Kids’ Bible Lesson July 12

Forgiving the woman caught in adultery

John 8:1-11

One early morning in Jerusalem, Jesus was outside the temple, teaching a crowd about God. The Pharisees, who were very religious but didn’t know or love God, brought by force a woman who had been caught committing adultery. This means that she had committed the sin of being with another man in a kind of relationship that God would only allow her to have with her husband. Adultery is cheating on a husband or wife with someone else who isn’t married to you. It is a very serious sin and a violation of the 10 commandments that we learned before that God gave His people through Moses.

The Pharisees were trying to trap Jesus by bringing her there. They thought, “Either He will kill her since the law says she deserves to die for this sin, which would make the crowd too afraid to follow Him; or, He will excuse her sin like it doesn’t matter. If He excuses her sin and pretends it wasn’t wrong, we will be able to prove He has broken God’s law. Then we can take His life.” So the Pharisees didn’t really care what was right or wrong. They were just trying to create a confusing situation so they could get rid of Jesus. False religious leaders do that. They try to confuse people so that the people won’t believe and follow Jesus.

So they placed this woman who had sinned in front of Jesus. And they said, “Teacher, this woman was caught committing the sin of adultery. The law tells us to throw heavy stones at her to kill her. What do You say about that?”

Jesus was not happy that they were using the law of God to try to keep people from worshiping God. They didn’t care about righteousness, and they didn’t care about mercy. God cares deeply about both. And He cares about people, even people who have sinned against Him and are embarrassed and sorry. So He refused to answer them. Sometimes when someone is sinning by the words they say to you, they demand and answer, but it is better to be quiet and give them time to reconsider and seek forgiveness, instead of arguing with them. It might make someone insulting you angry when you ignore them, but it is better than answering in kind.

Instead of talking, He bent down and started writing with His finger on the ground. The same way His hand from heaven had written God’s commandments on stone tablets to give Moses long ago. Perhaps He was writing those laws again, to show each of the Pharisees that they had also sinned and broken God’s laws.

They paid no attention to what He wrote, though. The just kept demanding an answer.

Finally, when they wouldn’t stop, Jesus stood up again before them, and said, “Let the one among you who has no sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” Then He bent back down and started writing again. Each man probably saw Him writing commandments that they had broken. And so each one quietly walked away, since they were all sinners, too.

You see, Jesus was the only One there without sin. So He was the only One there with a right to judge and condemn. He had the right to condemn that woman. But He knew she was sorry, and He preferred instead to forgive her. When all of the Pharisees had gone, only Jesus and the woman they had brought stood before the crowd. Jesus asked her, “Where are your accusers? Is there no one left to condemn you?”

“No one, Lord.” she answered.

And Jesus told her, “Neither do I condemn you. Go home, and don’t do this sin, anymore.” So she went.

God knows we have all sinned. And it is true that He would be right to condemn and punish us. But He is merciful. He wants to forgive instead, because He took the punishment in our place. If we ask Him for that forgiveness, He gives it and tells us to do good, having been forgiven.