Read John 8:1-11
My heart is filled with gratitude. Every day I wake up I give God praise and thanks for His abundant compassion to me. He took pity on me when I was being fast and grown. He showed me mercy when I deserved judgment. Even though I will not disclose my name, I do want to share my story. I pray that it will bless you.
What I Did
Unhappily married, I felt unappreciated, overworked, and under-romanced. Along came someone who made me feel pretty, valuable, and appreciated. He became an intoxicating lover.
I was riding a wave of passion during one of our clandestine meetings and did not hear them slither into the bedroom. With fluidity of motion, strange hands snatched me out of bed, dragged me through the house, and out into the yard. Surprised, confused, and fearful, I scratched, kicked, and screamed for my lover’s help. I heard scuffling as he demanded, “Who are you? What do you want? Take your hands off of her.”
Recognition made my knees buckle as I was dragged toward the group of men waiting outside. I always thought if my affair was ever discovered it would be by my husband or his wife. It would be a bad situation, but I was confident we could negotiate a divorce agreement with them. There was no hope of forgiveness and mercy with this group of men.
Who Caught Me
The penalty for adultery is death by stoning. Before me stood two groups of men who looked determine to see me dead. One group consisted of the teachers of the law, the scribes. They transcribed and studied the Law. The other group was the Pharisees, who were teachers and interpreters of the Law. Even though they often added their own traditions to the Law, the consequence for adultery was given to us by Moses. Deuteronomy 22:22a states, “If a man is found sleeping with another man’s wife, both the man who slept with her and the woman must die” (NIV).
I do not know what happened to my lover, but I was taken to the temple, dragged through the crowd, and stood before a young preacher named Jesus. I heard he could turn water into wine, taught with authority, and the scribe and Pharisees didn’t like him. Bewildered, I listened as they said to Jesus, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?” (Verse 4, NIV).
Now I understood what was going on. This was a set-up. My religious leaders were not so much concerned by my infidelity as they were in trying to catch Jesus in their devious trap. They were trying to set Jesus up for stoning and I was the bait; if both of us were killed, even better.
Who Set Me Free
Jesus did not look at me or talk to me as I stood there in my gown, terrified and sobbing from my soul. I had been caught in adultery and was about to die! He bent down and wrote something on the ground as the religious leaders kept shouting questions at him. He stood up and said, “If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.” Then he bent down and started to write on the ground again (Verse 7, NIV).
My brain could not comprehend what happened next. First my older accusers left, followed by the rest; leaving me standing alone in my gown, wondering what was going on. Only then did Jesus stand up, looked into my eyes and into my heart. I felt a level of compassion I didn’t know existed. This man clearly saw my sin, but loved me anyway.
“Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” Jesus asked.
“No one, sir,” I said, with a grateful heart.
“Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. Go now and leave your life of sin” (Verses 10, 11, NIV).
I am so glad that my accusers took me to Jesus. They meant it for evil, but God meant it for good. No matter what you are caught up in, get to Jesus. His compassion can set you free too.
It’s important for you to read this passage before we get started. Otherwise, you might walk away a bit confused. Thanks for checking out the modern vision of this Bible story.