Reflection on John 8

 

John mentions at the beginning of chapter 8 that "Jesus went up to Mountain of Olives". No doubt He went to pray to His Father. He kept uninterrupted communion with His Father. His Father's words marinated His mind and flavored all He would speak. When He "appeared again in the temple courts at dawn", He was all prepared. He sat down to teach the people gathered around Him. As the crowd around Jesus was getting bigger, the religious leaders were more frustrated. When a woman was caught in adultery was brought to them to be sentenced, they seized this opportunity to find a basis to discredit Jesus in the eyes of His listeners. They made the poor shameful woman stand before the crowds and said to Jesus, "Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such woman. Now what do you say?" When they asked this question, they must be quite sure they trapped Jesus. It seemed no matter what Jesus' answer would be the answer would draw trouble to Him. If Jesus answered that the woman should be stoned to death, He would break Roman government law since Roman law forbade Jews from exercising death penalty in adultery case. If Jesus said the woman should be pardoned, the religious leaders would definitely accuse Him of breaking the Law of Moses. The leaders believed that they put Jesus in a perfect inescapable situation.

 

Our Lord looked at the woman; her shame was all over her. Then the Lord looked at the men who dragged her here; their self-righteous was all over them. The terrified woman, the mocking looks in the faces of her accusers, and the lustful curiosity of the crowd, this picture must have filled the Lord's holy soul with so much pain that He hid His sadness in His eyes. He "bent down and started to write on the ground with His finger". It wasn't not that He had no way to answer or He needed time to think. He wanted to give everyone more time to think the whole situation over. He was patient and not reactive.

 

Obviously the accusers lost their patience. They kept on questioning Him. So Jesus straightened up and said to them, “If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her." Jesus didn't let the accusers to explain why they only caught the woman, but not her partner, the man. He turned the situation around and cast light on the character of those who self promoted themselves as the woman's judge. The accusers tried to force Jesus to apply to the woman the Law of Moses which the accusers used to exam outside behavior. The Lord reminded the accusers to apply the law of His Father to exam the hearts of themselves. As the Lord "stooped down and wrote on the ground" again, there must be a heavy silence. At that moment, everyone saw not the woman’s but their own lives before God. None of them had kept God's law perfectly. Now it was their turn to feel the shame of being guilty. They "began to go away one at a time, the older ones first", until the accusers and onlookers all gone, "only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there." 

 

In front of Jesus, this woman said nothing. Jesus who was expected by others to condemn her gave her His full attention. He straightened up and asked her, "Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?" The Lord didn't ask any details of her sin. He showed no interest in sin. He knew it and hated it. Jesus' question and the way He dealt with her accusers already showed His mercy and compassion to the woman. The woman said to Jesus, "No one, sir". No one else left to condemn her. At this point, Jesus touched the woman's heart with the most merciful declaration, “Then neither do I condemn you.” This declaration was enjoyed by believers and non-believers alike. But the following command Jesus gave to the woman was welcomed by believers only. Tenderly and compassionately, Jesus commanded the woman, “Go now and leave your life of sin.” Jesus didn't overlook or excuse the woman's adultery. But Jesus was not interested to condemn her but to save her through Him. His will for her was a transformed life, a totally new life in Him. Did the woman obey Him? She probably did. Sin brings condemnation and death. But Jesus came to save, to save the sinners who believe and obey Him.

 

We are all sinners. All of us have sinned. Sometimes, awareness of other people's sin can give us a false and superficial sense of respectability and virtue. We rank our sin at the bottom of other people's. We rank our virtue on the top of other people's. Only those who depend on Jesus for forgiveness have the willingness and strength to examine their own hearts and repent from impure thoughts that linger on their mind, habits that conflict with God's character and pride that blocks real spiritual insight. Are we the ones who rely on Jesus for forgiveness and allow Him to transform us more and more into His image?

 

"When Jesus spoke again to the people", He first said, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life." Jesus is the divine light which displays God's holiness, truth, and splendor. It is the only Light which makes the truth clear and exposes falsehood for people. Jesus encouraged people to rely on Him only to understand the truth of life.

 

The Pharisees understood the claim Jesus made but refused to accept it, so they challenged Him, "Here you are appearing as your own witness; your testimony is not valid." Although the Law of Moses required at least two witnesses to make any testimony valid, the Law of Moses applied to man only, not to the Son of God. Jesus answered, "Even if I testify on my own behalf, my testimony is valid, for I know where I came from and where I am going." Jesus' testimony was sufficient, above the need for other witness, because of His divine identity and heavenly origin. The Pharisees attempted to judge Jesus according to mere human judgment. They were not qualified to do so because their fallen human nature limited their understanding of Jesus' divine wisdom. Jesus is the only one who has authority to judge since God gives Him the authority. But He said He judges no one. The time for Jesus to act as Judge had not yet come. He first came as the Savior. The time will come when Jesus will return to act as Judge. The people who arrogantly thought they were qualified to judge Jesus' character and work didn't know that Jesus did have a second witness. His Father bears witness to Jesus' words and works as well as the results of them in the lives of people who ever encountered Him. Jesus said, "I am not alone, I stand with the Father... I am one who testifies for myself; my other witness is the Father, who sent me."

 

Then the Pharisees asked Him, "Where is your Father?" When Jesus claimed His Father was from above, they intended to insult Jesus with His earthly part of origin. Jesus responded, "You do not know me or my Father. If you knew me, you would know my Father also." If the Jewish leaders remembered their history and knew Scriptures well, if they were aware that they were chosen to proclaim the Savior's coming to the world, they should be the first ones to recognize their Messiah, their Savior. They missed the Son because they never knew the Father. They claimed to serve God, but they truly didn't know God. Jesus required that anyone who truly worshipped God would also honor and follow Him. His bold claim likely would have caused some to want to seize Him. "Yet no one seized Him, because His time had not yet come." 

 

His time was near. He gave a strong warning, "I am going away, and you will look for me, and you will die in your sin. Where I go, you cannot come." This was probably the second last time Jesus addressed the crowds that had come to Jerusalem to attend festival from all parts of the region. The next festival would be the Passover. Then Jesus would die on the cross. He warned the people of urgency of this opportunity to believe Him. If they refused to believe Him, they would die an eternal death bearing the guilt and punishment of their sins.

 

The Jews didn't believe Him. They followed their own reasoning. In their thinking, if Jesus was going to "kill himself", that might explain why they could not follow Him. Jesus pointed out why their thinking was wrong. He said, "You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world. I told you that you would die in your sins; if you do not believe that I am the one I claim to be, you will indeed die in your sins." Again Jesus warned unbelief means "indeed" dying in the guilt of sin.

 

The Jews were shocked by this strong warning. They asked, "Who are you?" This is a key question. Everyone needs to have an answer. Throughout time, people often find it difficult to completely understand His identity. Jesus instructed them that His identity was "just what" He had "been claiming all along." The best approach to grasp His identity is always to trust what He claimed all along. There is far more yet to be shown of His holy and eternal nature. We always need to think deeper who He is. The judgment of those who rejected Him is far more severe that they could realize. It is infinitely better for unbelievers to repent while they still have the opportunity than for them to challenge and reject Jesus and face the reality of judgment.

 

Jesus knew those who questioned Him didn't understand His claims. He prophesied, "When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am 'the one I claim to be'" This prophecy referred to Jesus' being "lifted up" on the cross and to His resurrection and ascension back to His Father. After Jesus' ascension, the Holy Spirit began to live within all believers to illuminates the person of the Lord Jesus, to help them to approach the mystery of Jesus' identity, to transform them in the likeness of their Lord. Jesus' words brought a strong conviction. "Even as he spoke, many put their faith in him." 

 

“To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, 'If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples.’”  To hold on to His teaching means to repent from your old ways and turning to Him in faith. "Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." Jesus' truth brings freedom from sin’s control so that believers have the freedom to live the way God intended.

 

As the Jewish leaders were listening to Jesus' teaching to the believing Jews, they kept looking for ways to discredit Jesus. As soon as they thought they caught something, they would challenge Him. From here until the end of the chapter, they interrupted Him six times. The first three times, they defended their identity as Abraham's legitimate children. They protected, "We are Abraham's descendants and have never been slaves of anyone. How can you say that we shall be set free?" Wow, did they lose their memory? They were slaves for four centuries in Egypt, and they were exiles for 70 years in Babylon. Even at Jesus' time, they were subjects of the Roman Empire. They ignored their own history to hide their shame. More than anything else, they desperately tried to hide their shame caused by sin. Their effort to hide their shame blinded them to see their spiritual bondage. Jesus pointed out their spiritual blindness by saying, "I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin." How many people today refuse to admit they are slaves to sin? They promise themselves that they will be a better person later. They try to sin less in their wish. But good intentions are no match for the impulses that come from our sinful nature. We are helpless and hopeless on our own. Only Jesus can promise freedom from the control of any sin to those who have faith in Him. He declared, "If the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed." 

 

Jesus told the Jewish leaders, they claimed to be Abraham's descendants, but they didn't behave like one. They did something that Abraham would never do and would never allow them to do, that is, they were "determined to kill" Jesus, who had told them the truth from God, lived a righteous life on earth, and performed miracles to help people.

 

The leaders didn't want to accept the reality that they were not Abraham's true descendants, they were slaves to sin. They protested more, calling, "The only Father we have is God himself." They were Abraham's physical descendants, but that didn't give them the title "sons of God" automatically. Belonging to God's family and being adopted by God as true son can only come through new birth through the Holy Spirit and faith in Jesus Christ. No true sons of God would ever seek to kill Jesus, the promised Messiah. True sons love Jesus.

 

How could the leaders who rejected every message Jesus brought from the very presence of His heavenly Father claim they had God as their Father? Jesus stunned them by unveiling the truth of the dark reality about their identity. "You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father's desire." Their father, the devil, was a murder and liar from the beginning. He lied to the first couple in the Garden of Eden, made them eat from the tree God had forbidden. The devil murdered their spirit instantly, killed their bodies later. The devil's children, the unbelievers, intended to kill Jesus from the beginning. Their evil desire already made them murders. They would eventually carry out their crime of murder by nailing Jesus on the cross. They believed their liar father's every lies, and tried to fool others. They rejected the truth and the One who told truth. They were true liars as their liar father.

 

Nothing could have stabbed them more deeply than this bitter truth. Their darkest secret was exposed under light. They were so mad that they said to Jesus, "you are a Samaritan and demon-possessed." They gave Jesus the most despised title for a true Jew. They fought back. Jesus simply countered the insults with a plain statement, "I am not possessed by a demon, but I honor my Father and you dishonor me." Jesus warned them to keep His word to escape death. They ignored His warning, kept arguing, "...Are you greater than our father Abraham?... Who do you think you are?... You are not yet fifty years old, and you have seen Abraham!" 

 

At this point, Jesus brought His teaching to a climax with the clearest revelation of His deity, "I tell you the truth, before Abraham was born, I am!" With absolute clarify Jesus was declaring that He, in fact, was God Himself. Everyone was called to respond to this most direct revelation.

 

To the Jews who believed Him by then and to us who follow Him today, this revelation is amazing good news. To the religious leaders who tried to kill Jesus then and the harden-hearted now, this was blasphemy. When Jesus first revealed this truth, the same kind of people who brought in the woman caught in adultery "picked up stones to stone Him." They didn't stone the woman, now they stoned the Lord, the only Savior who came down from heaven to earth to save them from death. But the time had not yet come for Jesus to die on the cross. So "Jesus hid himself, slipping away from the temple grounds."