May 9, 2023
Misusing Authority
“The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman caught in adultery, and having set her in the center of the court, they said to Him, ‘Teacher, this woman has been caught in adultery, in the very act. Now in the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women; what then do You say?’ They were saying this, testing Him, so that they might have grounds for accusing Him...” John 8:3-6a (NASB)
I have been on the receiving end of a new supervisor who didn’t like me. The supervisor reassigned me when he saw I enjoyed my current assignment. The supervisor told me I was being returned to my original unit due to manpower issues, which wasn’t true. It didn’t matter at that point. I explained I wasn’t sure what precipitated the move but would follow the order. He got angrier. He tried to provoke a response I was unwilling to give. He raised his voice trying to provoke me further. If I blew my cool, he would write me up. Calmly, I said my hearing had not changed in the last few minutes. I heard him the first time. He kicked me out of his office. Later, I realized I was lucky to be gone. He ruined a few other deputies’ careers because of his control issues. His hatred stemmed from an incident in the past. A while back he acted inappropriately to a woman, and I called him over it. Let’s face it, there will always be mean people. They will do anything to get their way. Jesus knew these types of people as well.
“The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman caught in adultery, and having set her in the center of the court…” While Jesus sat in the courtyard of the temple, the scribes and the Pharisees brought the woman to the “center of the court.” Their plan hadn’t worked the day before to take Jesus down. They were looking for another opportunity. The stage this time would be in the temple. They would have many witnesses to help declare Jesus a blasphemer. While others went home last evening, they plotted again. The woman they brought and accused of adultery, already had a court to deal with the issue, but they chose a public forum to try to trap Jesus. Robertson says, “Dods calls this ‘in itself an unlawful thing to do’ since they had a court for the trial of such a case. Their purpose was to entrap Jesus.”[1] Here they would allow all to see Jesus’ response. They knew His propensity to forgive sinners and were going to use this as an opportunity to trap Him using Mosaic Law. “But their intention was, to constrain Christ to depart from his office of preaching grace, that he might appear to be fickle and unsteady.”[2] They said, “Teacher, this woman has been caught in adultery, in the very act. Now in the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women; what then do You say?” She was caught, “in the very act.” The meaning of this phrase is exactly what it says. She was caught “in the very act.” This phrase comes from the illustration of a thief being caught red handed. This time, the act was not to punish the woman, but to catch or trap Jesus instead. The Law’s punishment was typically to stone the offender, but the leaders weren’t interested in her. They wanted Jesus.
There will always be some who don’t like us in this world. There will be some who are out to get us too. Don’t feel like the only one. Jesus had it too. How we respond though makes all the difference. Remember, the next time you feel someone breathing down your neck for no reason, Jesus had it too. Seek His wisdom first. Then respond how He would, not in anger.
[1] A.T. Robertson, Word Pictures in the New Testament (Nashville, TN: Broadman Press, 1933), Jn 8:3.
[2] John Calvin and William Pringle, Commentary on the Gospel according to John, vol. 1 (Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software, 2010), 319.