“No, Lord,” she said. And Jesus said, “Neither do I. Go and sin no more.” - John 8:11
Have you ever felt like you have been “caught in the very act” by the religious community or some other group? If so, you will be able to empathize with this unnamed woman.
One day Jesus faced a group of religious leaders who dragged out in front of him a woman they had caught actually committing adultery. The law said she and the man involved should be stoned to death. However, the religious leaders brought only the woman to Jesus. You can almost hear them sneering, “If this man Jesus claims to be the Son of God, let’s see what he does with this situation!”
The point of this story is not the woman’s sin but the calling of sinners. Jesus, the Savior, offers forgiveness and a new start to any who will repent. There was no doubt that the woman had sinned. Jesus did not dispute the fact that she had committed adultery. Nor did he dispute that this was against God’s law—one of the Ten Commandments in fact (Exodus 20:14). But Jesus chose to forgive her. In the process he taught the religious leaders a lesson about their own sinfulness! They slunk away, unable to cast stones because Jesus had forced them to look inside their own hearts! Jesus didn’t condemn the woman either. But then he added, “Go and sin no more” (John 8:11).
“Go and sin no more” is where new life begins.
For Further Study: John 8:1-11
Excerpted from The One Year Devotions for Women, Copyright ©2000 by Jill Briscoe. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers. All rights reserved.
For more from Jill Briscoe, please visit TellingtheTruth.org.
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