“1 Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. 2 Early in the morning he came again to the temple. All the people came to him, and he sat down and began to teach them. 3 The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery, and, making her stand before all of them, 4 they said to him, ‘Teacher, this woman was caught in the very act of committing adultery. 5 Now in the law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?’ 6 They said this to test him, so that they might have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground. 7 When they kept on questioning Him, He straightened up and said to them, ‘Let anyone among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.’ 8 And once again he bent down and wrote on the ground. 9 When they heard it, they went away, one by one, beginning with the elders, and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him. 10 Jesus straightened up and said to her, ‘Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?’ 11 She said, ‘No one, sir.’ And Jesus said, ‘Neither do I condemn you. Go your way, and from now on do not sin again’” John 8:1-11.
This is one of most powerful verses in the Bible because there are so many important aspects to these eleven verses. It begins with Jesus heading to the Mount of Olives to be alone in prayer for the night. At the base of the Mount of Olives was the Garden of Gethsemane, favorite places of Jesus to go and pray. After having spent an entire night in communion with His Father, Jesus is ready. He heads to the temple where he is confronted by scribes and Pharisees who bring to Him a woman “caught in adultery.” They attempt to entrap Jesus, fencing Him in a defining issue in the mosaic law regarding such a woman. But little do they know that Jesus has just come to them from hours in prayer and solitude with his Father in heaven!
This is a call to us all to pray each day, for we never know what issues or temptations will come our way. We need to have the power of the Holy Spirit to defend ourselves and to lead us not into temptation but to deliver us from evil. None of us ever knows what the day will bring us!
Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name.
May Your kingdom come and Your will be done
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread,
and forgive us our sins,
as we forgive those who sin against us.
Lead us, not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
For the Kingdom, the power, and the glory are yours,
now and forever, Amen.
Jesus commands his confronters to “Let anyone among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her” (verse 7). Jesus commands us all to back off from judging others because, after all, we are all sinners. Jesus commands us all to look into the mirror! Who do we see? A sinner!
Jesus forgives us and does not condemn us! Words of infinite comfort!
But Jesus concludes his interaction with us with the command, “Go and sin no more!”
Oh Lord, Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God,
have mercy on us sinners, for we know not what we do.
Give us Your grace to sin no more.
Bring us to pray each day
so that we may be empowered with the Holy Spirit.
In Your holy Name, I pray. Amen.
From the Bible:
“The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working” James 5:16.
“Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving” Colossians 4:2.
“And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us” 1 John 5:14.
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