Daily Lesson for October 20, 2020

 Today's Daily Lesson comes from John chapter 8 verses 1 through 11:

1 while Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. 2 Early in the morning he came again to the temple. All the people came to him and he sat down and began to teach them. 3 The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery; and making her stand before all of them, 4 they said to him, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the very act of committing adultery. 5 Now in the law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?” 6 They said this to test him, so that they might have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground. 7 When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “Let anyone among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” 8 And once again he bent down and wrote on the ground. 9 When they heard it, they went away, one by one, beginning with the elders; and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him. 10 Jesus straightened up and said to her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” 11 She said, “No one, sir.” And Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you. Go your way, and from now on do not sin again.”

I think it was John Claypool who said that if we wonder what Jesus was writing in the sand it was: "Where is the man?"

That's a good guess. And it is mighty suspicious that no man to stand charged with this woman. But then again, this whole thing is mighty suspicious.

The whole thing was designed to entrap -- not the woman -- but Jesus. The woman was a pawn, a useful tool, a case test, a body to be judged and then harmed, all for the sake of political theatre. Adultery was not the issue. Sex was not even the issue. The issue wasn't the issue at all. Power was the issue. Getting Jesus was the issue. And nobody cared if this nameless woman got hurt along the way. She was expendable. But where was the man?

I guess the man was Jesus.

Jesus didn't excuse the adultery. He didn't even argue that it ought not to be a punishable crime. But he did suggest a shrewd way to carry out the sentence, basically making it impossible to enforce without also indicting oneself of blaspheme -- calling what is unholy holier-than-thou.

I think we should remember this text the next time we see somebody being accused of something publicly for the sake of political points. We need to ask ourselves, "Where is the man?"

Or, in other words, "What's this really all about?"

NOTE: We are reading the whole Bible this year. Tomorrow's Lesson comes from John 9 and 10.