The Adulterous Woman: Condemned No More

We cannot deny that we are living in a society full of people who are ready to pinpoint our mistakes and shortcomings anytime, anyhow, anywhere. These people expect us to be perfect and they evaluate us every moment of our lives, whether or not we are aware of it. They are like hidden cameras in our lives; monitoring and recording our every move and are ready to crucify us any time we fail to meet their expectations. I know many of us can relate and I also know that it does feel like prison when you have so many eyes looking at you and your every move is being watched. And worse still, those who are watching you only want to use it against you.

Many people have become a shadow of themselves because every now and then, they are being accused of doing this or the other or failing at one thing or another. As a result, many characters have been assassinated, marriages and relationships broken, business deals have been canceled, and many have ended up depressed, suppressed, sick, stressed, and suicidal. All this has been as a result of being constantly accused, condemned, judged, and fingers being pointed at us. Our generation is very unforgiving and one mistake can be used as a weapon against us to bring us down if not to shatter our confidence and leave us lying helpless on the ground.

This, I believe, is one of the major reasons why so many are living a lie because we want to appear perfect before people. We want them to look at us and think that all is well with us, but is it? What happens when it all falls apart? What happens when finally you get “caught” and all hell breaks loose on you? What happens when you find yourself in the exact same shoes as the adulterous woman?

She is introduced to us in the book of John 8:3-11 and the bible records that she was caught in the very act of adultery. She was brought before Jesus by the teachers of the law and the Pharisees, who quoted the Law of Moses citing that such a woman, according to the law was eligible to be stoned to death. She is a clear definition of many of us today, and her accusers are like the society we are living in.

Life can get messy, and we cannot always be hiding behind our makeup, perfect dressing, fake life, and so forth. It’s important to be real and transparent in our lives and with our lives.

This woman was caught in the very act of committing adultery, and from the look of things, there was no way she was going to come out of that mess. What she was caught doing was enough for her to be stoned to death. That was the Law of Moses, and there were teachers of the law and Pharisees whose work was to ensure that this law was followed to the letter. They were the men and women in our society who will not hesitate to put you into your place and in worst cases, expose all your dirty acts on social media and blogs without thinking twice. Such people think they can crucify you for your sins and make our society a better place by taking the law into their hands. They always look at us with a judgmental eye and their hearts are full of the same judgmental attitude like that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law. They see the evil in others while being blind to the evil residing in their own hearts.

This woman lived in such a society where everything was expected to be perfect in her life. She was under the law because she had not yet met Jesus and her life was being gauged and scrutinized under the Law of Moses. It didn’t matter whether it was her first time or she was used to doing it; one clear thing is that this particular day she was cornered by people who knew the law more than others, and she was immediately placed under judgment.

Thanks to their hypocritical character and hearts, they thought they should go and ask Jesus first. They, however, should have known that Christ was not like them. I imagine a mob had already formed, and they had stones in their hands ready for action. There was enough evidence for this woman to be stoned to death, and Jesus had the final say. They waited for Him to answer, but He did something else: He bent over and began to write on the ground with His finger. They kept asking Him questions, perhaps wondering why He was taking time and insisting that He should give way for them to accomplish this task, but here’s what happened;

‘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. 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.”’ ~ John 8:7-11 NKJV

Unknown to them, Jesus was not an ordinary teacher of the law; He was the Savior of the world and the entire human race, and though the law was given through Moses, grace and truth came through Him. He had come to save, not to judge or condemn sinners. That is why He did not overturn the law because there was nothing wrong with it. Instead, He re-established righteousness on the basis of grace. The moment she met Christ, grace took over. She must have been thrilled wondering who Jesus was, but He saved her from the mob and no one had any right to question her.

We may look at this woman with the same judgmental eye and end up condemning her just like the Pharisees and the Scribes, but we must be honest and see ourselves in her. All of us fall into the category of this woman in the sense that in one way or the other, we have been “caught” in our sins. Even before someone else sees or catches us in the act, we know that we know we are guilty of “adultery.” It does not necessarily mean that we are sleeping around; it simply means that in one way or another, we are guilty of sin. It could be lying, bitterness, unforgiveness, dishonesty, or unfaithfulness. We all are guilty of something and sometimes we feel so terrible to the extent that we are ashamed of ourselves.

Some have been judged or have judged themselves harshly in one way or the other and are unable to face life with confidence. For others, the people we trusted to have our backs or to cover us failed big time. Instead of protecting or covering us, they exposed and placed us in the same situation this woman was in. Who would have believed her or at least stopped to hear her out? None was ready to waste their time on her, but Jesus… That’s why I believe that sometimes all we need is to be left alone with Jesus; He has the final say. He is our redeemer, savior, and restorer.

The enemy is always ready to point an accusing finger at us. The Bible calls him “the accuser of brethren,” and he constantly uses our sins and mistakes to condemn us and more often than not, we agree with him. We tend to think that we are the worst people who have ever walked the face of the earth, but this only compounds our guilt and terrible feeling, so much so that we find ourselves in the same position this woman did. She must have been thinking that she was done and finished given the fact that her accusers were only waiting for Jesus to give them a go-ahead, but unknown to her, grace was speaking for her.

This is the same way it happens to us. We all are sinners, and we need Jesus to be set free. He is our faithful redeemer and Savior, and all the time, He tempers justice with mercy. He always has the final say even when we are not in a position to defend ourselves before those who condemn and accuse us. He defends, saves, forgives, and restores us back just like He did with this woman. He forgave and told her that she was no longer under condemnation. Her sins were now forgiven and she was whole again as if she had never sinned her entire life. He commanded the woman not to sin again, not because she might be stoned and won’t be there to rescue her, but because grace had rescued her. She was now a child of God and possessed a new identity. She was no longer under the law but under grace, and sin, from that time on, had no power over her.

‘Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts. And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace.’ ~ Romans 6:12-14 NKJV

God’s grace does not empower us to sin, and we don’t continue sinning to obtain more grace; it empowers us to say “no” to sin. God has given us His grace to be faithful to Him and to live in a godly manner before Him. His grace empowers us to deny sin and live for Him. We do not have to succumb to the ways of the world because we are already empowered to live up to the standards God set when He called us. The purpose of grace in our lives is to enable us to live victorious Christian lives.

‘For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works.’ ~ Titus 2:11-14 NKJV

‘There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. ‘ ~ Romans 8:1-4 NKJV