John 8: 1-59

This chapter shows how the Jews set about to trip Jesus up, so they could accuse him of something. Their attempt was to discredit Jesus because they knew already that Jesus knew the Law and the Word of God… and I’m going to say, they knew that Jesus knew the Word better than they did. I think this must have also been something that annoyed them because Jesus was taught the Word and the Law by God himself and not the way they learned it.

 ¹Jesus went unto the mount of Olives.

Church on the Mount of Olives from https://free.messianicbible.com/feature/the-mount-of-olives/

² And early in the morning he came again into the temple, and all the people came unto him; and he sat down, and taught them.

I imagine that those that were hungry for the word of God, hung around just waiting for Jesus to begin teaching, so they could sit and listen to him…and there were also those that waited, so they could find fault. Even though there was never fault found in Jesus, they still made things up to accuse him of. They attempted to place Jesus in situations they were sure would cause Jesus to chose one way or another, and they knew that either of the options they thought of, they could use against him. Like, no matter what choice he made, they could turn it on him. But they didn’t know Jesus… he had a showstopper of an option none of them ever considered.

³ And the scribes and Pharisees brought unto him a woman taken in adultery; and when they had set her in the midst,

⁴ They say unto him, Master, this woman was taken in adultery, in the very act.

⁵ Now Moses in the law commanded us, that such should be stoned: but what sayest thou?

⁶ This they said, tempting him, that they might have to accuse him. But Jesus stooped down, and with his finger wrote on the ground, as though he heard them not.

⁷ So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself, and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.

⁸ And again he stooped down, and wrote on the ground.

⁹ And they which heard it, being convicted by their own conscience, went out one by one, beginning at the eldest, even unto the last: and Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst.

¹⁰ When Jesus had lifted up himself, and saw none but the woman, he said unto her, Woman, where are those thine accusers? hath no man condemned thee?

¹¹ She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more.

I heard a preacher once who said that these men standing around accusing this woman were actually her customers and that Jesus was writing their names in the dirt. I really don’t know what Jesus was writing, just that it was important that he was writing…so I’m going to keep it there and not try to guess.The part about them being her customers does seem likely. The verses in Matthew 7:3-5 come to mind. ³ And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?⁴ Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye?⁵ Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother’s eye. I’ve also heard that the verse should read, “He that is without THIS sin, let him cast the first stone.” That seems to be true… in the Greek interlinear says “sinless one cast the first stone.” In order for any one of them to stone her, they could not be guilty of a sin on par with the one they were condemning this woman for. When Jesus pointed this out and put the burden of stoning on them, if forced them to examine themselves and when they did, their conscious convicted them of their own sin…so they left.
I watch a lot of Judge Judy, several times a case comes up with a person suing another person for wrong doing, but they come to court to sue with their own criminal involvement being part of the case…. it’s called the law of clean hands. In order to receive compensation for something wrong that was done to you, you can’t be a part of the crime that was committed. This seems to be what happened to the accusers of this woman… their own hands were dirty with the same crime, so they could not start throwing rocks at her. There was only one who could have and he said, ” Woman, where are those thine accusers? hath no man condemned thee?” And when she said no one condemned her , Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more.“ So Jesus showed her mercy, but he also instructed her to stop the sin. People today omit that part… they will say, “You can’t judge me! Only Jesus can!” Well, Jesus would require that after receiving mercy, we stop commiting that sin… people want the mercy, not the correction. I think about those Jews after Jesus told them that the one without sin can cast the first stone just standing there thinking, with their focus now being diverted to their own sin and away from this woman. The experience was humbling, because one by one starting with the oldest, each one had to walk away. Not only had their trapped failed to catch Jesus, they were snared by it themselves.

¹² Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.

Jesus is the light of the world. In order to live in this world and walk in Godliness, you have to have the Jesus light on… you can’t see where you are going without it… and you can’t follow God without it either. These Jews knew the scriptures better than most people on the planet at the time… that was what they did with their lives… they dedicated it to learning the word. But they still missed it because they did not have the light of Jesus showing them the way… they were still looking at it all in the flesh. While these Jews knew the word , they did not understand it and they couldn’t because Jesus is the light they needed to understand it and they rejected him. It must have confused them to see people , common simple folk, listening to Jesus teach the word in such a way that they understood and followed him.

¹³ The Pharisees therefore said unto him, Thou bearest record of thyself; thy record is not true.

They still could not see that Jesus was the Son of God.

¹⁴ Jesus answered and said unto them, Though I bear record of myself, yet my record is true: for I know whence I came, and whither I go; but ye cannot tell whence I come, and whither I go.

¹⁵ Ye judge after the flesh; I judge no man.

Even when they presented the woman taken in adultry wanting Jesus to make a judgment about it, Jesus didn’t judge anyone, instead he made them judge themselves.

¹⁶ And yet if I judge, my judgment is true: for I am not alone, but I and the Father that sent me.

¹⁷ It is also written in your law, that the testimony of two men is true.

¹⁸ I am one that bear witness of myself, and the Father that sent me beareth witness of me.

¹⁹ Then said they unto him, Where is thy Father? Jesus answered, Ye neither know me, nor my Father: if ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also.

Matthew 3:17 ¹⁷ And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.

²⁰ These words spake Jesus in the treasury, as he taught in the temple: and no man laid hands on him; for his hour was not yet come.

²¹ Then said Jesus again unto them, I go my way, and ye shall seek me, and shall die in your sins: whither I go, ye cannot come.

²² Then said the Jews, Will he kill himself? because he saith, Whither I go, ye cannot come.

²³ And he said unto them, Ye are from beneath; I am from above: ye are of this world; I am not of this world.

²⁴ I said therefore unto you, that ye shall die in your sins: for if ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins.

Jesus is the only way to salvation… if knowing the word was enough… if being religious was enough, then these people would have been saved, but it isn’t enough…it takes receiving Jesus and his mercy. Read chapter 3 of the book of Romans and see what Paul wrote about this very thing.

²⁵ Then said they unto him, Who art thou? And Jesus saith unto them, Even the same that I said unto you from the beginning.

²⁶ I have many things to say and to judge of you: but he that sent me is true; and I speak to the world those things which I have heard of him.

²⁷ They understood not that he spake to them of the Father.

²⁸ Then said Jesus unto them, When ye have lifted up the Son of man, then shall ye know that I am he, and that I do nothing of myself; but as my Father hath taught me, I speak these things.

²⁹ And he that sent me is with me: the Father hath not left me alone; for I do always those things that please him.

³⁰ As he spake these words, many believed on him.

³¹ Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed;

³² And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.

The truth is that Jesus is the way to Salvation through faith in the blood of Jesus to cleanse us from sin. We are being cleaned by Jesus from the violations of the Law… aka, sin…which held us captive and responsible. Jesus washes away all of that making us free from the law of sin and death. Keeping the law wasn’t even possible for man so we were all in bondage to sin until Jesus came and fulfilled the law once and for all. Sin requires a blood payment or sacrifice because sin brings forth death, something has to die when a sin is commited… the sinner. To pay the sinners price , a sacrifice is used instead, but these has no ability to provide forgiveness for sin after the sacrific so another one had to be made in order to cover more sins… but when Jesus came and laid down his life, his blood paid for all sin past, present and future and all a person has to do to receive this payment for sin is to receive Jesus… to take the free gift of Salvation.

³³ They answered him, We be Abraham’s seed, and were never in bondage to any man: how sayest thou, Ye shall be made free?

³⁴ Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin.

³⁵ And the servant abideth not in the house for ever: but the Son abideth ever.

³⁶ If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.

Think about God having a house for his family, and this house has a set of rules that the MUST be kept. In this case the rules are the ten commandments. Every person who doesn’t keep the Ten Commandments is considered a servent of the law because they can’t stop breaking the law…or Ten Commandments. They spend their life trying and failing and trying and failing because it’s their sinful nature that makes them a servant of sin….sin being, breaking one of the commandments and being a servant of sin means you can’t stop being a sinner. So, you are a servant of sin, but the Son of the house… or as is the case, Jesus the Son of God, can set you free from the burden of keeping the law and once he does that, you are free. This doesn’t mean we don’t have to try and stop sinning, it means we are no longer under the burden of keeping the Law which was impossible for sinful man… we are now under grace.

³⁷ I know that ye are Abraham’s seed; but ye seek to kill me, because my word hath no place in you.

As Jesus said earlier, if they had God in their hearts they would have recognized that Jesus is his son.

³⁸ I speak that which I have seen with my Father: and ye do that which ye have seen with your father.

While these religious men knew the word really well, they had no heart knowledge and they continued to walk after the sinful flesh. They were threated by Jesus’s knowledge of God… They wanted to be seen by everyone as having the strongest connection to God, but Jesus was showing them that they weren’t connected at all because if they were, they would know Jesus.

³⁹ They answered and said unto him, Abraham is our father. Jesus saith unto them, If ye were Abraham’s children, ye would do the works of Abraham.

Children resemble their father in behavior. If these people were truly Abraham’s son as they claim, they would recognize Jesus as the Son of God and would walk and live righteously.

⁴⁰ But now ye seek to kill me, a man that hath told you the truth, which I have heard of God: this did not Abraham.

Jesus confronts them for trying to kill him for giving the message of God in truth. Abraham would not have sought to kill Jesus.

⁴¹ Ye do the deeds of your father. Then said they to him, We be not born of fornication; we have one Father, even God.

This was intended to be an insult towards Jesus’s birth.

⁴² Jesus said unto them, If God were your Father, ye would love me: for I proceeded forth and came from God; neither came I of myself, but he sent me.

You can’t love God and not love Jesus.

⁴³ Why do ye not understand my speech? even because ye cannot hear my word.

The things that Jesus are speeking about are from God, because these men weren’t of God and didn’t even have a heart that desired the one true God, they couldn’t understand what Jesus was saying. I know these men were religious and knew what the word said, but they didn’t know what it really meant, they had created a God image to fit into their ideas of who God was that would allow them to be the way they are. They were so convinced they were right they couldn’t even consider the teachings and words of Jesus. In their beliefs, even their murderous hearts were justified.

⁴⁴ Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.

⁴⁵ And because I tell you the truth, ye believe me not.

⁴⁶ Which of you convinceth me of sin? And if I say the truth, why do ye not believe me?

⁴⁷ He that is of God heareth God’s words: ye therefore hear them not, because ye are not of God.

⁴⁸ Then answered the Jews, and said unto him, Say we not well that thou art a Samaritan, and hast a devil?

⁴⁹ Jesus answered, I have not a devil; but I honour my Father, and ye do dishonour me.

⁵⁰ And I seek not mine own glory: there is one that seeketh and judgeth.

These Scribes and Pharisees were supposed to keep the word of God….which would have lead them to be servants of God and to take no glory for themselves. They would have instead given God all the glory and would have pointed people towards Gods authority. What they were doing instead was setting up themselves as the authority where they could call the shots and say what is and isn’t of God.

⁵¹ Verily, verily, I say unto you, If a man keep my saying, he shall never see death.

⁵² Then said the Jews unto him, Now we know that thou hast a devil. Abraham is dead, and the prophets; and thou sayest, If a man keep my saying, he shall never taste of death.

They were so fleshly minded they could not think spiritually. Jesus was talking about the death that awaits all mankind as a result of sin, the eternal death. The Jews were stuck in the fleshly mindset.

⁵³ Art thou greater than our father Abraham, which is dead? and the prophets are dead: whom makest thou thyself?

⁵⁴ Jesus answered, If I honour myself, my honour is nothing: it is my Father that honoureth me; of whom ye say, that he is your God:

⁵⁵ Yet ye have not known him; but I know him: and if I should say, I know him not, I shall be a liar like unto you: but I know him, and keep his saying.

⁵⁶ Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day: and he saw it, and was glad.

⁵⁷ Then said the Jews unto him, Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham?

⁵⁸ Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am.

Jesus was there when Abraham walked the earth, he saw him and his entire life. Abraham looked forward to the coming of Jesus and recognized the coming of Jesus as the salvation of all mankind who received.

⁵⁹ Then took they up stones to cast at him: but Jesus hid himself, and went out of the temple, going through the midst of them, and so passed by.

This happens a lot with the ungodly, they become angry and violent whenever they can’t control the Godly. Here they could not control Jesus and they tried to stone him in their anger.