John 8: Jesus Stoops Down and Rewrites Your Story

Introduction

Matt Legg of Jubilee Church London starts with a detail from the calendar: the story of the woman caught in adultery took place at about this time of year, at harvest time, at the beginning of autumn. In Jerusalem, it was the season of the Feast of Tabernacles.

Around this feast, he sees several kinds of people: the religious, those who come out of fear, those who come out of tradition, and those who do not come at all. Then there is someone else: Jesus. In the temple, surrounded by accusers, he stoops down before a woman caught in the very act of adultery and, in the preacher's words, he "rewrites her story."

This message asks a simple question: who is Jesus to you, and how will you receive him?

Message Outline

1. The Feast of Tabernacles, a Feast of Memory and Harvest

It is a seven-day pilgrimage feast. The people leave their homes, go up to Jerusalem and live in tents and booths.
The Lord had commanded it to remind them of the exodus from Egypt and the forty years in the wilderness, where he kept, fed, provided for and protected his people.
Over time, it also became a harvest festival: people thank the Lord for the harvest and celebrate for a week. "A week of feasting. I like that. We should still do it today," the preacher jokes.
They also look ahead to winter: "Lord, work this winter, so that the seeds bear fruit and next year's harvest is glorious."

2. Four Ways of Standing Before God

The religious. Scribes, Pharisees, priests: they keep the rules "to the eighth degree." Their devotion had something good in it, but it had lost its heart. They added laws to the laws to secure their own position. For them, being right with God depended on what they did and did not do: "It was all about works."
Those who are afraid. Others tell themselves: "I will never reach the level of the scribes and Pharisees." They know they have disappointed God. They come to the feast "just in case," to put themselves right and so that the Lord of the harvest will bless them for another year.
The traditionalists. They come because it is the custom, and for the meal. They take or leave the rituals without really entering into them. Matt Legg draws a parallel with England: people go to church at Christmas and Easter, "because after all, we are a Christian country."
The absent. Those who did not feel worthy enough, the outcasts, those who felt they could not come in, crushed by the burdens of life.

3. "If Anyone Is Thirsty, Let Him Come to Me"

The preacher explains that on each day of the feast except the last, a priest went to the Pool of Siloam, the only source of living water in Jerusalem. He drew a cup of water there and poured it on the altar, as an offering and a prayer: "Lord, send the first rain, so that the ground is ready and there is a harvest next year."
On the last day, the great day of the feast, the day when this rite does not take place, Jesus stands up and cries out: "If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink! He who believes in me, as the Scripture has said, from within him will flow rivers of living water" (John 7:37-38).
The invitation is for "anyone," so for everyone: the religious, the fearful, the traditionalist and even the one who did not come. "Have you never been truly satisfied? Is there something in you that is missing?"
In saying this, Jesus presents himself as God himself. The crowd is divided over him (John 7:43). The question for them was: "Who is he?" It is the same for you.
John answers it right at the start of his Gospel: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God" (John 1:1). Then: "The Word became flesh, and lived among us" (John 1:14). The word suggests a tent: Jesus comes to "pitch his tent" among them, right in the middle of the Feast of Tabernacles.

4. In the Temple, Different Hearts

The seeking heart. The next morning, at dawn, Jesus teaches in the temple and all the people come to him (John 8:2). He speaks, lives and teaches the Scriptures differently from everyone else. Those around him want to know him more.
The proud heart. The scribes and Pharisees come in and place in the middle a woman caught in adultery. They cite the law of Moses and ask: "What then do you say?" It is a trap: if he approves the stoning, the Romans will arrest him; if he refuses it, he contradicts the law. Their hearts are full of jealousy and pride, to the point of blinding them to who Jesus is.
Matt Legg sees in this the danger of a life built on works to be accepted by God: everything becomes centered on oneself, the heart hardens, grows numb, and finally dies.
The heart covered in shame. The woman was dragged into the temple, the house of God, and exposed before everyone. She already knew that what she was doing was wrong, but once it was made public, shame and guilt crashed down on her. "Everyone wanted to be there. She was the only one who did not want to be."
The heart of Jesus. He came to show the Father's heart: love, welcome, mercy, grace and forgiveness.
The preacher's testimony. Matt Legg places himself "somewhere between the traditionalist and the one who is afraid." He knew stories about Jesus and the Bible, without grasping that he was real. His experience of church was fairly traditional.
Deep down, one thought kept coming back: "If he is real, I have a problem, because I know I have not done right." He was doing his best, "but it was not enough."
Looking back, he says he sees himself in this woman, marked by shame and guilt.

5. "He Who Is Without Sin Among You, Let Him Throw the First Stone"

Jesus answers first, and his answer is "pure wisdom, pure holiness." As they keep pressing him, he straightens up and says: "He who is without sin among you, let him throw the first stone at her" (John 8:7).
Anyone who can prove that they have never sinned, in thought or in deed, can throw the stone. No one can, because "all have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23). It is not about how serious the sin is, but about the fact that everyone has sinned, "in this room too."
They leave one by one, beginning with the oldest. "They had been there longer," the preacher notes with humor. Only the woman remains, and the one person who is without sin: Jesus, the perfect Savior, the spotless Lamb.
The crowd, for its part, stays at a distance. It watches from afar, without stepping into the story itself.

6. Jesus Stoops Down and Rewrites Her Story

Jesus stoops down and writes on the ground with his finger (John 8:6). The Savior of the world, God himself, lowers himself before this woman and takes the place of a servant. "Normally, it should be the other way around."
We do not know what he wrote, and for the preacher it does not matter. Those fingers are the ones that flung the stars into space. "I do not know what he was writing, but I will tell you what was happening: he was rewriting her story."
Jesus does not say she did not deserve death. The wages of sin is death: a spiritual death, being cut off forever from the one who created us and from the love he has for us.
Yet he asks: "Woman, where are your accusers? Did no one condemn you?" Then: "Neither do I condemn you. Go your way. From now on, sin no more" (John 8:10-11).
How can he forgive what demanded death? Because he was himself going to the cross to give his life in her place. "And in your place too."
She answers: "No one, Lord." The Greek word kurios refers to the one who has all authority. At that moment, her eyes are opened: she is face to face with her Creator. She turns around, and that is repentance. She came in one way, she leaves another: changed, healed, restored, forgiven.

7. Will You Receive Him?

"If you will confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved" (Romans 10:9).
John writes that he came to his own, and his own did not receive him. But to all who received him, to those who believe in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, born not of blood or of the will of man, but of God (John 1:11-13).
To be born again is to walk with him, to know him, to love him, to hope in him, to be restored, healed, forgiven and guided by him. "How can you live this life without him?"
The message ends with an invitation and a prayer: "Lord Jesus, thank you for coming to this earth and for dying on the cross in my place. Your blood covers my sin. I confess you as Lord and I believe that you rose again. I choose to follow you. Fill me with your Spirit."

Key Takeaways

Jesus' invitation is for everyone: the religious, the fearful, the traditionalist and the one who does not feel worthy to come in.
A relationship with God based on works makes the heart proud, hard and numb.
All have sinned: no one is in a position to throw the first stone.
Jesus stoops down before the accused person and rewrites her story, because on the cross he took on himself the death that sin deserved.
Grace received leads to repentance: "Go your way. From now on, sin no more."

Personal Application

Which category do you recognize yourself in most today: the religious, the afraid, the traditionalist or the one who stays on the sidelines?
What in your life does not truly satisfy you? What keeps you from coming to Jesus to drink?
Is there someone you are ready to judge, a stone in your hand, when you too need grace?
What shame or guilt do you need to lay down before the one who does not condemn you?
Who is Jesus to you, and have you personally received him as Lord?

Verses Cited

Frequently Asked Questions

Why does Jesus talk about living water at the Feast of Tabernacles?

According to Matt Legg, during the feast a priest drew water each day from the Pool of Siloam and poured it on the altar, asking for rain. On the last day, Jesus stands up and cries out: "If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink!" He declares that the life the people were looking for is found in him.

What does "let him who is without sin throw the first stone" mean?

Jesus turns the question of the scribes and Pharisees back on them. The point is not how serious the sin is, but the fact that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. No one can throw the stone, and the accusers leave one by one, beginning with the oldest.

Why does Jesus not condemn the woman caught in adultery?

Jesus does not say the woman did not deserve death: the wages of sin is death. He can tell her "neither do I condemn you" because he was himself going to die in her place on the cross. This forgiveness produces repentance in her: she leaves changed.