John 8:7 NKJV
“So when they continued asking Him, He raised Himself up and said to them, ‘He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first.”
Several attempts by the Pharisees and others to put Jesus to the test turned fruitless. Their motives were to find ‘ground’ for accusing the Son of God, but He always knew what was in their minds beforehand. By the wisdom of the Holy Spirit, Jesus effortlessly dealt with all the plots against Him to the letter! When tested by the Pharisees about who they should pay taxes to, Jesus replied and said, “You hypocrites, why are you trying to trap me?…Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s” (Mat 22:18, 21 NIV). Contrary to the misplaced thought of the Pharisees, it was not in Jesus’ interest to divert men away from giving Caesar what was due him. God is above all, and He rightfully deserves what is due Him as well.
On another day, the Pharisees also came to Jesus with another case and said, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?’ They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him” (Joh 8:4-6 NIV). Oh, how the all-wise Jesus quickly handled what men had thought was concrete evidence to “trap” Him! “He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first,” the Lord replied, as in our text. The Scripture says, “Then those who heard it, being convicted by their conscience, went out one by one, beginning with the oldest even to the last. And Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst” (Joh 8:9 NKJV)!
It’s only when we realize that we are actually first in line, in need of God’s mercy ourselves, that we can instead pray for others who also need God’s mercy. Notice, all who attempted to trap Jesus were, for one reason or the other, objects of God’s merciless wrath. However, that’s why Jesus came: that we should be saved from the eternal destruction following God’s righteous judgment that’s coming (Joh 3:16). Blessedly, the Word says, in Christ Jesus, God “…saved us, not because of any works of righteousness that we have done, but because of His own compassion and mercy” (Tit 3:5 AMP). “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy” (Mat 5:7 ESV), said Jesus. Hallelujah!
Pst. Emmanuel