Lent Day 26: Woman Caught in Adultery

Pause

Ask God to help you recognize sinful attitudes, actions or patterns in your life and confess them. Thank Him for His love and compassion toward you.

Read & Journal

Read John 8:1-11. Respond to these questions:

• What do you learn about Jesus’ character from His interactions with the woman? With the crowd of religious teachers and Pharisees?

• What does this passage reveal about Jesus’ mission or purpose?

• How do you see Jesus entering into the woman’s brokenness in today’s verses? In the brokenness of the Pharisees and religious leaders?

• When have you or someone you know experienced radical forgiveness? What did you learn from that experience?

Ponder

Brokenness fairly seeps through today’s passage. A woman caught in the very act of adultery is dragged before Jesus by the religious leaders. It’s seemingly a trap, a way to test Jesus to see if He would violate the Law, and the woman was a pawn in the game. But there she stood, accused and rightly so. She was a sinner, and there was no use in denying the obvious.

On the other hand, the religious leaders seemingly pulsated with excitement. This is it!, they may have thought, We’ve finally trapped Him! But then Jesus, in His familiar fashion, turned what they thought they knew and understood on its head. This woman was a sinner who had blatantly flouted the Law, and they were good, devout scholars who knew every ounce of the Law and followed it to the letter. Reread verse 7 for Jesus’ quiet response: “All right, but let the one who has never sinned throw the first stone!”

Here we see a woman who was honest about her sin. She didn’t try to hide it or cover it up or explain it away. And we see the scribes and Pharisees who until Jesus brings them face-to-face with it can’t even see the sin in their own hearts. The woman knew she didn’t have a chance; the religious leaders thought they did, based on their own godliness, merit and the fact that they knew and kept the letter of the Law.

Which one are you?

Today is the day to be honest before God about the sin in your life. This passage (and the whole of Scripture) tells us that God abhors sin, but He responds to our confession with grace. He can’t ignore our sin, but once we admit it and choose to live differently (repent), He forgives us completely.

Today may also be the day that you stop depending on your own merit, your innate goodness or your good deeds to make you right before God. Today is a chance to push aside your own self-righteousness and declare your need for Jesus. He will respond just as He did to the woman in today’s passage: with love and forgiveness.