Solely Jesus
John 7:53 – 8:11
Between Grace and Truth
The Scriptures that the early followers of Jesus had were not like our Scriptures -- all bound up nicely in a cover, easy to carry, with paragraph breaks, chapters and verses.
Bible was not bound together in this form until about 300 years after John died
Chapter breaks were added in the 13th century and verses were not added until the 16th century
In the Roman Empire and among the Jewish people there was a group of people that were called ‘scribes’
There job was to make official copies of legal documents for people.
All ancient peoples had large numbers of scribes for the transmission of religious texts and other legal and historical documents.
As the scribes spent time poring over documents they became experts at what documents said and the nuances of documents.
Someone, in a city/village, would have a ‘copy’ of the letter of Colossians and they would bring it to a town and some of the Jesus followers would want their own copy so they would have a ‘scribe’ copy the letter.
Then some other followers would get a copy of that copy … of that copy… of that copy …
Somewhere along the line scribes added other stories that were circulating about Jesus in the copies of the documents.
Scholars are able to determine what was original and what was added/changed by:
Going back to the oldest manuscripts
Looking at what is ‘quoted’ by the early church fathers – Almost the entire NT can be compiled by the quotes of the early church fathers who quoted extensively from what we call the NT.
The story we are going to look at today was added sometime near when the Scriptures were translated into Latin and eventually French, German and English.
As more and more manuscripts have been found and dated it is clear that this story was not in John’s original account of the life of Jesus.
It is the only story of Jesus that is not found in the oldest manuscripts.
The account that we are going to read today is thought to be authentic and to have happened but was not in John’s original account.
When John started his account of the life of Jesus he talked described Jesus this way:
The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. (John 1:14 TNIV)
Full of grace and truth
Not the balance of grace and truth – FULL
FULL GRACE and FULL TRUTH
This is one of those events that are recorded for us that illustrate the amazing nature of Jesus
One of the realities of what was recorded is that Jesus dealt with people based on GRACE and TRUTH
The woman at the well that we looked at a couple of months ago – Grace and Truth
Zaccheus – Grace and Truth
Rich young ruler – Grace and Truth
Choosing the Apostle’s – Grace and Truth
Judas Iscariot – Grace and Truth
This is one more account of Jesus interacting with people where we see – FULL Grace and FULL Truth
These verses in your Bible probably have a foot note that says something like: The most ancient Greek manuscripts do not include John 7:53-8:1
Then the meeting broke up, and everybody went home.
The Jewish leaders – Pharisees, Sadducees and scribes went to their own place.
Jesus returned to the Mount of Olives, but early the next morning He was back again at the Temple. A crowd soon gathered, and He sat down and taught them. As He was speaking, the teachers of religious law and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in the act of adultery. They put her in front of the crowd.
Jesus went out the Mount of Olives where he and his disciples had set-up camp.
Luke says that during these months – Jesus would spend the nights at the Mount of Olives and then during the day he would go into the Temple and teach. (Luke 21:37-38)
Can you imagine the scene?
They drag this woman in – I find it hard to believe that she went willingly
Probably sobbing …
They put her in front of the crowd.
Humiliation of being caught would have been bad enough – now to have brought her to the Temple.
That was no small feat – the Temple was a massive, spread-out structure
"Teacher," they said to Jesus, "this woman was caught in the act of adultery. The law of Moses says to stone her. What do You say?"
There are so many questions … Caught in the act
How did they find the woman?
Were the peeping?
Was this a set-up?
Where is the man?
The law of Moses says to stone her …
If he agrees with the law of Moses – If a man and a woman are caught in adultery that they were to both be stoned to death – he would be in violation of the Roman Empire which did not permit the Jewish people to execute people.
If he disagrees with the law of Moses he would be a traitor to the faith of the Fathers
They were trying to trap Him into saying something they could use against Him, but Jesus stooped down and wrote in the dust with His finger. They kept demanding an answer, so He stood up again and said, "All right, but let the one who has never sinned throw the first stone!" Then He stooped down again and wrote in the dust.
Jesus recognized what they were up to.
They were not interested in justice and in the law of Moses.
This was a trap … trapping Jesus had become a recreational sport for the Jewish leaders …M, M, L and J all record instances of the Jewish power brokers trying to trap him … trip him up
People have been wondering for 2000 years what Jesus wrote
It is the only record we have of Jesus writing
Did he write a person’s name?
Maybe a list of the names in the group who had committed adultery?
Did he write something one of those standing there did?
Did he start writing a list of sins?
Did start writing the 10 Commandments?
Alright --- go ahead stone her … agreeing with the law … they were right in what the law required … Jesus leans into TRUTH
But the one in your midst who has never sinned throw the first stone … he leans a little further into TRUTH
Then he does it again … he writes in the dust
When the accusers heard this, they slipped away one by one, beginning with the oldest, until only Jesus was left in the middle of the crowd with the woman. Then Jesus stood up again and said to the woman, "Where are your accusers? Didn't even one of them condemn you?"
One by one … starting with the oldest
Why the oldest? Were they the most aware?
Were they feeling the most guilt/shame --- were they aware that Jesus was on to their trap?
Were they the ones most aware that they couldn’t pull off what they were trying to pull off?
Then Jesus … standing there in the crowd – with the woman --- LEANS into GRACE
Speaks to the broken, embarrassed – no humiliated, woman …
Where are your accusers?
Didn’t even one of them stick around to condemn you?
"No, Lord," she said. And Jesus said, "Neither do I. Go and sin no more." (John 7:53-8:11 NLT)
Jesus leans even further into GRACE and says these final words to her …
Let’s talk about this … grace and truth
Followers of Jesus and whole churches lean either towards truth or towards grace
Truth --- Emphasize holiness, high expectations, shame when someone doesn’t live up to those expectations, when someone sins … the reaction is often larger than expected.
Grace --- Emphasizes acceptance, don’t make anyone feel bad, holiness is outdated and can’t be expected, behavioral expectations in the Scriptures are time/period and culturally driven.
Living together …
Truth person/church --- compelled to say something, do something --- that is unacceptable – we have to do something – We can’t let these people – “These people” attend church here.
Grace person/truth --- it’s OK let’s not make them feel bad, don’t make any waves, just go with the flow, go with the times --- who are they hurting --- we can’t judge
Truth is clean … clear expectations, comply and everything will be OK, if there is something wrong then deal with it and its all clean again … there is a wake behind the boat but the boat and course is clear.
Truth is also clean because grace-leaning people can’t stand it so they leave.
Grace is also clean … we don’t make anyone feel bad, we don’t have expectations, we don’t ever tell anyone that God’s plan is different than how they are living … there is no wake behind this boat but there a very few ripples either
Grace is also clean because truth-leaning people can’t stand it so they leave.
The area between TRUTH and GRACE --- Messy
Truth people want it cleaned-up with confrontation and accountability
Grace people want it cleaned-up with acceptance and forgiveness – live and let live
DP - Story
Back to the account of the woman and Jesus
Jesus – leaned into truth
Then he leaned into grace
Then he leaned back into truth
Which do you lean towards?
Which do you think a church should lean towards?
Often someone can tell by the reaction to what I’ve been talking about …
Truth leaners … Yeah, but if we don’t stick tightly to the truth … we are going to go the way of everyone else
Slippery slope – besides they aren’t really ‘GRACE’ people their just wishy-washy cowards.
Grace leaners … Yeah, but if we don’t stick to grace … we aren’t going to further hurting people by beating them up and pointing out sin --- besides aren’t truth people really just judgmental and self-righteous --- why can’t they just leave people alone?
Is it possible that the command of Jesus to love our neighbor is not one or the other?
Either TRUTH or GRACE …
But instead it is both/and? It is both TRUTH and GRACE …
We all need both Truth and Grace …
What the human race needs is both Truth and Grace
But not a balance of Truth and Grace
Living in a way that leans towards truth and also leans towards grace is messy/confusing
But leaning towards each is the Jesus way …