John 7:53 - 8:11, A Woman Caught in Adultery

John's gospel reports another incident near Jerusalem.

Verse 53 of chapter 7 and the first 11 verses of the next chapter are not in the earliest copies of the Gospel of John. They were possibly added at a later date.  The NIV footnotes say that some manuscripts include this material in other places in the gospels, including after John 7:36 or John 21:25 or even in the gospel of Luke.

John 7:53 - 8:6a, A woman caught in adultery
53 Then they all went home,
1 but Jesus went to the Mount of Olives.
2 At dawn he appeared again in the temple courts, where all the people gathered around him, and he sat down to teach them. 
3 The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group 
4 and said to Jesus, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery.
5 In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?”
6 They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him.
According to this account, while the people go home, Jesus goes to the Mount of Olives, just outside Jerusalem.  Presumably he spent the night there and this seemed to be a favorite place.

He returns to the outer temple courts at dawn and begins to teach.  Suddenly some men drag in a woman, "caught in the very act".  One has to wonder how that occurred; the Pharisees are eager to press this case on Jesus, so I suspect these men have planned this previously. Was she a prostitute that they knew well?

Their penalty for her sin is execution and one has to wonder: (1) How did they catch her?  (2) What happened to her adulterous partner?

Whether this is in the original documents are not, this fits the image of Jesus as one more concerned about individuals than the Law. The Pharisees are eager to pounce on his tendency to be understanding and forgiving. Is he going to go against Moses? Will her death be on his hands?

John 8:6b-11, Jesus responds
But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. 
7 When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” 
8 Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground.

9 At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there. 
10 Jesus straightened up and asked her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?”

11 “No one, sir,” she said.

“Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.”

But in response to their questions, Jesus says nothing!  He merely writes in the dirt.  (We don't know what he wrote.  Some have suggested he wrote out some of the sins of those around him.)  Eventually Jesus stands up and confronts the men.  His answer neither approves or rejects the Mosaic law but rejects the spirit of the legalistic religious men.  Sure, they can stone her, as long as they are without sin.  Then he stoops to write some more and the men begin to leave.  The oldest and wisest leave first, as if they are first to understand his response and have no desire to continue in the charade.

At the end, Jesus does confront the woman.  Privately. Whatever she has been doing is wrong; she is to leave that life, free from his condemnation.  This is a beautiful story and I can understand why it appears in one of the gospels.