The incident above and below took place around AD 30 in Jerusalem. The day before there had been division about Jesus’ identity among the people and at least one dissenting voice within the Pharisee party. It ended up with the going “each to his own house” – presumably each had made his or her own decisions.
But Jesus had no “house” in Jerusalem, except “the Temple”. So, he spent the night on “the Mount of Olives”. At dawn, he “again came to be within the Temple”.
In fact, the scribes and the Pharisees bring to him a woman caught in adultery, and standing her in the middle they state to him, testing him, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of committing adultery. In fact, in the Law, Moses commanded us to stone such women as this. Therefore, what do you state?” In fact, they were stating this - testing him, so that they might have reason to bring charges against him.
Included in the Law given to Moses were the Ten Commandments known to most of us. It was the Lord God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, stooping down to earth around 1350 BC, who wrote that Law on stone tablets on to guide into holy living the Israelites, his sinful and wayward but treasured people. Its provisions would not only keep them from evil but also maintain social cohesion, prevent diseases and exclude corruption. They had been ditched long ago. In AD 30 Roman Law prevailed in Jerusalem.
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This giving of the Law is recorded in the Book of Exodus in the Old Testament in Christian Bibles. These are the words at the close of that record: “The LORD … gave to Moses, when he had finished speaking with him on Mount Sinai, the two tablets of the testimony, tablets of stone, written with the finger of God.”
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But Law enforcement was not on the minds of “the scribes and the Pharisees”. Their duplicity as this woman’s accusers is brought to light by the Law of Moses itself. This stated that both the man and the married woman caught in adultery were to be put to death – albeit not by stoning.
In fact, Jesus, stooping down, was writing with his finger into the earth, not noticing. In fact, when they were persisting in questioning him, he unstoops. He said to them, “The sinless one among you, throw the first stone onto her!” And, stooping down again, he was writing into the earth.
“Writing into the earth”? “Stooping down”? Who is this man? He instructs “the sinless one” to be first to do justice on the sinner. “Writing into the earth”? “Stooping down”? But who is sinless?
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In fact, those who listened, being chastened and under conviction, went out one by one, beginning with the older ones. And Jesus was left behind, alone, with the woman being in the middle. In fact, Jesus, unstooping and perceiving nobody besides the woman, said to her, “Woman, where are those your accusers? Do none condemn you?”
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Jesus remained “stooping” whilst all the accusers of the adulterous woman departed. She remains there to face the judgment of one man. He “unstoop[s]”. Is he this “sinless one” who could "throw the first stone onto her"?
He asks her, “Do none condemn you?” On that day, only one other person was there, and he was (it seems) strangely related to the law-maker. What was she expecting from this man, now standing tall over her?
She said, “None, Lord.” In fact, Jesus said, “Not even I myself judge you. Go! And sin no longer!”
“Not even I”. Who is this man? What, on earth, is he doing?
Later in his biography, John reported, “Jesus cried out and said: “…I did not come to judge the world but so that I may save the world…””
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