"You judge according to the flesh; I am not judging anyone."

John 8:1-20 from the daily reading in the One Year Bible

But Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. ² Early in the morning He came again into the temple, and all the people were coming to Him; and He sat down and began to teach them. ³ The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman caught in adultery, and having set her in the center of the court, ⁴ they said to Him, “Teacher, this woman has been caught in adultery, in the very act. ⁵ Now in the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women; what then do You say?” ⁶ They were saying this, testing Him, so that they might have grounds for accusing Him. But Jesus stooped down and with His finger wrote on the ground. ⁷ But when they persisted in asking Him, He straightened up, and said to them, “He who is without sin among you, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.” ⁸ Again He stooped down and wrote on the ground. ⁹ When they heard it, they began to go out one by one, beginning with the older ones, and He was left alone, and the woman, where she was, in the center of the court. ¹⁰ Straightening up, Jesus said to her, “Woman, where are they? Did no one condemn you?” ¹¹ She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said, “I do not condemn you, either. Go. From now on sin no more.”

¹² Then Jesus again spoke to them, saying, “I am the Light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life.” ¹³ So the Pharisees said to Him, “You are testifying about Yourself; Your testimony is not true.” ¹⁴ Jesus answered and said to them, “Even if I testify about Myself, My testimony is true, for I know where I came from and where I am going; but you do not know where I come from or where I am going. ¹⁵ You judge according to the flesh; I am not judging anyone. ¹⁶ But even if I do judge, My judgment is true; for I am not alone in it, but I and the Father who sent Me. ¹⁷ Even in your law it has been written that the testimony of two men is true. ¹⁸ I am He who testifies about Myself, and the Father who sent Me testifies about Me.” ¹⁹ So they were saying to Him, “Where is Your Father?” Jesus answered, “You know neither Me nor My Father; if you knew Me, you would know My Father also.” ²⁰ These words He spoke in the treasury, as He taught in the temple; and no one seized Him, because His hour had not yet come.

In today’s text it says:   The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman caught in adultery, and having set her in the center of the court, they said to Him, “Teacher, this woman has been caught in adultery, in the very act. Now in the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women; what then do You say?”  We often, like the Pharisees, tend to rate or rank sins. This causes us to view the sins of others as worse than our own and so to judge them more severely. The Pharisees stressed that the woman was caught in the very act of adultery. Jesus says:  “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery’;  but I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” (Matthew 5:27-28)    It is after all the heart that God judges. In God’s sight heart sins are as serious and egregious as the sins of our actions. According to those standards, who then could cast the first stone? Who knows what it was that Jesus wrote on the ground? Perhaps He wrote the sins of their hearts, perhaps the secret sins of their actions. Jesus did not condemn the Pharisees. He didn’t call them out individually,  publicly for their sins. Yet the text says:   When they heard it, they began to go out one by one, beginning with the older ones, and He was left alone, and the woman, where she was, in the center of the court.     Finally Jesus turned His attention to the woman:    Straightening up, Jesus said to her, “Woman, where are they? Did no one condemn you?” She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said, “I do not condemn you, either. Go. From now on sin no more.”    Again no condemnation came from Jesus. In John 3:17-21 Jesus says:   “God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil. For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. But he who practices the truth comes to the Light, so that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God.”     Jesus did not condemn sinners. He shined light in darkness. Jesus though did not accept, tolerate or embrace sin. He pointed out the sins of the Pharisees and to the woman said “sin no more.”

As it says in John 3, Jesus purpose was not to judge. God had already judged sin. In the garden, after the sin of Adam and Eve, God declared the consequences, the judgment against sin. Jesus came to take away the curse. John 3:16 says:  “God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.”    Like Jesus, we should not condemn sinners. Sin has already been judged. Instead we are to reveal the light of Christ, offering them a choice between light and darkness, good and evil. Surely in our culture and our society many love darkness rather than light. We should neither condemn people nor should we tolerate, accept and embrace sin and darkness. Like Jesus we should speak truth. We should reveal light rather than railing against the darkness. In Matthew 7:1-5 Jesus says:    “Do not judge so that you will not be judged. For in the way you judge, you will be judged; and by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you. Why do you look at the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ and behold, the log is in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.”      The true point of this teaching is often missed. It is not that we are to ignore sin. It is that we are to be certain to live as light, without sin in our lives, so that in the light we can see clearly, not to condemn our brother, but rather to help him, removing the sin from his life through the revelation of light.

In the same way, many people misunderstand today’s text. They interpret it to mean that Jesus chose the sinful woman over the Pharisees. What Jesus did was reveal light, both to the Pharisees and to the woman. Each was given an opportunity to choose what to do with the revelation. The truth is scripture doesn’t tell us what choice some of the Pharisees may have made. Neither does it tell us what choice the woman made. Jesus though continued to teach and to reveal truth and light. The text continues:    Then Jesus again spoke to them, saying, “I am the Light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life.” So the Pharisees said to Him, “You are testifying about Yourself; Your testimony is not true.” Jesus answered and said to them, “Even if I testify about Myself, My testimony is true, for I know where I came from and where I am going; but you do not know where I come from or where I am going. You judge according to the flesh; I am not judging anyone. But even if I do judge, My judgment is true; for I am not alone in it, but I and the Father who sent Me.”       

God has already judged sin. But He has not condemned sinners. Instead He has made a way that sinners can be redeemed. If God has not judged or condemned sinners, but rather offers a way to redemption through Christ and the cross, then we too should not judge or condemn, lest we be judged by our own standard of measure. Jesus says:  “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden; nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.” (Matthew 5:14-16)       Like Jesus, we should neither condemn sinners, nor embrace sin. Instead we should reveal the light of Christ. We should speak the truth and we should demonstrate the love of God for the world. The love He demonstrated in the cross of Christ.

Heavenly Father, Lord Jesus Christ, the Light of the World, the light of my life; precious Holy Spirit thank You for not condemning me when I sinned or when I sin. Thank You for Your light which dispels darkness. May I, like You live and speak as a revelation of Your light, Your truth and Your love.    Amen.