John 8:10-11 Jesus stood up and said to her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more.”
I can’t imagine how this adulterous woman must have felt. Dragged from her literal bed of sin, the scribes and Pharisees deposited her in front of Jesus and the crowd of people who had gathered to hear his teaching. The Pharisees cared nothing about her. They humiliated her in order to trap Jesus. If she was stoned to death in the process, so what?
But their pride and hypocrisy didn’t last long. Jesus, of course, knew their motives. When he asked for the one with no sin to cast the first stone, they begrudgingly dropped their bludgeons of death and retreated into the shadows. It seems significant that Jesus wrote in the sand two times during the exchange. According to tradition, he wrote the sins of her accusers. Can anyone say huge backfire?
They had exploited this woman before the wrong man. When she looked into the eyes of Jesus she saw, probably for the first time in her broken life, pure, unconditional love. Enough love to say, “I don’t condemn you.” But also enough to warn her to “stop sinning.” Score 0 for the hypocrites and 1 formerly lost woman for the kingdom of God.
It makes me think of songwriter Carole King’s song, You Make Me Feel Like a Natural Woman. I think the woman in the story knew quite a bit about being a natural woman. But Jesus went further. He made her feel like a supernatural woman. His love restored her sense of dignity and worth. After that encounter she would never look at herself through natural eyes only.
And if you’re a follower of Jesus, neither should you. As women, we expect a lot of ourselves these days. We fail. Many of us live with deep regrets. If you’re a man, you may have a wife, a sister, a friend who lets the past define her. Tell her the good news. Jesus offers hope for a clean slate each day. He protects us from being knocked over by stones of shame. Not only will he make us feel like a supernatural woman, he will transform us into one!