Examination of a judgmental relationship

Once again we turn our attention to the woman taken in the very act of adultery, found in John, Chapter 8. The next details that we notice here are the relationships that exist among our principle characters — Jesus, the woman and the scribes and Pharisees.

Jesus’ initial audience was only those who observed the exchange. While it is impossible to determine by the text how familiar each was with each other, it is fully possible to identify three distinct relationships present here.

The first of these we will examine today is between the woman and her initial accusers; between them existed a judgmental relationship.

It is fitting here to mention the legitimacy of judgment in government. Indeed, as far as the Jews of Jesus’ day were concerned, the scribes and Pharisees represent government to a certain degree, and so were within their rights to pass judgment upon this woman for the sin she had committed. Additionally, we must bear in mind that the Apostle Paul also validates government’s legitimacy to judge in Romans 13. Regardless of whether or not corruption is a potential, government does have a responsibility before God to judge.

Furthermore, the church also has a responsibility to judge among its members. We see this in I Corinthians 5, where six sins are enumerated specifically for this purpose. And Jesus himself, in Matthew 18, provides a step-by-step process for resolving conflicts among Christians, beginning with the one-on-one confrontation, advancing to the presence of witnesses to validate and verify the charges, and culminating in bringing it before the whole assembly for expulsion, if necessary.

And Jesus underscores this legitimacy by reminding that what the church binds on this earth will also be bound in heaven. While the church, like government, can become corrupt, and history is replete with evidence in this regard, this does not detract from its legitimacy when the church is right.

However, it is important to remember that when in judgment, consider mercy, especially when your hands are not exactly clean. Have you ever wondered what Jesus wrote in the sand when he stooped to the ground? While we may never know exactly what he wrote, whatever it was, it brought conviction to the consciences of those scribes and Pharisees, and they left one by one.

Interestingly, right after Jesus gives the step-by-step process for church judgment in Matthew 18, Peter brings up the issue of forgiveness. Remember how he asks if it was enough to forgive his brother seven times? Obviously, someone saw a potential for abuse for repeated trespasses if they were bound to forgive each time their brother “repented” and asked forgiveness. This arises nowadays and some take to judging whether someone is really repentant or not. But what did Jesus say? We are to forgive until 70 times seven.

While I understand what is commonly taught about forgiving and forgetting, let me submit to you that Jesus was referring to something far greater. Seventy times seven equals 490, the same number of days in Daniel’s prophecy of 70 weeks. What Jesus is really saying here is that he expects proper forgiveness of others until the Messiah comes.

To underscore his response to Peter, Jesus concludes Matthew 18 with the parable of the servant who had been forgiven a 10,000-talent debt, a king’s ransom, but was unwilling to forgive a debt of 100 pence, a day’s wage for a common laborer. If God can and does forgive our debt to him, represented here by the 10,000 talents, who are we to refuse to forgive the miniscule debts of our neighbors?

The trouble with the scribes and Pharisees this day was that though they stood even rightfully in judgment of this woman, the one at whose feet she had been cast was the same one who saw Nathaneal sitting under the fig tree before being found by Phillip in John Chapter 1. And he who saw Nathaneal also saw them. I kind of wonder if what he wrote on the ground that day wasn’t their own sins, and perhaps they left before he began writing their names.

The truth is that though there is legitimacy to judgment, to hypocrisy there is not. And we are guilty of hypocrisy when we judge another more harshly than we do our own selves or, in the words of Matthew 7, when we fail to remove the “beam” in our own eye. This is why we are told in Galatians 6 to “consider thyself, lest thou also be tempted.”

Friend, if you sit in judgment over another today, remember that James tells us: “He shall have judgment without mercy, that hath showed no mercy.”

Ron Hamman is pastor of Independent Baptist Church of Wasilla. Contact him at 357-4229 or ron.hamman@gci.net.

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