Beauty from Ashes

Women are not supposed to be mixed up with anything controversial. You have been warned to stay away, but you can’t. This morning you were irresistibly drawn into His presence. You long to hear again the words He speaks....they are the lyrics of a haunting song your heart longs to sing aloud. You wait for Him among this unusually quiet but expectant crowd...He has promised to return this morning and teach.
"At dawn he appears again in the temple courts, where all the people gathered around him, and he sat down to teach them.” (John 8:2)

He appears with His disciples at the first gleam of dawn, the sky turning glorious shades of fire as his backdrop. His features are hard to make out with the light of dawn behind Him and the light of morning lingering before Him. After greeting a few in the crowd with an embrace, He sits down to teach. You listen with your heart hanging on every word. But there is a disturbance.
Over the heads of Jesus and His disciples, you see another group approaching. Their angry voices and dark forms are struggling with someone unseen. As they enter the temple court, you recognize their robes and realize they are the religious leaders. The shape in their midst remains hidden until they are between Jesus and the crowd, then she is thrust at His feet. It is a disheveled woman clutching a remnant of cloth or bedding an attempt to hide her nakedness, but her covering is not enough. It is obvious she was abruptly dragged from a bed of shame. You wonder where the man is. The leaders are not content to let her cower on the ground; they stand her up for all to see.
“The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group and said to Jesus, ‘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?’“ (John 8:3-5)

What will Jesus say to such a woman? What is to be her fate? Of course, these leaders really don’t care about her. They are demanding an answer from Jesus because:
“They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him.” (John 8:6a)

Oh, but you want His answer. Like every other woman in the crowd that day you need to hear what He will say. What does Jesus say to obviously guilty women? What judgement does He pass on those of which the law demands death? Of course, this woman is a causality of a much bigger plot. It is an ancient attempt to undermine God, and the real issue is an opportunity for the religious leaders to disqualify Jesus.
Watch Him.
“But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger.” (John 8:6b)

At first, He is not willing to look at her or to answer them. He bends down and writes in the dust. The finger of God etches in dust letters that are not recorded for our knowledge. He refuses to turn His eyes to her knowing one so already shamed and frightened could not imagine His glance to be anything but contempt. He will not add His eyes to those now fixed upon her in judgement. Perhaps in His memory He is seeing another who attempted to cover her nakedness in a Garden long ago.
“When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, ‘If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.’ Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground.” (John 8:7-8)

The accusing voice of the knowledge of good and evil cries out demanding satisfaction while the King of glory writes in the dust. Maybe in their voices He heard the serpent’s accusing voice: You may cover her, but I will eventually strip and shame again what You cover! She will never learn. She must die at Your hands...it is the law!
This time He does not answer the serpent’s accusations. It will all be settled soon enough. He speaks only to the accusers now before Him. He asks for one without sin to throw the first stone and returns to the image in the dust. You hold your breath and wait.
“At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus is left, with the woman still standing there.” (John 8:9)

It would only take one person to release the first stone, and after that all those who took up stones would merely be following another’s lead. But no one is present who could throw it...
Or is there Someone? Yes, there is One. Jesus is without sin, but He refused to throw a stone at this woman. He is the only righteous judge, but He had not come to condemn but to save her.
He remains silent until all her accusers are gone. They depart in silence and perhaps in some shame, for they have just admitted to the crowd they’d want to trap Jesus in front of their own sinfulness.
Jesus waits until every presence and voice of accusation is gone before He addresses this woman:
"Jesus straightened up and asked her, ‘Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?’
‘No one, sir,’ she said.
‘Then neither do I condemn you,’ Jesus declared. ‘Go now and leave your life of sin.’” (John 8:10-11)

Notice she remains until He rises and speaks to her. She is not content to hear His words about her she wants Him to speak to her. She could have run for cover in the shadows as soon as the last of her accusers left, but she waits...naked and ashamed before Him. She is tired of life in the shadows. She stays because she wants forgiveness and release. With His words she now can leave...released from death and openly forgiven, with every question of condemnation removed from her. With these gifts she’s empowered to leave her life of sin.
She lifts her head and meets His gaze. In His eyes she sees forgiveness, mercy, and love, and there is something else...
Is it pain? Sensing what has transpired, perhaps another woman from the crowd rises and lays her own garment over this woman’s shoulders to cover her nakedness. Perhaps the woman who covers her is you. There is silence as the woman walks silently down the very street on which she had just been dragged minutes before. The sun shines brightly, for a new day has dawned for her, one holding renewed hope and promise. Jesus pauses as she departs.
“When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, ‘I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.’” (John 8:12)