The Finger of God
But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger (John 8:6).
Of all the Pharisees’ wicked schemes, this one was the most diabolical and the most despicable.
They wanted to trap our Lord into saying or doing something that would derail Him and His growing popularity.
The problem, of course, was that every attempt inevitably backfired in their faces leaving them both humiliated and speechless…
Just like in this R-rated scenario found in John chapter 8.
One thing His opponents knew about Jesus, He was full of mercy. And one thing they knew about the law of Moses, there was no wiggle room.
It was, “Thou shalt not,” or “Thou shalt die.” Period. End of discussion.
Take adultery for example:
“If a man commits adultery, both the adulterer and the adulteress are to be put to death” (Leviticus 20:10).
So these long-robed phonies had an epiphany: Let’s find a way to pit Jesus against Moses—the champion of grace versus the bringer of law.
So the plot was hatched.
They’d confront Him with a woman caught in the very act.
If He gives the word to stone her, Jesus goes against all He’s been preaching and proves to be a hypocrite. He was, after all, the (supposed) Friend of sinners.
And let’s just say the lovefest between sinners and the Savior would’ve come to an abrupt end had He given a thumbs up to execute a notorious sinner.
But…
If He says, “Let her go free,” He seems to be contradicting Old Testament law.
So these goons were salivating; they had come up with what they had thought was a failproof plan.
The first step was getting a pawn in place.
So they lured some senseless woman into a morally compromising situation and at just the right moment, they pounce from the shadows (such losers). They drag their ill-clad victim to Jesus and fling her down before Him with a self-righteous disdain that makes you wanna gag.
“Caught in the act,” they harumph, as they clap their hands as if to wipe themselves clean of her.
They go on to inform the Lord that her crime (according to Moses) was a capital offense, requiring execution by stoning.
So they ask with sinister glee: Just for the record, Jesus, should we obey what the Bible says or not?
And what Jesus does next is stunning.
He bends down and writes on the ground with His finger.
Hmm. What a strange way to respond!
Well, if you know your Old Testament, you know that Jesus was alive and well long before the incarnation.
As the Second Person of the Godhead, “He was with God (and was God) from the beginning” (John 1:1). And as such:
He walked with Adam in the garden.
He guided the Israelites out of Egypt.
He wrestled with Jacob in the moonlight.
And there’s something else He did… He wrote with His finger… the law of Moses!
Check this out! (These men just quoted the law of Moses and they know exactly how Moses received that law!)
As it is written:
“And the Lord gave to Moses the two tablets of stone written with the finger of God (Exodus 31:18).
So by immediately responding to a question about the law of Moses, Jesus writes with His finger, identifying Himself as the One who gave the law!
And more than that, the One who came to fulfill the law, so that a new law could replace the first: the law of mercy!
“For I will be merciful toward their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more” (Jeremiah 31:34).
They have the Covenant Maker in their midst!
Now as to what Jesus was actually writing—commentators suggest He was listing a few of the more prominent men’s most recent and most private sins.
And with their secret sins now public and staring up at them from the sand (listed, no less, by the finger of God), the Lord invites the one without sin to commence the execution.
(Hard to do when their private sins have just been listed before their very eyes!)
The Lord used the law to do what He designed it to do: bring conviction and shame to sinners (that they might turn to God and be saved).
Paul reminds the gentile Galatians who were enamored with the idea of becoming Jewish that God had another purpose in mind:
The law was given to lead us to Christ (Galatians 3:24).
It brings sinners to the feet of Jesus, who will always say to the penitent sinner:
I don’t condemn you.
Go your way and live in peace, and leave your life of sin.
