in leadership concoct a plan to trap Him. While you wait for His verdict about the adulterous woman, Jesus stoops down and begins to write words in the sand. Not just any words – sins. Then He writes down your deepest and most secret sin. A sin that only God Himself would know.
Much like these men, I lived so much of my young life trapped in legalism. I had Annie’s measuring stick, and I would measure others accordingly. Youth has that effect. Age has the opposite effect. I always thought that the older I got, the more answers I would have. Outside of the truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the older I get the less answers I have. I don’t need to posture myself higher and higher; I need to go lower.
That is the example that Jesus gives us. That’s what covenant faithfulness teaches us. Humility, grace, surrender, love, and obedience in the place of accusation, pride, boastfulness, and arrogance.
It says a few verses later that each accuser, one by one, begins to walk away, beginning with the oldest. The man with the most life experience walked away first. Then it was just Jesus and the woman. Jesus, the only man in the crowd who was sinless, the only one who could have thrown the stone, stands before her with grace.
Where might Jesus be inviting you to lay down your measuring stick and walk in His grace? Regardless of what you might be walking through right now, walk hand in hand with Jesus. He will show you what covenant faithfulness looks like, just as He showed this woman. “Go and sin no more.”