The Power to Change Everything

The woman was caught. Interesting that they did not bring the man before Jesus, but only the woman, who was discovered in the act of adultery. One can see how it might have unfolded – the woman, probably in a disheveled state, likely not fully clothed, being thrown down in front of Jesus – the Pharisees standing with stones in hand, waiting for him to condemn her, after asking him what should be done.

Jesus bent down to the ground and wrote on it with his finger – divinity touching dirt. Perhaps he bent down and put his attention elsewhere so as not to look at her and embarrass her further. But what do you think Jesus was writing? So many have pondered that.

Maybe what he was about to say to the Pharisees? Perhaps some Scripture pertinent to the situation?

It could have been either of those things, but maybe, in the dirt, with his finger, he was rewriting her story – the Word in that moment meeting the dirtiness of her life. He was about to pull her out of the muck and the mire and set her feet on a Rock. She was about to have a firm place to stand. She was about to change.

Jesus rose from his position, authority likely radiating from him, and spoke to the Pharisees, “Let him who is without sin among you be the first one to throw a stone at her.”

He returned to his position, once again writing in the dirt. One by one they left, seemingly painfully aware of their own sin, made to look at themselves rather than her.

Rising once more, He asked the woman, “Where are your accusers? Has no one condemned you?”

“No one, Lord,” said the woman.

“Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more.”

Verses 7:53-8:11 are not in the earliest manuscripts of the gospel of John, however they do seem consistent with character of Jesus as found throughout Scripture. He often ate with prostitutes and tax collectors, but did not leave them the same way he found them. He came near to them, not to affirm what they were doing, but to call them to a different way, a better way. After all, it was the “sick that needed a doctor.”

To follow him, to surrender to him, means change. As a dishonest tax collector, Zacchaeus promised to give back all he had stolen from people, and then some, after meeting Jesus. Paul, who had persecuted early Christians in the worst way, became the greatest of apologists for the faith, after Jesus spoke to him. Everywhere he went, those who encountered Jesus experienced a radical change in their lives and in their heart’s desires.

Today, He is still calling, still rewriting stories, still changing lives. See his compassion, know his grace, accept his love, for it has the power to change everything.