Laying Down Your Stones
Part 1
Today’s Text comes from the book of John chapter 8 verses 1-12
Jesus the Light of the World
1 But Jesus went to the Mount of Olives.
2 Now early in the morning He came again into the temple, and all the people came to Him; and He sat down and taught them.
3 Then the scribes and Pharisees brought to Him a woman caught in adultery. And when they had set her in the midst, 4 they said to Him, “Teacher, this woman was caught in adultery, in the very act.
5 Now Moses, in the law, commanded us that such should be stoned. But what do You say?” 6 This they said, testing Him, that they might have something of which to accuse Him. But Jesus stooped down and wrote on the ground with His finger, as though He did not hear.
7 So when they continued asking Him, He raised Himself up and said to them, “He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first.” 8 And again He stooped down and wrote on the ground.
9 Then those who heard it, being convicted by their conscience, went out one by one, beginning with the oldest even to the last. And Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst.
10 When Jesus had raised Himself up and saw no one but the woman, He said to her, “Woman, where are those accusers of yours? Has no one condemned you?” 11 She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said to her, “Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more.”
12 Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, “I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.”
PRAY and ask God to teach you the lessons of this text!
Introduction:
I can remember a time when my neighbor and I were looking for rocks (stones) in the garden spot next door. That we could play with. We made a nice pile of stones (rocks) that might work well for the task of.
You get two kids together gathering up rocks and before long one of them will throw one at the other.
So, war began. We had a friend show up and he started throwing hand full of rocks at a time and called them smart bomb. Well, he threw one hand full over our heads and in to the street, just as a police car was coming and blue lights came on and I cleared two chain link fences and ran home.
That hot summer day I learned a valuable lesson, don’t throw stones.
Stones can be valuable as well; you use stones to build something. You can use stones cover something up or you can even decorate with stones.
If you hold a rock long you can feel it, what would you feel? There is a hardness. There is a heaviness. There is a coarseness.
There is sometimes a feeling that you just want to throw that stone.
Back ground of John 6 and 7 they want to kill Jesus so he sort of avoids them and the end of chapter 7 states:
John 7:53 And everyone went to his own house. NKJV
An Adulteress Faces the Light of the World
John 8 Jesus the Light of the World
1 But Jesus went to the Mount of Olives.
[Mount of Olives] The mountain about a mile directly east of Jerusalem. Matt 21:1. This was the place in which he probably often passed the night when attending the feasts at Jerusalem. The Garden of Gethsemane, to which he was accustomed to resort (John 18:2), was on the western side of that mountain, and Bethany, the abode of Martha and Mary, on its east side, John 11:1.
2 Now early in the morning He came again into the temple, and all the people came to Him; and He sat down and taught them.
3 Then the scribes and Pharisees brought to Him a woman caught in adultery. And when they had set her in the midst, 4 they said to Him, “Teacher, this woman was caught in adultery, in the very act.
5 Now Moses, in the law, commanded us that such should be stoned. But what do You say?”
[Moses in the law …] The punishment of adultery commanded by Moses was death, Lev 20:10; Deut 22:22. The particular manner of the death was not specified in the law. The Jews had themselves, in the time of Christ, determined that it should be by stoning. See this described in the notes at Matt 21:35,44. The punishment for adultery varied. In some cases, it was strangling. In the time of Ezekiel (Ezek 16:38-40) it was stoning and being thrust through with a sword. If the adulteress was the daughter of a priest, the punishment was being burned to death.
They are thinking we got Him now, we got Him!
The Reason for Throwing Stones:
There is absolutely nothing wrong with calling sin exactly what it is. God hates sin and makes it clear that sin will never have a place in His presence. As believers, we are called to hate sin and stand against sinful behavior. However, it is important to remember that God hates sin but He loves the sinner.
Jesus died to redeem lost people, to buy them back from the penalty and punishment of sin. More important than our call to hate sin, is to love sinners. Far too often we forget this fundamental fact. We look at people, size them up, pass judgment and begin throwing stones. The sad truth is that we are far more willing to point out the faults and failures of others without realizing and recognizing that we are not without faults ourselves.
As the Pharisees take this woman out before Jesus, she is nothing more than a pawn in a plan to attack Jesus. Let’s not forget the fact that there was indeed a man involved in this situation and it doesn’t make sense for the Pharisees to bring the woman and not the man. Both of them were guilty but one thing is clear about life, the behavior that comes from the flesh never has to make sense. The stone throwing began when they discarded being just.
The Law that the Pharisees were so careful to quote and defend had already been disregarded because they had only brought the woman. Clearly there was no interest in justice. The stone throwing began before anyone ever picked up a rock. It began with a malicious intent to discredit Jesus no matter who got harmed in the process.
The motive of these leaders was not to promote the things of God but instead they were promoting their own agenda and were looking out for their own interests. At first glance most of us would come down hard on these Pharisees because after all their behavior is despicable. However, are we really that much different from the Pharisees? Haven’t we all at one point or another pushed to get our way? Haven’t we all had times when we got upset over things that are really insignificant? Haven’t we all done things that we desired instead of what God desired?
The truth of the matter is this: we are all guilty of sin. We all point fingers at others. We are all guilty of throwing stones.
6 This they said, testing Him, that they might have something of which to accuse Him. But Jesus stooped down and wrote on the ground with His finger, as though He did not hear.
[Tempting him] Trying him, or laying a plan that they might have occasion to accuse him. If he decided the case, they expected to be able to bring an accusation against him; for if he decided that she ought to die, they might accuse him of claiming power which belonged to the Romans-the power of life and death. They might allege that it was not the giving an opinion about an abstract case, but that she was formally before him, that he decided her case judicially, and that without authority or form of trial. If he decided otherwise, they would have alleged that he denied the authority of the law, and that it was his intention to do away with it. They had had a controversy with him about the authority of the Sabbath, and they perhaps supposed that he would decide this case as he did that-against them. It may be further added that they knew that Jesus admitted publicans and sinners to eat with him; that one of their charges was that he was friendly to sinners (see Luke 15:2); and they wished, doubtless, to make it appear that he was gluttonous, and a winebibber, and a friend of sinners, and disposed to relax all the laws of morality, even in the case of adultery. Seldom was there a plan more artfully laid, and never was more wisdom and knowledge of human nature displayed than in the manner in which it was met.
[Wrote on the ground] This took place in the temple. The “ground,” here, means the pavement, or the dust on the pavement. By this Jesus showed them clearly that he was not concerned to pronounce an opinion in the case, and that it was not his wish or intention to intermeddle with the civil affairs of the nation.
[As though he heard them not] This is added by the translators. It is not in the original, and should not have been added. There is no suggestion in the original, as it seems to be implied by this addition, that the object was to convey the impression that he did not hear them. What was his object is unknown, and conjecture is useless? The most probable reason seems to be that he did not wish to intermeddle; that he designed to show no solicitude to decide the case; and that he did not mean to decide it unless he was constrained to.
7 So when they continued asking Him, He raised Himself up and said to them, “He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first.”
[They continued asking him] They pressed the question upon him. They were determined to extort an answer from him, and showed a perseverance in evil which has been unhappily often imitated.
[Is without sin] That is, without this particular sin; he who has not himself been guilty of this very crime-for in this place the connection evidently demands this meaning.
[Let him first cast a stone at her] In the punishment by death, one of the witnesses threw the culprit from the scaffold, and the other threw the first stone, or rolled down a stone to crush him. Deut 17:6-7. This was in order that the witness might feel his responsibility in giving evidence, as he was also to be the executioner. Jesus therefore put them to the test. Without pronouncing on her case, he directed them, if any of them were innocent, to perform the office of executioner. This was said, evidently, well knowing their guilt, and well knowing that no one would dare to do it.
Max Lucado “Grace More than We Deserve, Greater than We Imagine”
“The woman had no exit. Deny the accusation? She had been caught. Plead for mercy? From whom? From God? His spokesmen were squeezing stones and snarling their lips. No one would speak for her. But someone would stoop for her. Jesus “stooped down and wrote in the dust” (v. 6 NLT). We would expect him to stand up, step forward, or even ascend a stair and speak. But instead, he leaned over.”
“He descended lower than anyone else—beneath the priests, the people, even beneath the woman. The accusers looked down on her. To see Jesus, they had to look down even farther. He’s prone to stoop. He stooped to wash feet, to embrace children. Stooped to pull Peter out of the sea, to pray in the Garden. He stooped before the Roman whipping post. Stooped to carry the cross. Grace is a God who stoops. Here he stooped to write in the dust.
Remember the first occasion his fingers touched dirt? He scooped up soil and formed Adam. As he touched the sunbaked soil beside the woman, Jesus may have been reminding himself from whence we came.
Earthly humans are prone to do earthly things. Maybe Jesus wrote in the soil for his own benefit.
Or for hers? To divert gaping eyes from the scantily clad, just-caught woman who stood in the center of the circle? The posse grew impatient with the silent, stooping Jesus. “They kept demanding an answer, so he stood up”
(v. 7 NLT). He lifted himself erect until his shoulders were straight and his head was high. He stood, not to preach, for his words would be few. Not for long, for he would soon stoop again. Not to instruct his followers: he didn’t address them. He stood on behalf of the woman. He placed himself between her and the lynch mob and said. ” All right, stone her. But let those who have never sinned throw the first stone!” Then he stooped down again and wrote in the dust” vv7-8 NLT
8 And again He stooped down and wrote on the ground.
9 Then those who heard it, being convicted by their conscience, went out one by one, beginning with the oldest even to the last. And Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst.
[Beginning at the eldest] As being conscious of more sins, and, therefore, being eager to leave the Lord Jesus. The word “eldest” here probably refers not to age, but to benefit-from those who were in highest reputation to the lowest in rank. This consciousness of crime showed that the state of the public morals was exceedingly corrupt, and justified the declaration of Jesus that it was an adulterous and wicked generation, Matt 16:4.
[Alone] Jesus only was left with the woman, etc.
[In the midst] Her accusers had gone out, and left Jesus and the woman; but it is by no means probable that the people had left them; and, as this was in the temple on a public occasion, they were doubtless surrounded still by many. This is evident from the fact that Jesus immediately (John 8:12) addressed a discourse to the people present.
Why did these men want to throw stones?
The same reason that we want to throw them.
• We throw stones because we harbor hatred
• We throw stones because we hold on to bitterness
• We throw stones because we are entangled in anger
• We throw stones because we want to have revenge
• We throw stones because we will not let go of the things that upset us
Next week “The Reality of the Throwing Stones:”
