{"id":906,"date":"2019-05-07T05:24:21","date_gmt":"2019-05-07T05:24:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/nextsteps\/?p=906"},"modified":"2020-04-17T00:06:08","modified_gmt":"2020-04-17T00:06:08","slug":"jesus-responded-someone-caught-sexual-sin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/nextsteps\/2019\/05\/jesus-responded-someone-caught-sexual-sin.html","title":{"rendered":"How Jesus Responded to Someone Caught in Sexual Sin"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"unsplash-logoStephany
Stephany Lorena<\/span><\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In Matthew 5 and Matthew 19 Jesus made his thoughts on sexual morality clear, reaffirming the Old Testament view that adultery was a sin and out of line with God’s plan. So, how did Jesus respond when actually confronted with someone caught in sexual sin?<\/p>\n

Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. At dawn he appeared again in the temple courts, where all the people gathered around him, and he sat down to teach them. The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. John 8:1-3<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

What\u2019s significant here? Jesus had already spoken on adultery (Matthew 5 and 19). Perhaps some of these religious leaders were present then and wanted to use his own words against him. Jesus has already made his position on sexual morality known. So what happens when he actually interacts with someone who was \u201ccaught in the act\u201d?<\/span><\/p>\n

By the way, two random things I\u2019ve always wondered: how did the religious leaders catch her in adultery? Were there Pharisees hiding behind bushes? That\u2019s not creepy! Secondly, where\u2019s the guy? Doesn\u2019t it take two to tango? Anyways, here\u2019s what Jesus did:<\/span><\/p>\n

They made her stand before the group\u00a0 and said to Jesus, \u201cTeacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery.\u00a0 In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women.\u00a0Now what do you say?\u201d\u00a0 They were using this question as a trap,\u00a0in order to have a basis for accusing him.<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger.\u00a0 When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, \u201cLet any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone\u00a0at her.\u201d\u00a0 Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground.<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there. Jesus straightened up and asked her, \u201cWoman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?\u201d<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u201cNo one, sir,\u201d she said.<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThen neither do I condemn you,\u201d\u00a0Jesus declared. \u201cGo now and leave your life of sin.\u201d John 8:3-11<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

The Pharisees wanted Jesus to either condone her actions, which would have branded him a heretic, or they wanted him to condemn her to death by the Mosaic Law, which by the way was outlawed by the Romans and would have gotten him in trouble with the Romans. They presented him with a false dichotomy<\/a>, and instead of going with one of the two options he was presented with, he chose option three. When the world gives you two options, choose option three.<\/span><\/p>\n

One of the reasons that Jesus shamed the religious leaders here is because in their rush to defend truth and declare what\u2019s right and what the Old Testament Law says, do you know who got lost in all of it? The woman caught in adultery! They didn\u2019t have any regard for her!\u00a0<\/span>Jesus didn\u2019t condone her actions nor did he condemn her. In the end, he showed compassion and he cared for her, and he called her to leave her life of sin. When the world gives you two options, choose option three.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

If you’d like to connect and see more of the content I’m working on, be sure to like my church Facebook page<\/a>. You can also find me on social media: Facebook<\/a>, Twitter<\/a>, Instagram<\/a> and YouTube<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In Matthew 5 and Matthew 19 Jesus made his thoughts on sexual morality clear, reaffirming the Old Testament view that adultery was a sin and out of line with God’s plan. So, how did Jesus respond when actually confronted with someone caught in sexual sin? Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. At dawn he…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":607,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[316],"tags":[396,65,397,291],"class_list":["post-906","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-10-steps-to-freedom","tag-adultery","tag-jesus","tag-john","tag-sin"],"yoast_head":"\nHow Jesus Responded to Someone Caught in Sexual Sin - Next Steps<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Jesus made his conservative views on sexual morality very clear. 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