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The Woman Caught in Adultery: Villain or Victim?

The classic story of the three little pigs was always so clear to me. The wolf was the bad guy, as the aggressor, and the pigs were the good guys, the victims. Then in 1996 came a bombshell: a tell-all book called “The True Story of the Three Little Pigs”—written by the wolf.

In the book, the wolf sets the record straight. Apparently, it was all a misunderstanding based on his sneezing problem. Suddenly, for me, in elementary school, the story became much more complicated.

When I was a kid, my biggest hobby was collecting rocks. Wow, aiming pretty high there, don’t you think? But they were cool rocks: fossils, tiger eyes, agates, amethysts. So, one year, I got the best Christmas gift ever: a rock tumbler kit. It was an electric spinning tumbler, where you put your rocks in, put your polish in, plug it in, and then it turns out these polished rocks.

At least, I think that’s what happens. That winter, we did not run the rock tumbler. The whole next year we did not, either. I kept asking my dad when we were going to run the rock tumbler, and he kept putting it off. Eventually he said, “Daniel, I’m just not comfortable with this. It has to run constantly for like forty days. You’ve got to add a bunch of liquid. And somehow, you’ve got to keep from getting electrocuted. I just don’t think we should run the rock tumbler.”


“The story became much more complicated.”


We sold it in a garage sale. I pocketed what we made, it was a fraction of its original price, and the story was straightforward. Dad was the villain, and I was the victim.

Until one of my own kids got a rock tumbler.

I was excited to do for them what my father never did for me—until I started looking at the directions. And I’m thinking, You’ve got to run this thing for like forty days straight. You’ve got to add a bunch of liquid. You’ve got to somehow keep from getting electrocuted. “Sorry, kid, but I don’t think we’re going to run the rock tumbler.”

The Woman Caught in Adultery

In John 8, a woman caught in the act of adultery is brought before Jesus to get his verdict. Who’s the victim here, and who’s the villain?

I have seen multiple families sliced into pieces because of adultery. I’m not a fan. I can write that article or preach that sermon against adultery, and I won’t have to psych myself into feeling it. When Proverbs plays out the movie of adultery, it’s not exaggerating when it finishes by saying, “Like a bird darting into a snare . . . it will cost him his life” (Proverbs 7:23b, NIV). Adultery is worth hating.

So, it’s pretty straightforward who’s the villain in the John 8 story, right?

Well, not exactly.

Because the people accusing her of adultery have something else going wrong with them. They have brought this woman to Jesus, but they’re not acting as though they’re thinking, “Wow, this is really bad. This woman is in a bad place. Jesus, can you help her get her life back in order?” No, they bring her before Jesus, and they don’t seem to care about her at all.


“So, it’s pretty straightforward who’s the villain in the John 8 story, right?”


Instead, they’re looking past her to Jesus. She’s the bait they’re using to lure Jesus into a trap.

The religious leaders in Jerusalem have long felt threatened by Jesus. They just know he is going to mess everything up if allowed to continue. He’s acting as if he has immunity to their longstanding rules that distinguish bad people from good people, which people you can and can’t eat with, and what you can and can’t do on the Sabbath. Jesus is breaking their rules by befriending and dining with the wrong people and healing people on the Sabbath. They’ve got to stop him and somehow get him away from all these impressionable people.

In John 8, they’ve finally found the perfect way to get Jesus into serious trouble.

“But Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. At dawn he appeared again in the temple courts, where all the people gathered around him, and he sat down to teach them. The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group and said to Jesus, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?” They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him.” (John 8:1-6a, NIV)

This time, they’ve got him for sure. Either way he answers, they will find a basis for getting him canceled and hopefully arrested.


The woman caught in adultery: “Either way he answers, they will find a basis for getting him canceled and hopefully arrested.”


What are Jesus’ two options?

First, Jesus could say, “No, no, no. That’s too harsh. You can’t kill this poor woman.” And then they say what? “Aha! See, Jesus doesn’t follow the Old Testament law! See, all you people who have been following this guy? He’s a fraud! He teaches you to disregard God’s law!”

Or, second, Jesus could say, “Yes, according to the law of Moses, that is the punishment for adultery. If there are witnesses, then, yes, she ought to be put to death.” And if that’s how he answers, what will they say then? First, they won’t say anything. Instead, they will go to the Roman governor, Pontius Pilate, and say, “You know how you Romans say that only the Roman government can put a person to death? That we Jews don’t have the power of capital punishment, but you do? Well, we have a troublemaker who is going around saying that we should kill people when they commit adultery. We really need you to stop this dangerous man before he gets someone killed!”

So, you can see why this is a complicated story. She has committed adultery. That’s not good. These religious leaders are trying to use her adultery to trap Jesus and get him canceled. That’s also not good.

Who’s the villain here? Who’s the victim?


The woman caught in adultery: “Who’s the villain here? Who’s the victim?”


Between the Horns of the Dilemma

So, what’s Jesus going to do? He does something incredibly unexpected. It’s quite creative—which is not surprising since he created this world with all its surprising features in the first place. Here’s what he does:

“But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, ‘Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.’ Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground.” (John 8:6b-8, NIV)

We’re not told what Jesus writes. Is he writing words? Is he drawing something? Whatever it is, he’s brilliantly deescalating the situation so that he can refocus their attention. He’s building a pause into the situation, so that their emotions can calm and they can think.

Because this story calls for serious thinking.


“He’s brilliantly deescalating the situation so that he can refocus their attention.”


Is the adulteress the villain here? Or are the actual villains the ones disguised as spiritual shepherds? On the other hand, is it true that this woman is the obvious victim? Obviously, she’s being used as a pawn to try and checkmate the other side’s king, but does that make her the victim? It’s complicated.

Refocusing Their Attention on What?

What comes next is pretty cool. Jesus has deescalated the situation so he can refocus their attention. But refocus their attention on what? Here’s what:

“But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, ‘Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.’” (John 8:6b-7, NIV)

What’s Jesus refocusing their attention on? He’s asking them how they’re doing with their sin problem.

And we need to hear that. It’s so easy for us in the 21st century to get outraged by their sins. If you go over to Fox for more than a minute, you might find yourself livid about those liberals taking over this country. Or if you go over to CNN and listen for long, you might start finding yourself feeling the same way about conservatives.


The woman caught in adultery: “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.”


Whichever corner of the internet you hang out on, you’ll find headlines handcrafted to make you angry and frustrated, to where you might keep saying, “Can you believe those idiots?!” It’s all engineered so that you’ll keep scrolling and keep clicking—so you’ll keep your eyes on their content and not on their competitor’s content. You can spend literally all day getting upset at other people, feeling like you’re correct about everything and they’re a bunch of idiots about everything.

We need Jesus to calm us down and refocus our attention. He asks, “How are you doing with your sin problem?” These religious leaders who know their Bibles so well have forgotten one of the first lessons from Bible 101: everybody has a sin problem. Everybody has recurring temptations. Nobody’s getting this right.

“Indeed, there is no one on earth who is righteous. No one who does what is right and never sins.” (Ecclesiastes 7:20, NIV)

“For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3:23, NIV)

“We all stumble in many ways.” (James 3:2a, NIV)


“We all stumble in many ways.”


What Jesus Tells the Religious Leaders

So, Jesus says to the religious leaders,

“Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” (John 8:7b, NIV)

That’s what they needed to hear. They were so busy judging others—from people made in God’s image to the Son of God himself—that they’d completely forgotten about their own sins.

Jesus tells his disciples, “Judge not lest you be judged” (Matthew 7:1, KJV), and, “Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy” (Matthew 5:7, NIV). We need to be showing people mercy because we’ll continue to need a ton of it ourselves.

But that’s not Jesus’ only message. True, Jesus tells the religious leaders to remember that they’ve got a sin problem too. In response, many of us are tempted to say, “You tell ‘em, Jesus! You tell them to get off our backs!” But that sense of relief would be premature. Because Jesus then turns his attention to the woman caught in adultery.


“Jesus then turns his attention to the woman caught in adultery.”


What Jesus Tells the Woman Caught in Adultery

We might think, well, Jesus is obviously going to give the woman a free pass. She’s had a rough morning. Probably a rough life. Will he give her a free pass? See what Jesus tells her:

“Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground. At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there. Jesus straightened up and asked her, ‘Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?’ ‘No one, sir,’ she said. ‘Then neither do I condemn you,’ Jesus declared.” (John 8:8-11a, NIV)

And then he says this:

“Go now and leave your life of sin.” (John 8:11b, NIV)

Until that last line, the story was looking to fit our society’s go-to narrative: My inner goodness will emerge so long as I’m living authentically and not forced to conform to oppressive societal norms and structures. “Thank you, Jesus, for getting them off our back!”


“Until that last line, the story was looking to fit our society’s go-to narrative.”


But then what does Jesus say to the woman? “Go now and leave your life of sin.” That’s not a very affirming thing to say to this woman who has been victimized by religious prejudices and patriarchal prohibitions. You know they didn’t care to bring in the man caught in adultery, right? They brought in just the woman and stood her up in front of everybody, the ultimate exhibit of public shame. She’s the clear victim here, right? It’s so moralistic and pharisaical for him to assume she’s been living a life of sin. Hasn’t she just been living her own truth? Expressing her own sexuality? Why should Jesus be labeling what she’s been doing as sexual “sin”? Why should he care?

As usual, Jesus frustrates basically everybody. Yes, he’s got tough words for the religious leaders, and some of us may be glad about that. But then he’s got tough words for this lady, and others of us may be glad about that.

We can’t say, “Yeah, you go Jesus! You tell those bad people where to go!” very long before he turns his critique on us. And he says, “How are you doing with your sin problem? You sure you want to keep living your life of sin?”


“As usual, Jesus frustrates basically everybody.”


It’s time to pause and get real about Jesus. Sure, everybody wants Jesus on their side. Everybody wants Jesus as their team’s mascot. But we’ve got to be honest about his demands. Jesus has got plenty to say that’s hard to hear for every single one of us. Don’t believe me? Then read the Sermon on the Mount, and count how many verses in until you start feeling nervous. It won’t be many.

Jesus took sin very seriously, whether it was the judgmentalism of the religious people or the sexual sin of the unreligious people. In fact, if you assume Jesus’ main orientation toward sin was affirmation, you need to know there’s nobody in history who took sin more seriously than Jesus did.

And by Jesus taking our sin seriously, I mean every sin in history—yours, mine, and theirs out there. And I don’t mean just pointing our sin out. I mean doing something about it:

“We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.” (Isaiah 53:6, NIV)

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