The following homily was shared at our Sunday Evening Eucharist service 4/6/25.

Scripture Readings:

In John chapter 8, Jesus is approached by Pharisees in front of a crowd of Jews within the Temple grounds. With them, they have brought a woman, caught in the act of adultery. Basically, what they say to Jesus is this: “The Law, as written by Moses, as inspired by God, because of the sin she has committed, condemns this woman to be stoned by the religious authorities and by her peers.” The Pharisees know she is guilty, the crowd knows that she is guilty, and that this is the proper action to take. It is the law. They ask Jesus, “What do you have to say about that?”

Jesus knows this woman is guilty, that she is with sin. We know this because, later in the reading, He forgives her of her said sins. Jesus basically says in response to the Pharisees, “Those who don’t deserve to be condemned by their actions may condemn.” Why does Jesus say this? He knows she is guilty. Moses doesn’t say, “Stone an adulterer, but only if you’re without sin.” So why does Jesus say this?

It’s important to say that after everyone has left, after all those who would have condemned her to death have left, Jesus does not condemn her either. Instead, He asks, “Did no one condemn you?” and He says, “Neither do I condemn you.” He then forgives her of her sins.

Jesus is sinless. He could have condemned her. Not only is it in the law, but He meets his own criteria for being able to stone her. But He chooses not to condemn her. Isaiah chapter 8 says:

“Remember not the events of the past,

the things of long ago consider not;

see, I am doing something new!

Now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?

In the desert I make a way,

in the wasteland, rivers.

Wild beasts honor me,

jackals and ostriches,

for I put water in the desert

and rivers in the wasteland

for my chosen people to drink,

the people whom I formed for myself,

that they might announce my praise.”

“See, I am doing something new! Now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?”

God is doing something new in John chapter 8. It springs forth through the person of Jesus Christ. It looks like forgiveness of sins, and no condemnation for this woman. It looks like all of Jesus’ works in the New Testament. It looks like the crucifixion.

It would be pretty awful to be stoned. Not only are you being killed, and not passionlessly by an anonymous executioner or by the state or firing squad, but by your own community. The people that you live with, depend on, and have friends and loved ones in. It’s a physically and emotionally painful way to die, although not the worst way.

When I was writing my homily and thinking of all these things, Jesus doing away with the woman’s condemners and forgiving her, I was often brought back to this part of Isaiah 8:

“for I put water in the desert

and rivers in the wasteland

for my chosen people to drink,

the people whom I formed for myself,

that they might announce my praise.”

Our life before Jesus is like a thirsty person in the desert. We are lost, spiritually parched, and berated by the sun.

The wasteland that we walk through is the brokenness of sin, it’s our condemnation that we deserve. It makes us lost, it berates us, and increases the gap between each other and God.

But Jesus is like water in the desert. He rejuvenates the dying vegetation, refreshes the thirsty, cools the hot, and renews the tired. He is the source of life for us. The person of Jesus Christ is like water in the desert, a river in the wasteland, put down for the children of God to drink.

Thank goodness we are not condemned to death, to be in the desert and the waste forever. Thank goodness that we do not have to be separated and hurt and condemned by our community anymore in the ways that this woman would have been because of her sin.

Let’s announce his praise for the good work he has done.

Something New: Tayt Thomas

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