Have you ever wondered what Jesus wrote on the ground with his finger when presented with the adulterous woman? The answer can be found in Jeremiah’s prophecy written over six hundred years before Jesus ever met this woman. But first, let’s look at the short, power-packed story found in John 8:1-11.
At dawn Jesus showed up at the Temple. He sat down and began to teach those who gathered around him. The Jewish experts in the law, known as the scribes and Pharisees, brought a woman caught in adultery to Jesus. They pushed her into the center of his Bible Study. The religious leaders tried to trap him saying, “The law says we must stone her, what do you say?”
Jesus did not answer them right away. He stooped down and started writing on the ground with his finger. He then stood up and said, “The one without sin among you should be the first to throw a stone at her.” Then he stooped down again and continued writing. They all left, one by one, starting with the older men. Only two remained: one sinner and the best friend of sinners!
“Where are they?” Jesus asked, “Has no one condemned you?”
“No one, Lord,” she answered.
“Neither do I condemn you,” said Jesus, “Go and sin no more.”
When we discuss this story, we usually focus on the fact that the accusers did the right thing by leaving. But of course, as we find with stories involving Jesus, much more is going on than just choosing to walk away and not throw a stone. Jeremiah goes straight to the issue Jesus would face that early morning in the temple—a problem with the human heart. In the seventeenth chapter of Jeremiah, he gives a harsh description of our hearts without God and our tendency to turn away from him:
“The heart is deceitful above all things
and beyond cure.
Who can understand it?
LORD, you are the hope of Israel;
all who forsake you will be put to shame.
Those who turn away from you will be
written in the dust because they have forsaken
the LORD, the spring of living water.”
Jeremiah 17: 9,13 (NIV)
Jeremiah reveals the names of those who turn away from God will be written in the dust. We also learn that walking away, not repenting of our sin after Jesus confronts us will never be enough. Turning away from Jesus, thinking we can control our sin problem without him and with a deceitful heart, is a monumental mistake. If we abandon him, we are walking away from the only help available, the fountain of living water who washes everything clean.
When we stay with Jesus like the adulterous woman did, there is never any condemnation, only amazing grace. Along with mercy and pardon, we receive the cure for our incurable, deceitful hearts—brand new ones. “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here” (2 Corinthians 5:17)! Our names are also written in the book of life, instead of in the dust (see Revelation 21:27).
Only two options remain: Turn towards Him, the spring of living water, or turn away. Which way are you going?
Photo created on the banks of the Etowah River in my back yard.