Killing Shame | Andy Fetzer

I'm excited about what we're gonna be talking about today. What a difference a day makes, doesn't it? Yesterday, I did the Blue Ridge Marathon. Thank you. And when I say did it, I mean, I went down there and took pictures of people that did it. It was awesome. I was so inspired by some of my friends, my son doing it, that I was like, I'm gonna do it next year. That was yesterday. This morning, I didn't get up and start running. So I don't think that next year's in the cards for me, but we'll see what happens.

So today we're officially one third of the way through John's gospel. Give it up for one third of the way through. This is awesome.

What I'm about to say—we're actually a little bit farther along in John's gospel than one third—because there's a text note that precedes what we're about to read. There's 12 verses here, and then there's another place at the end of Mark's gospel where it says:

The earliest and most reliable manuscripts and other ancient witnesses do not have John 7:53-8:11.

This used to bother me. This used to bring much consternation to my life. Is what you're saying not supposed to be there? Do we have something that's not supposed to be there? Is John the author of this? Most New Testament scholars, people that do textual criticism, would say they don't know. And because of that, this wasn't in the original stuff that they're finding from far, far back. Some of the language is a little bit different. It's more akin to what Luke would have written. But I will say that most of those folks that believe this wasn't in it originally believe that this actually happened and this event was being circulated around. This account was being circulated around, and centuries later was put in there.

So I don't want us to then go, "Well, is everything up for grabs?" No. Everything is not up for grabs. This should give credence to the fact that what we have in our hands, what we're reading, is really accurate. They've gone over it with a fine tooth comb. We're not trying to hide the ball. When you see a text note—and this is not scripture, it's just what the Bible editors put in there so that we would know—because we don't know the ancient language, most of us don't speak Greek or Hebrew, and it would be hard for us to see that there'd be any anomalies in this. But it's not like we're finding gold tablets in the woods somewhere. We're actually trying to figure out that what we have is the Word of God.

And with that caveat, hopefully I didn't sabotage my sermon, but with that caveat, I'd like to invite you to come with me to be an eyewitness, to see what Jesus did that day outside the temple, in the courtyards, and to remember it. The things that we're gonna talk about in this particular passage, they're not new. They're echoed throughout the gospels and afterwards as well. There's nothing unique in this.

It was a day much like a lot of days in Jesus' life where he would go and he would teach. He'd sit down. That's the posture of a rabbi. He'd sit down and he would teach. That's not unique. He did that a lot of times. And this particular day, there were a lot of people there. It says all the people were there. This wasn't unique either. Whenever you see Jesus in the gospels, people wanted to be around him. There was something unique. There was something different. There was something magnetic about being with Jesus. A lot of people that day had been recipients of his blessings. They had been fed or they'd been healed. But there's also the teaching that he would just teach. And he taught not like the normal teachers of the law, but Jesus had authority. And he spoke with a tenderness and a compassion.

This particular day, he was interrupted. And that's not unique either because Jesus was interrupted all the time. In fact, his whole life was just a series of interruptions. It's almost like he welcomed it. It's almost like he wanted it to happen. Like that's where life was gonna be lived—in the interruptions. When you and I are interrupted, we don't like it. It gets us out of whack. But for Jesus, it didn't faze him. He welcomed the interruption.

The religious leaders that day, the serious ones, they hatched a plan to trap Jesus in a theological catch-twenty two. And their plan was ingenious. It was good. In fact, when these guys were making up the plan, they were probably like, "This is a good one. This one's gonna do it. This one's gonna be the one to catch Jesus." And the problem is that they were picking a fight with Jesus, which you don't wanna pick a theological fight with Jesus. That's a life principle we all wanna live by.

And right away, you can see Jesus' demeanor change. You could see His face—just the sadness, but also the sadness towards this person that they're using as a pawn in this trap, and the anger towards the men who are doing it. You could see his heart almost break.

They brought in a woman caught in the act of adultery. Verse three says:

Teacher of law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group. — John 7:3

Now the word here used is implying that this woman was married to another. She wasn't a single woman committing adultery. She was a married woman, and the one she was with was not her husband.

The Trap

And here's the trap. There are actually several layers of the trap, but here's the trap. They said in verse five:

In the law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now, what do you say? — John 7:5

And then verse six says:

They were using this question as a trap in order for a basis of accusing Him. — John 7:6

Here's the trap: If Jesus says, "Don't stone her," then the religious leaders could look at Him for flouting the law of Moses. He would prove himself a heretic, and they already had questions about Jesus's stance on the Sabbath. Their rejection of Jesus would be justified if He said, "Don't stone her."

However, if He said, "Stone her. She deserves it. Stone her," it would fly in the face of everything Jesus was about. His posture towards the downtrodden, towards the lawless was well known. He spoke with compassion. He talked about compassion and love and mercy and forgiveness. It would have been really weird for Jesus to be like, "Yeah, kill her." That wouldn't make any sense.

And the other part of the trap was that the Roman authorities were the ones that had the sole right of executing people. We see that fleshed out in the life of Jesus when he was arrested, tried, and executed by Rome because the religious leaders wanted him out of the picture.

What Scripture Actually Says

So let's look at the scripture that they were using. It's Deuteronomy 22:22—and if you want to remember that, it's the catch-22. That's a good device for that.

I want you to see if you can identify the subtle differences in what scripture was saying in Deuteronomy and what the Pharisees were saying:

If a man is found sleeping with another man's wife, both the man who slept with her and the woman must die. — Deuteronomy 22:22

Notice that they don't prescribe the way in which she and he should die. They just say they must die—not talking about stoning there. But both of them are guilty. Both of them are guilty. It takes two to tango, and the man's not there. He's just as guilty as the woman, and perhaps even more guilty.

In the Old Testament, there's a book called Hosea. If you're not familiar with it, it's worth a read. It talks about God commanding Hosea, the prophet, to marry a prostitute named Gomer, which is a rough name for a woman. I apologize if anybody's name is Gomer in here, but that's rough. But Gomer is a prostitute, a wayward wife, and Hosea is supposed to marry her and have a relationship that would mirror the relationship that God has with his people—that God is the faithful husband and we are not. We are the wayward wives. We are the ones who are unfaithful. We go to other lovers besides the one who loves us, while God remains faithful, and we are unfaithful.

There are a few verses in Hosea that I want to point out because I think they point to this episode that we see in John 8:

There is no faithfulness, no love, no acknowledgment of God in the land. There is only cursing, lying, and murder, stealing, and adultery. — Hosea 4:1-2

They exchanged their glory for something disgraceful. — Hosea 4:7

We were trading in what was intended for us, and we went to worse things—worse things that were killing us.

They'll eat, but not have enough. They'll engage in prostitution, but not increase. — Hosea 4:10

A spirit of prostitution leads them astray. They are unfaithful to their God. They sacrifice on the mountaintops and burn offerings on the hills under oak, poplar, and tamarisk where the shade is pleasant. Therefore, your daughters turn to prostitution and your daughters-in-law to adultery. But listen to the word of the Lord. I will not punish your daughters when they turn to prostitution nor your daughters-in-law when they commit adultery, because the men themselves consort with harlots and sacrifice with shrine prostitutes. A people without understanding will come to ruin. — Hosea 4:12-14

One can easily make the argument that men are primarily culpable for the prevalence of sexual sin and violence in our world. Instead of being men the way we are created to be—to love, to care, to protect, to fight for, to cherish women—we've dropped the ball.

That day, the Pharisees didn't bring the man that was guilty, just the woman, and it probably really upset me. It wasn't just. If these Pharisees, if these religious leaders were serious about the law and they weren't just using it—using it like the devil used scripture in the wilderness when he was tempting Jesus to take the shortcut to glory—in the same way that the serpent thwarted some of the facts in the garden to usurp the dominion and the kingdom away from Adam and Eve, the same way these Pharisees use scripture to justify this evil vile act. And they use this woman as a pawn in their scheme.

If they were serious about the law, they would have brought that guy. But that wasn't the case. And it wasn't the case that the religious leaders just happened to stumble upon this woman and catch her in the act. That wouldn't have happened. This happened earlier in the day. It probably happened the night before. They probably conspired with the man who's not there. And I say probably, I mean, I'm making some assumptions, but the guy's not there and it's not because he was a faster runner than she was. He escaped the shame that day, but he's still guilty.

So what does Jesus do? And this is part of the amazing part of this scripture because what Jesus does is amazing. It says that Jesus was sitting down and he was teaching the people. And then at some point he had to stand up because there's commotion. And I don't know when He stood up, but I bet you He stood up when that woman was brought in. And He gets on the same level as her because she's standing now in front of this crowd exposed.

So Jesus is standing, and then it says that Jesus stoops down, and He starts to write in the ground with His finger, most likely an allusion to the finger of God writing the law on the tablets. And I used to want to know what he wrote, but we don't know. And there's a reason why we don't know because it's not important. What's important is that he did write on the ground. It's a detail that if it didn't happen wouldn't have been put in there.

And he's writing on the ground and what happens in that moment is something amazing. Because while he's writing on the ground, all eyes of the crowd have left the woman and her sin and her shame, and they go to Jesus. And that's what Jesus does. Jesus takes away those things that are embarrassing, shameful, make us guilty, and He puts them on Himself. This isn't the only time He does it. He does it all the time.

Another time He does it is in Luke 19 with Zacchaeus. In the beginning of that story, the crowd hated Zacchaeus. They hated him. But because of Jesus' radical encounter with Zacchaeus and the things that he was saying to Zacchaeus and going to Zacchaeus' house, the crowd turns its hatred and anger from Zacchaeus and then puts it on Jesus. And they were so angry with him. And that's what Jesus does.

He writes on the ground. And he takes for a short moment this woman's shame and sin, not front and center. And he straightens up and he says, "Okay, this isn't an issue of guilt or innocence. I mean, we know she's guilty. You caught her in the act. But he says, You can commence your capital punishment. You can start. However, the first stone has to be thrown by somebody that is without sin."

It's brilliant, a brilliant response. And I don't know if he had that response before he stooped down or if he was like, "All right, this is a pickle." But he's God. And he's awesome. And he says the one thing that convicts the hearts of the men there that want to catch Jesus and kill somebody because of it, and they leave.

And who leaves first? The older men. Do you know why? Because when you're old, you know you've messed up. It doesn't take long to be like, "Gosh, man. I've done some stupid things in my life." And then the younger ones leave too. When you're younger, and this is true of me, so don't be upset with me, but when you're younger, you're just cockier. And thankfully, the younger ones took their cue from the older ones, and they left too.

And can just imagine this woman who's at her worst hearing the stones hit the ground and not her. And then Jesus, He doesn't break a bruised reed. He's the best. He doesn't do what I would have done, which is, "Do you know what you've done? Do you know what lesson have you learned? You almost died today. Do you know how many lives you've ruined?"

No. Jesus, he says, "Where are they?" Again, He's not questioning her guilt. He knows she's guilty. She knows she's guilty, but He's not gonna pile it on. He says, "Where are they? Has no one condemned you?" Her guilt is evident. Her shame is obvious. He says, "Where are your condemners?" And she says, "Sir, Lord." She says, "Lord, they're not here. They're gone. There's nobody."

And then Jesus says this wonderful and beautiful thing. He says, "I don't condemn you either. Go and leave your life of sin." He doesn't condemn her. He doesn't condone her sin.

But as He says the same thing to the guy He heals in John 5 at the Pool of Bethesda, "Go and leave your life of sin." Where you're going right now to find life, you are not finding life. You're finding death. He's inferring: leave this life because it's not given you life.

Now the mercy and the grace are obvious in this account. In John 1, it says that Jesus came full of grace and truth. John's gospel is full of this concept that Jesus came to bring glory to the Father, and He came with all grace and all truth. In this, I see all grace and truth, but where is the justice? She deserves to die.

The Miracle of Substitutionary Atonement

Here's the miracle, and this is probably more miraculous, if I may say so—boldly say more miraculous than turning water into wine, more miraculous than walking on the water, more miraculous than healing people of their diseases or their blindness.

In order for Jesus to say, "I don't condemn you either," He has to take her place and be condemned, which He will do on the cross, but not just for her, but for you and for me. In order for Him to not condemn this woman or us, Jesus takes our place. It's substitutionary atonement.

This woman is us. And that might sound weird to your ears, but you and I are this woman. She represents us all. She was unfaithful. We are unfaithful. Echoing back to Hosea and Jeremiah and the way in which God longs for His bride to be His. In John 3, John the Baptist says that the bride belongs to the bridegroom. But we've gone to other lovers figuratively and literally, yet Jesus remains faithful. Jesus steps into this woman's place and substitutes Himself for her and for us.

God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God. — 2 Corinthians 5:21

It's a beautiful and wonderful and scandalous transaction that takes place.

Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Jesus Christ, the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering, and so He condemned sin in sinful man. — Romans 8:1-4

This should encourage those of us in here who are in Christ, who trust Him as Lord and King and Savior. But if you've never trusted Him, if you've never trusted Jesus as your Lord and Savior, today is a great day to do that, and there are people that would love to talk with you about that.

Lord, thank you. Thank you for your word. Thank you for your compassion. Thank you for taking our place and condemning yourself instead of us, that we might have life in you. You're so awesome. Thanks for treating us the same way you treated this one. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.