I think it’s the most beautiful thing in the world, when what most people wouldn’t do…every once in a while, we find that rare individual circumventing culture and contemporary attitude to do what most people wouldn’t! If you study his life…you’ll find that in Jesus, as well.
So often, Jesus astonished people with his teaching; for he taught in a way that was refreshingly new from the way that the teachers of the law taught. But more than what he taught, there was how he lived; the things that he did often defied what people often found in the world. He often did things which had people scratching their heads in disbelief; what he did and said often blew people’s minds and convicted their hearts. Never had they seen a man doing the things that this man from Nazareth often did. Jesus was always doing amazing, wonderful and unexpected things! Things which left people overwhelmed by the beauty of his goodness!
One of those things that is overwhelming about Jesus is how he treated the undeserving. He touched the lepers; he was merciful to the prostitutes; he made time for orphans and widows; he ate with the tax collectors; spent time with the sick and was kind to the Gentiles. All things that no self-respecting religious leader at the time would have done either because they thought too much of their own respectability or because they were too busy maintaining appearances. But Jesus always seemed to do what most people were not doing.
And the Lord’s beauty is nowhere better illustrated for us than in John 8:1-12 when Jesus comes face to face with a woman who was “Caught in the Act” of adultery!
Now we find this story in the middle of an argument that Jesus is having with the teachers of the Law concerning his identity. Everyone seemed to be divided as to who he was (7:40-44); some thought him to be a prophet; others that he must be the long-awaited Messiah. Finally, they sent the temple guards to arrest him; but Jesus spoke in a way that seemed like Scripture and they just couldn’t bring themselves to do it. And so the religious leaders of the temple decided that if they were to arrest him, try him and kill him as the wanted to do; they had to find a way to first discredit him. And what better way to do that, then to put before him publically a situation where he had to choose between obeying the Law of Moses and the Law of the Romans. So they made plans in secret to do just that.
They found Jesus, in the temple courts (more than likely, in Court of the Gentiles), teaching the people the Word of God. When all of a sudden, they interrupt the sermon and bring before him in the presence of the watching crowd, a woman caught in the act of committing adultery. They ask Jesus in verse 4: “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. The Law of Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now, what do you say?”
Now the trap is loaded: (For Jesus now faces a two-fold dilemma)
- If he tells them that she ought to be stoned to death, he would be guilty of advocating the breaking of Roman law. Roman law stated that only the Roman state had the authority to dole out capital punishment.
- If he urges them not to execute her for her adultery, he would be seen as teaching the people not to follow the Law of Moses.
“Either way”, they tell themselves in secret, “we’ll catch him! Either way, we’ve got him!” But Jesus is aware of their intentions…and once again…he doesn’t do what they e
Now here is where we see the extraordinary beauty of Jesus coming into the foreground. When the religious leaders question him as to what they should do with this adulterous woman, our eyes naturally gravitate toward Jesus. This is the crescendo…the climax of the story. We think to ourselves as everyone holds their breath, “What will he do; what will he say?” And then, Jesus does something unexpected. (v.6b): He “bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger.”
What? I didn’t see that coming? That’s a curious response to a question. “Rabbi! Did you hear me? Moses said we are to stone this woman, what do you say?” He keeps writing in the dirt…as though he didn’t hear them. Is he trying to come up with an answer? Did he just not know what to say? At this point, the Scripture is really clear: They didn’t ask him only once but several times…and still he scribbles in the sand. Strange.
What is he writing? Many have speculated:
- Maybe he is listing the names of those present who had committed the same sin? Scaring them to death with what he knew about them.
- Maybe he was listing names and the sins they had committed?
- Maybe he was writing out the 10 Commandments
Honestly, I don’t think Jesus was doing any of that. It’s not what he is writing but why he is writing that is important. In fact, I don’t think he was writing anything at all; I think the writing Jesus is doing is nothing more than scribbling in the dirt.
As kids we used to do that, when we didn’t have anything better to do. We took a stick and scribbled in the dirt. That’s what Jesus is doing…he’s scribbling in the sand while they ask him over and over, “What should we do with this woman? Jesus? Rabbi? Will you answer me?” They’re becoming more uncomfortable with every tick of the clock that goes by!
What is he doing? Something amazing…he’s in a sense asking them a question:
How does God respond to an undeserving sinner who’s obviously worthy of condemnation? Jesus is illustrating that in living color by his response.
How does God respond to undeserving sinners? God waits. Because you see that’s what mercy is: Mercy withholds itself from giving in return what is deserved when it is in your power to do so. Mercy is what you do when your enemy, the person who has made your life a living hell, is on their back looking up at you and this time you’re the one with the weapon in hand; mercy is when the perfect opportunity to get back at them presents itself…and you don’t take it. That’s mercy. Mercy always does what is unexpected.
Jesus is illustrating this with his little scribbles: Mercy waits. Mercy doesn’t act in kind. Mercy doesn’t react with viciousness, with brutality. In fact, it doesn’t react at all! It doesn’t pounce upon the opportunity to punish the other person. It’s not boisterous and loud the way hatred is. Have you noticed that about hate? Hate is loud. Have you ever been witness to a Baseball fight? It begins with one errant ball hitting another player and soon the entire bench is involved in a frenzy of retaliation. But mercy is different. Mercy… like Jesus…doesn’t react…mercy sits in silence…and scribbles in the sand.
Don’t you find that extraordinary?
Jesus spoke more through his scribbles than most people speak using their words throughout an entire lifetime.
I’ve begun this blog and christened it, SandScribbles initially because as a disciple and follower of Jesus, I’ve discovered that whatever my humble contribution would be to the body of theological or philosophical work already written about God and his intervention into the world of men, it would be in comparison, really nothing more than scribbles in the sand. And yet, in comparison to divine wisdom and omniscience of the God of Heaven; all men everywhere, despite their intellectual giftedness or verbal profundity are just that…nothing more than scribblers in the sand.
But this is one man’s attempt to scratch the surface of incalculable infinity using only the digit of a finite mind. I pray you join me in this quest.