Day 8, John 8, Bonus Blog

Guest Blogger: Bruce Panasuk

In the eighth chapter of John, our Lord once again squares off with the great enemy of the truth—religion. In this chapter we see the Light of the world doing battle with the powers of darkness garbed in religiosity. The Pharisees, who were supposed to be the defenders of the truth, had become instead self-righteous, pious, legalistic guardians of their own self-serving traditions, to the point that they nullified the Word of God for the sake of their traditions (Matt 15:6), and although they had the façade of righteousness, they were inwardly full of hypocrisy and wickedness (Matt 23:28). It is against these individuals that our Lord wages an intense all-out battle—a battle for a woman’s life and a battle for God’s truth.

These religious elite bring to the Temple a woman caught in adultery, and in a harsh and humiliating fashion, make her stand before the entire group (v. 3). They then surround her like a pack of vicious, bloodthirsty wolves that have cornered their prey. But she wasn’t their prey. Jesus was. They came to trap him (v. 6). She was only the bait—expendable, inconsequential, worthless to them as a person, only useful to them as a piece of human bait. The powers of darkness have challenged the Light of the world, and a life hangs in the balance. They then foolishly pit the Word of God against the Son of God—a very bad idea (v. 5). So he bends down to write in the ground (v. 6), and in so doing, draws a line in the sand. He defiantly stands between the hunters and the hunted. He backs off the wolves with the perfect response to their twisted question (v. 7), allowing what was left of their own numbed consciences to convict themselves of their evil intent (v. 9). Then, in perhaps the greatest display of his mercy, grace, and compassion, he sets the woman free (v. 11)—not only free to leave (“Go now”), but more importantly, free to change (“leave your life of sin.”).

Their intentions in using the woman having been exposed and defeated, they now turn directly on Jesus (v. 13)—and the battle continues; a battle now of truth vs. error, of light vs. darkness, of good vs. evil, of the Son of God vs. the religion of man. And once again, a line is drawn in the sand. Carefully note how the Lord Jesus Christ describes these Pharisees, and in so doing, defines religion at its core, and exposes the darkness of their hearts to all those present:

You have no idea where I came from or where I am going (v. 14)
You judge by human standards (v. 15)
You do not know me or my Father (v. 19)
You are from below…You are of this world (v. 23)
You have no room for my Word (v. 37)
You are unable to hear what I say (v. 43)
You belong to your father, the devil (v. 44)
You do not belong to God (v. 47)
You dishonor me (v. 49)

The result—darkness is once again defeated, for, “Even as he spoke, many put their faith in him” (v.30).

The world doesn’t need religion. The world needs Jesus Christ. Since we are called to be conformed to the image of God’s Son (Rom 8.29), let us stand in his stead as we compassionately fight for peoples’ lives and courageously fight for the truth of God’s Word.