As I’m getting ready to enter into the Sermon on the Mount in the video Bible Study of Matthew, the question of the Law and how Jesus interpreted comes to the forefront. Why? Because he said he did not do away with the Law but fulfilled it. But how does that work in John 8?
John 8 is the woman caught in adultery. According to the Law she was to be stoned. Both her and the man. And of course they were ready to stone her to death but the man was nowhere to be found. Certainly they knew who he was but did they give him an excuse?
Jesus kneels down and begins to write in the dirt. We don’t know what he wrote nor do we need to. The fact that he was writing as a prophet in an atypical setting brings to mind other times “God wrote” – with Moses and the Ten Commandments and with Daniel on the wall.
Then Jesus encouraged them that the one without sin was welcome to cast the first stone. This too was the Law. The accusers of a crime worthy of death were to be the first participants in the death of the accused.
What happened next was truth. Those with rocks in their hands began to leave, dropping their stones until no one was left. They could not accuse knowing the truth of their own hearts.
The Law stated that a matter was only settled on the basis of 2-3 witnesses. Since there were no accusers left, by Law the woman could not be punished.
It wasn’t just an arbitrary act of mercy, it was also a truth encounter. Truth for the ones throwing stones. They saw their sin and realized they had no right to condemn.
And since Jesus could not apply the law to this woman without multiple accusers and witnesses, by Law he had to release her. Of course he did so willingly as the whole point of his confrontation of the accusers was to show them the truth of their sin and that mercy triumphs over judgment.
Then he told the woman the most neglected part of this story, “Go and sin no more.”
He didn’t endorse her sin. Instead he called her to repentance. There was both Law in this story and mercy.
It’s such a powerful story and I hate that it is one of the more weaponized ones of Scripture. It is used by many Christians to show that we need to show mercy and not call people to repentance. Whereas if you read the whole chapter you see that there was the Law, there was mercy and there was a call to repentance. All of them.
This is the Biblical gospel. The Law shows us as sinners. There is mercy through Christ. And there is a call to repentance and turning away from sin.
So no. Jesus did not ignore the Law. In fact he endorsed the Law. We must have the Law if we are to have truth. We must have the Law to understand the mercy gives us in Christ. We must have the Law not for salvation as that is Christ, but to show us the sin we need to turn from.
