The Wisdom of Jesus

Let’s turn to John chapter 8. John chapter 8. And we’ll look at verses 3 through 11. John chapter 8, verses 3 through 11. We’re going to be talking about the wisdom of Jesus this morning. Not a lot of wisdom in my funny stories, but there is a lot of wisdom in Jesus. And so, we’re going to be looking at His wisdom from John chapter 8.

You know, John chapter 8 is the story of the woman who is taken in adultery. And in John chapter 8, verses 2 through 11, we find this story. And it’s a story with which our society is very familiar, you know. Many use this passage to say, you should never condemn any sin whatsoever because everyone sinned, and therefore you can’t condemn any sin.

Well, that’s not what the passage is teaching, but many people look at it like this. But what is going on in this story, the woman taken in adultery? And I would like for us then to focus this morning on the wisdom of Jesus as demonstrated in this story.

First of all, the wisdom of Jesus in undergoing a dilemma. Secondly, the wisdom of Jesus in His uncompromising deliberation. And then finally, the wisdom of Jesus in upholding dignity. So that’s what we’re going to be thinking about this morning as we think about the wisdom of Jesus. First of all, the wisdom of Jesus undergoing a dilemma. And so let’s look at John chapter 8 and verses 2 through 5 here.

Then the scribes and Pharisees brought to Him a woman caught in adultery. And when they had set her in the midst, they said to Him, Teacher, this woman was caught in adultery in the very act. Now Moses, in the law, commanded us that such should be stoned. But what do you say?

Well, this is a pretty significant dilemma for Jesus because, you know, Jesus was one who taught in the temple here. He was teaching people at this time. And, of course, the people were listening to Him and following Him and the Pharisees were very envious of Jesus and they wanted to try to undermine Him.

And so they brought Him this woman. They place her in the middle of the multitude where Jesus is teaching, and they say she was taken in adultery, and they ask what Jesus would do. Well, the text says that He stooped down and He started writing on the ground to ignore them.

So under the surface, we see a lot of things going on here. First of all, the Pharisees are using this woman to tempt, to test Jesus. They’re seeking to place Jesus in a dilemma. Jesus’ ministry was characterized by mercy towards sinners. He was called a friend of sinners, in fact, in Matthew chapter 11, verse 19.

On the other hand, Jesus taught that He did not come to destroy the law, Matthew chapter 5 and verse 17. If it was true then that He didn’t come to destroy the law, then surely He would condemn this woman to death since the law prescribed that adulterers be put to death.

Leviticus 20, verse 10 and Deuteronomy 22, verse 22. So, the dilemma was this. If Jesus condemned the woman, He contradicted His own ministry of love and mercy. On the other hand, if He excused her, then He was contradicted by the law of Moses and His own teaching that He came to uphold the law.

What would Jesus do in this situation? You know, this is a real dilemma. And a lot of times, I think, sometimes we look at our own lives and we come across dilemmas and we don’t quite know what to do in our own lives, and Jesus’ life is a lot like our lives in that regard. He faced dilemmas. He faced tough situations, and this is one of them.

Because now everyone’s standing around and they’re wondering, what is Jesus going to do about this situation? Well, you know, one thing that Jesus sought to do is to avoid hypocrisy. And while a dilemma is a circumstance where one is placed in the position of either, you know, being a hypocrite.

Well, He didn’t want to be a hypocrite. The scribes and the Pharisees were the hypocrites. Jesus wasn’t a hypocrite, but He had to make a choice here. They were hypocrites. They didn’t really care about the law. They didn’t really care about mercy. All they really cared about was their own position in society.

But Jesus condemned hypocritical judging. Matthew 23, 13, Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites. Matthew 7, 1 and 2, Judge not, that you be not judged, for with what judgment you judge, you will be judged. And He condemned hypocritical judging.

He said in Mark 7, 6, “‘Well, did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites? As it is written, “‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.'” And so, now that Jesus is faced with this dilemma, is He going to continue to condemn the Pharisees for their hypocrisy, or is He going to become a hypocrite Himself?

Well, Jesus responded to this dilemma with uncompromising deliberation. Let’s look at John 8 and verses 6 through 8. This, they said, testing Him, that they might have something of which to accuse Him. But Jesus stooped down and wrote on the ground with His finger, as though He did not hear.

So when they continued asking Him, He raised Himself up and said to them, He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first. And again, He stooped down and wrote on the ground. Now it’s interesting that Jesus began writing on the ground.

The Pharisees had demanded that Jesus pass a sentence on this woman, but Jesus responded with deliberation. He didn’t respond immediately. In fact, it would have been better if they had just gone away, but they continued to press Him, and He initially kind of ignored them, But no doubt, he was formulating his response here with deliberation. And then he simply responds like this, He that is without sin among you, let Him cast the first stone. Now this is just the surface of things.

But under the surface, there’s a lot going on here. What you don’t read in this text is pretty significant. First of all, this word for right is the Greek word katagrapho. It’s not the normal word for the word right. The normal word is just grapho, but this is katagrapho.

It can indicate a drawing or putting something down in a register or a record. It was used when one was summoned to a court or summoned to a judgment. Sometimes it was used in regard to writing a curse. And so this is, the idea here is a writing of judgment. And it’s interesting to me that the Greek word katagrapho is used here because in an Armenian translation of the New Testament, it says that Jesus was writing the sins of the Pharisees.

He was writing their sins. We don’t know that from the text. That’s a translation. The original text doesn’t have it, but the Greek word katagrapho supports that idea. It supports the idea of a writing of judgment of some kind. But listen to what Jesus said, and how do we understand that?

First of all, when we go to the Old Testament, Deuteronomy 17 and verse 7, we see this. “…the hands of the witnesses shall be first upon Him to put Him to death, and afterward the hands of all the people, so thou shalt put the evil away from among you.”

The hands of the witnesses would be first. It’s interesting, the Pharisees brought the woman, but where was the man? Where was the man? They didn’t bring Him. Some have suggested that He was standing among the Pharisees Himself and that He was the one who was the witness to the situation. Well, Jesus would have known all that because of His blessing by God with the Holy Spirit to know the minds of men. But notice His response.

Let he who is without sin among you cast the first stone. Well, if the witness was the man who was committing adultery with the woman, then he would have been guilty of adultery also. And for him to cast the first stone at her would mean that they would have to cast stones at him. And so he’s not going to pick up the stone to cast at her because then he would also be condemned. He would be the witness because the witnesses were the ones who were to throw the first stones here.

From Deuteronomy 17, verse 7. So then the witnesses who pick up the stone to cast, they get to be cross-examined at that point. Now, that’s part of the legal trial situation here in the Old Testament law. Now, the law prescribed that both the man and the woman be put to death, according to Leviticus 20.10 and Deuteronomy 22.22. And we’ve already asked that question, where was He? And so, no one came forward to pick up a stone.

Now this shows the wisdom of Jesus again because Jesus knew the Word of God and just as Jesus, we noted in the first point, sought to avoid hypocrisy, now Jesus is seeking in His wisdom to apply God’s Word to the situation.

And, you know, that’s what we have to do also. Avoiding hypocrisy is difficult to do sometimes. But we can do it. There’s a way to do it. And the way to do it is to know the Word of God.

The more we know about God’s Word, the better we will understand how to live our lives and how to deliberate upon difficult circumstances and how to avoid being judged. Jesus said in John chapter 12 and verse 48, He who rejects Me and does not receive My words has that which Judges him. The words that I have spoken will judge him in the last day.

This is why we need to follow Jesus’ example. He used God’s Word to get Himself out of this dilemma. And He did not compromise Himself. He didn’t say, oh well, you just need to ignore the Law of Moses here. He didn’t say that. Neither did he say, we shouldn’t have mercy and grace for this woman. He didn’t do either of those.

He found a different solution based upon the law of Moses that enabled him to have mercy and grace for her. Now that’s what we got to do also. And it takes tremendous wisdom. But we can do it if we will listen to the words of Jesus.

And then finally, the wisdom of Jesus is seen here in upholding dignity. Now let’s look at verses 9 through 11. Then those who heard it, being convicted by their conscience, went out one by one, beginning with the oldest even to the last.

And Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst. When Jesus had raised Himself up and saw no one but the woman, He said to her, “‘Woman, where are those accusers of yours? Has no one condemned you?’ She said, “‘No one, Lord.’ And Jesus said to her, “‘Neither do I condemn you. Go and sin no more.'”

Now it says the accusers began to file out from the oldest to the youngest. Why was this? Well, the oldest would have known the law. They would have understood that the witness had to come forward first to throw the stone, and when that happened, then they would be in trouble because the witness would be cross-examined. He would be asked, where is the man? And that’s what they didn’t want to have happen.

Some Greek texts say that they were condemned by their consciences. And eventually, only Jesus and the woman were left. Jesus asked her, where are they? Did they not condemn you? And she answered, no one condemned me. And so Jesus, without witnesses now, to put someone to death, according to the provisions of the law of Moses, He didn’t have the right to put her to death, and so He didn’t condemn her either.

But I want you to note, He did tell her to go and sin no more. So while He didn’t put her to death, He did hold her accountable and He did preserve her dignity by doing so. Now, the Pharisees who filed out would have been embarrassed by this whole situation.

They took matters into their own hands here. They didn’t go to a court of law to process this issue, which is what should have been done. But once no one had condemned her, Jesus understood that He wasn’t going to do that either.

The wisdom of Jesus here is very simple. Jesus didn’t come to be an executioner. That was not His purpose. And you know, that’s not our purpose either as Christians. We’re not here to be executioners. There are some in the Christian world who want to condemn every little thing.

They want to go out and say, why, look at this horrible thing here. Look at this horrible thing there. And all they do is point the finger at other people and point out how bad everyone else is without ever turning to themselves, looking inward and asking themselves whether they have a problem or not.

Well, that’s not Jesus’ purpose, and that’s not our purpose either. John 3 and verse 17 says, “…for God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.” Now, that’s not to say that we can’t point out things that are sinful, certainly. Even Jesus said, He said, go and sin no more. He did not excuse her sin, but He wasn’t there to condemn her. That wasn’t His purpose, and it’s not our purpose. Instead, we need to be concerned about saving sinners.

1 Timothy 1 and verse 15, Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. And that’s what we need to do also. Jesus respected a person’s dignity. Every single person is worthy of grace and dignity. Every single person needs to receive God’s forgiveness. Every single person is someone who is important and not to be disposed of as some kind of pawn in a political game.

Every single person deserves a second chance to be forgiven of sin. Jesus was full of grace and truth, and we need to reflect that grace and truth within our lives as well. God offers us second chances every day, and we need to take advantage of them.

But then also, we need to turn around and offer second chances to others within our lives as well. That’s part of what it means to be a Christian and to follow the example of Jesus. And so, this wonderful story presents to us the wisdom of Jesus. The wisdom of Jesus in undergoing a dilemma. What did He do? He avoided hypocrisy and He recognized truth.

What did he do? He was uncompromising in his deliberation. He found a solution based upon the Word of God that would get him out of the situation. And finally, he upheld the dignity of the person who was being accused.

Every single person is made in the image of God according to Genesis chapter 1, verses 26 and 27. And so every single person is worthy of love and respect. Maybe today you recognize a need within your life to deal with the sins that have plagued you.

And we’ve got to understand that sin is a plague. It’s like a disease. And when we go to someone and talk about sin, we’re not trying to condemn that person, we’re trying to help that person get out of the disease that they’re in, you know.

It’s unfortunate that there are some people in this world who like to be sick, who want to have disease, and it gets them attention. And you know, some people treat sin like that. They treat it like it’s something that’s valuable to them, something that they want to hold on to and not let go of.

Well, that’s not what sin is. It’s not something to identify with. It’s something that we need to avoid because it will destroy us. But the good news is that we can be saved from our sins through Jesus Christ. We can make all things new, 2 Corinthians chapter 5 and verse 17. We can pray for Christians who are involved in sin so that they would be forgiven, James 5, verse 16, and so that they can be restored. Galatians chapter 6 and verse 1.

We have a whole life of opportunity to change and to do what is right. Maybe this morning there’s someone here who needs to become a Christian, to come to Jesus, to receive that mercy and grace that He offered so freely to so many. How do we do that? Through hearing His Word and believing it, repenting of sin, confessing Him as Lord, and being baptized.

We can receive that grace and mercy and come to know Jesus in our life and then turn around and be able to offer that same grace and mercy to others. If that’s what you need to do this morning, we invite you to come right now while together we stand and sing.

End of transcript. Thank you for reading along!