One time, I decided to read the scriptures and instead of focusing on the main character in the story, I tried to focus on the people around the main character. As I was doing this exercise I came upon John 8:1-11. The story of the woman taken in adultery. We've all heard this story, many times probably, but as you've read it have you ever focused on the perspective of the woman? With her in mind, let's review this story.
"And the Scribes and Pharisees brought unto him a woman taken in adultery; and when they had set her in the midst, they say unto him, Master, this woman was taken in adultery, in the very act. Now Moses in the law commanded us, that such should be stoned: but what sayest thou?" (John 8:3-5)
What comes to mind when you read this? First, it's obvious the Scribes and Pharisees were trying to trap the Savior. Verse 6 tells us they were "tempting Him, that they might have to accuse him." Either choice they offered Him would have brought Him under some condemnation. Elder Talmage teaches in Jesus the Christ, if he chose to punish her according to the law of Moses (by stoning her) they would have said he was going against the Roman authority (adultery was not considered a capital offense under the Roman law and the power to inflict the death penalty had been taken away from Jewish leaders). If he said the woman should go unpunished, they would have accused him of disrespecting the law of Moses and the people He was currently teaching would have doubt about His ministry.
Let's switch our focus over to what the woman must have been thinking. Christ was teaching in the temple when they brought this woman before Him (John 8:2). What would be going through your mind if during sacrament meeting a group of leaders brought you before the entire congregation and publicly announced what your faults and sins were? I would be mortified.
"This they said, tempting him, that they might have to accuse him. But Jesus stooped down, and with his finger wrote on the ground, as though he heard them not." (John 8:6).
Christ took a time-out. This is not the first, or the last time Christ does this. How much better would we react to situations if we followed this example. Take a time-out and think about what you should say, when we are in this state of mind, the Spirit is able to come to us and we are able to hear and understand the quiet whisperings. I would be willing to bet Christ offered a silent prayer in this moment and listened to the counsel from the Spirit. Remember the woman again, what agonizing silence this must have been while Christ was deciding which choice He would choose. I bet silent pleadings were going through her mind as well. The perfection of Christ's character and how in tune He was to His Heavenly Father's will are manifest in His next statement. Instead of choosing one of the options they have given him, he chooses his own choice.
"So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself, and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her." (John 8:7)
This goes much deeper than we first realize. In Deuteronomy 17:6-7 we read, "At the mouth of two witnesses, or three witnesses, shall he that is worthy of death be put to death; but at the mouth of one witness he shall not be put to death. The hands of the witnesses shall be first upon him to put him to death, and afterward the hands of all the people. So thou shalt put the evil away from among you." So when Christ said to the group, "He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her," He is saying, those who are willing to take responsibility as the witnesses cast the stone first. He essentially turned the law of Moses back around on them. It seems clear that the woman was guilty, they said she was taken in the very act. But where was the woman's partner? Elder Talmage says, "One may reasonably ask why the woman's partner in the crime was not brought for sentence, since the law so zealously cited by the officious accusers provided for the punishment of both parties to the offense." Did the Scribes set this up? Did the frame the woman? Was the man committing the crime with the woman part of it? Those are all speculations, we don't know why the man was not brought, but we can safely assume that Christ knew the heart and intent of all the accusers.
What would be going through your mind if you were the woman?
"And again he stooped down, and wrote on the ground. And they which heard it, being convicted by their own conscience, went out one by one, beginning at the eldest, even unto the last: and Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst."
Not one of her accusers was willing to stand as a witness to her crime. "They were convicted by their own conscience," we don't know the circumstances in which this woman was taken and brought before the Lord, but it seems obvious that there was something not right about it because none of the "witnesses" would legitimately act as a witness against her.
Turn your mind back to the woman. What would you be thinking as you watched all of your accusers leave? As far as the account tells us, she hasn't said anything to this point. What would you do next if you were the woman?
"When Jesus had lifted up himself, and saw non but the woman, he said unto her, Woman, where are those tine accusers? hath no man condemned thee? She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee; go, and sin no more."
In answer to the last question I asked, "what would you do next if you were the woman", I think I would have tried to run away from the humiliation. Christ had bent again and was writing in the dirt, he wasn't watching me, he would see me leave. Christ was without sin, he could cast the first stone at me. He could condemn me. But she didn't do that, she waited for the Savior to look at her, she waited for her punishment, she was repentant.
Something really important to point out here, Christ did not forgive the woman. President Kimball taught, "The Lord did not forgive the woman of her serious sin. He commanded quietly, but forcefully. 'Go, and sin no more.' Even Christ cannot forgive one in sin. The woman had neither time nor opportunity to repent totally. When her preparation and repentance were complete she could hope for forgiveness, but not before then."
We are all given the same charge and opportunity this woman received. Go, and sin no more. This life is the time for men to prepare to meet God. This life is the time we need to find the Savior and humbly go before Him with our faults and shortcomings. He has promised us that He will make weak things strong if we come humbly before Him and willingly accept the counsel and changes we need to make in our lives.
I know through the Atonement of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ that we can be saved from our sins. We can be forgiven and made new and clean again. It takes work and time, but if we do so with a humble spirit we to can have the opportunity to repent totally so that when we stand before our Savior and Heavenly Father again we will hear, "Well done, thou good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord." (Matthew 25:21). May we have the faith and humility of this sister in the scriptures. Who, even though she had committed a terrible sin against the Lord, waited with humility and faith for the judgement of the Savior. The Savior loves us and wants to extend the same mercy to us that he extended to this woman. Go, and sin no more, I pray each of us can do so. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
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