There is a remarkable detail in the account of the woman caught in adultery who the scribes and Pharisees used to test Jesus: The older men are the first to respond correctly.
Early in the morning he came again to the temple. All the people came to him, and he sat down and taught them. The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery, and placing her in the midst they said to him, “Teacher, this woman has been caught in the act of adultery. Now in the Law, Moses commanded us to stone such women. So what do you say?” This they said to test him, that they might have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground. And as they continued to ask him, he stood up and said to them, “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.” And once more he bent down and wrote on the ground. But when they heard it, they went away one by one, beginning with the older ones, and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him. 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.” (John 8:2-11, ESV, emphasis mine)
The scribes and Pharisees clearly engineered this public situation to test and hopefully discredit Jesus or embarrass him in some way. They don’t bring the adulterous man, or anyone to testify in her defense, but no one (including Jesus) disputes her adultery. We aren’t told what Jesus wrote in the dirt. Perhaps he referenced the Ten Commandments – “Thou shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.” Perhaps he wrote the name of the person who manipulated this woman into adultery. Perhaps he wrote the names of women these men had slept with at different times.
Whatever he wrote, it helped each of them recognize their sin and walk away.
Note also how tenderly Jesus deals with the scribes and Pharisees in this public setting. He knows their thoughts, their sins, their whole life with all it’s ugliness. He easily could have verbally called them out. His approach is extraordinarily loving to these men, just as it is loving to the woman – “Neither do I condemn you; go and from now on sin no more.”
I’m not surprised with the order of their departure. “Beginning with the older ones” is simply explained. We older men are much more aware of our sins, errors, weaknesses, and failings. We’ve lived enough that some of our youthful righteousness and arrogance has been smashed out of us. We don’t only see the surface but increasingly sense the larger story and movements.
Today, especially in the Church, we need the older men to recognize what’s going on, the trends and popular ideas which are simply wrong or “within our rights and freedoms but unhelpful for building others up” (see 1 Corinthians 10:23, Galatians 6:1-2), and lead by walking away.
This my appeal, older men. Let’s stand with Jesus. Let’s be men who are the first to walk away from errors of doctrine and judgment.
