11. JESUS AS A JUDGE (John 8:1-11)
BACKGROUND: According to the law of Moses, both the man and the woman caught in adultery should have been stoned to death
(Lev.20:10). The Romans, however, had assumed the right to preside over capital punishment in occupied
Israel.
- What makes a person commit adultery? Think of various reasons.
- Imagine the life of this woman after she had found “a new love”. What kind of happiness, what kind of pain did this relationship bring to her
life?
- What do you think could be the worst aspect of being caught right in the act of
adultery?
- How do you think the woman might have felt about her partner after he fled the
scene?
- What do you think was the most difficult thing in this situation for the man, who was probably also
married?
- There were many people involved in this incident. Think how the following people may have felt about the adultery and possible death penalty: the husband of the woman – her children – her parents (if they were still alive)? What about the wife of her lover, and his
children?
- How might this incident have affected the future of the children
involved?
- How did the woman possibly feel about Jesus when she was dragged before
Him (verses 3-5)?
- How do you think the woman felt about her adultery at that moment?
- Why did the Jews drag the woman in front of Jesus even though they knew that the death penalty was something only the Romans presided
over?
- Why didn’t Jesus simply answer: “None of you has the right to throw a stone at this woman”, instead of what he actually said in verse 7?
- Why do you think the accusers left the place in the order stated in verse 9?
- Why didn’t Jesus want to observe the effect his words had on his audience, choosing, instead, to bend down and write something on the
ground?
- Why did Jesus, and he alone, have the right to condemn this woman to
death?
- Why didn’t Jesus act according to the Law of Moses in this case?
- What happened to the punishment this woman should have suffered after having ruined the happiness of so many
people?
- Why do you think the woman didn’t flee the scene while Jesus was writing on the ground for the second time and she had the chance to do it
(verses 8-9)?
- When do you think the woman started to believe that her sins had been
forgiven?
- Why, do you suppose, Jesus wanted to say the words in verse 11 to this
woman?
- Jesus is also saying the words in verse 11 to you. What might they mean to you in your present circumstances?
GLAD TIDINGS: We are not told what Jesus wrote on the ground. Perhaps he acted like a judge and firstly wrote out the capital punishment that the law pronounced on adultery. And bending down for the second time, perhaps he may even have added these words: “I will suffer her punishment in her place.”
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