The Woman Caught in Adultery

John 8:1-11 is an awesome story. It's about the woman caught in adultery. Read it by clicking here. I was thinking yesterday about this story. And God brought to my attention something. In this story, we find Jesus does 3 things for us. He loves us. He defends us. He forgives us.

He loves us despite past mistakes. You can have a checkered past. Jesus loves you anyway. This was the woman caught in adultery. She was a prostitute. Not only that, but she was possessed 7 times. But He didn't send her away. He didn't tell them to stone her. He loved her anyway. Seven times Jesus freed her from demonic control. And as a result, she gave Him her life. She was the first to see Jesus after His resurrection. What wondrous love! What matchless love! A woman with a history like hers, and He still loved her anyway.

Not only does Jesus love us despite our mistakes, He defends us. Here the crowd of scribes and pharisees were, trying to get Jesus to make a decision (so they could trap Him). But He didn't say a word. He just bent down. Some might wonder how not saying anything counts as defending her. But if He would have said to stone her, He wouldn't be the loving Son of God He claimed to be. If He said to let her go, He wouldn't be following the Mosaic law. So He just bent down and starting writing in the sand.

But they kept pestering Him. So He got up and said, "He who is without sin, let him cast the first stone." I can imagine the woman must have cringed. After all, it was a crowd of self righteous people accusing her. But that didn't happen. The accusers went away. One by one. Oldest first, down to the youngest. He defended this woman. Notice that He did not defend her sin. But He did defend her life.

He loves us anyway, and defends us.

Lastly, He forgives us. And not only does He forgive us, He tells us to stop sinning. He asked the woman where her accusers went and if anyone condemned her. She noticed that they left and said, "No one, Lord." Then Jesus told her to stop sinning. Jesus never asks us to do something without giving us the strength to do it. But don't  be fooled. Neither you nor I can do a thing without Christ. But if we have a relationship with Jesus, then, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." - Philippians 4:13.