(Through the Bible) John 7-8 — Chuck Smith

So we turn now in our Bibles to the seventh chapter of the Gospel according to John. After these things, Jesus walked in Galilee. For he would not walk in Jewry because the Jews sought to kill him. At this point, John begins the record of the last six months of Jesus' ministry.

Jesus' Final Six Months Before the Crucifixion

And so you'll notice how much time and attention John spends in the last six months of his ministry. Pointing out the fact that Jesus is no longer walking so openly in the area of Judea among the Jews.

In fact, from the other Gospel records, we know that at this point, Jesus went first up to the area of Tyre and Sidon with his disciples. Then on over the hill to Caesarea Philippi, which is at the base of Mount Hermon.

Up into Mount Hermon where he was transfigured. And of course, there at Caesarea Philippi, Peter's great confession. Now he is again in the area of Galilee. And he stays pretty much away from Jerusalem except for the record that we will receive here in chapter seven through chapter ten.

When he goes down for the Feast of the Tabernacles and then when he goes down for the final visit, the Feast of the Passover, six months later when he is crucified. So at this point, we're entering into the final six months of the ministry of Jesus before the crucifixion.

The Feast of Tabernacles and God's Provision

Now the Jews' Feast of Tabernacles was at hand. The Feast of Tabernacles was the feast in which they remembered God's preservation of their fathers through the forty years of wandering in the wilderness.

They could not have survived. A million people could not have survived forty years in the desert. There's no way the desert could support that number of people who were at that point nomads except the Lord had provided.

But God did provide. He guided them by day with a cloud, by night with a pillar of fire. And he provided them with quail. He provided them with manna. He provided them with water out of the rock. And so it was a time of the celebration of God's miraculous provision for their fathers in keeping them through that forty years of their wandering in the wilderness.

And so this Feast of the Tabernacles, which took place in the tenth month of our calendar, the seventh month of the Jewish calendar, was at hand. And his brothers said unto him, Why don't you depart from here and go to Judea, that your disciples also may see the works that you do?

The brothers here, no doubt, refer to the actual half-brothers of Jesus, James and Jude, Simon. And they have appeared another time in this story when they came with Mary to rescue him from the crowds.

And at this point, they do not believe in his claims. But they are saying, Why don't you go down to Judea, that they might see your works and believe? For there is no man that does anything in secret, and he himself seeketh to be known openly.

If you are doing these things, show yourself to the world. And so this encouragement from his brothers. For neither did his brothers believe in him. Then Jesus said unto them, My time, or my season, is not yet come, but yours is already here.

Jesus talks now much about his hour. When he talks of his hour, he is talking of the cross itself. Now he's talking about just the season, that is, the season of being revealed. They're saying, Why don't you go down and reveal yourself?

You know, rather than hiding out in secret, show yourself openly. And he's saying, The season has not yet come, but yours is already here. And the world cannot hate you, but it hates me, because I testify of it, that its works are evil.

So you go up unto this feast, and I will not yet go up to the feast, for my season is not yet fully come. And when he had said these words unto them, he stayed there in Galilee. But when his brothers were gone up, then he also went up to the feast, but not openly, but as it were in secret.

Division and Opposition at the Feast

And then the Jews sought him at the feast and said, Where is he? And there was a lot of murmuring among the people concerning him, for there was a sharp division among them. Some said, He's a good man, and others said, No, he is deceiving the people.

Albeit no man spoke openly of him for fear of the Jews. So already there was the threat of the leadership against Jesus. It was already declared that if anybody should acknowledge that he was the Messiah, they would be put out of the synagogues.

And this division, a lot of people had been touched and healed by Jesus. And so they were saying, He's a good man. And the others are saying, Oh, no, he's a deceiver. He's deceiving the people. And so this controversy had arisen, and Christ became a very controversial feature.

And it was sort of the buzz at the Feast of the Tabernacles. Everybody was talking about him. Everybody was wondering about him. And it was just a real buzz among the people who had gathered. Now, in about the middle of the feast, Jesus went up into the temple and taught.

He wasn't there, evidently, at the beginning of the feast, or didn't at least show up until about the middle of the feast, after about three days. And the Jews marveled, saying, How knows this man letters, having never learned?

Gramata. How does this man know the accent of the learned, is what they're saying. They had, in those days, too, that sophisticated accent of the intellectuals, much like we hear from the Chabad boys.

There was that certain accent of sophistication that was sort of exclusive in the university ranks. And here Jesus began to talk with them with that accent of the intellectuals. And they said, How did he learn that accent, not having gone to the university?

How knoweth this man the letters, having never learned? And Jesus answered them and said, My doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me. You want to know how I learned? The doctrine isn't mine, it's his who sent me.

And Jesus, again, is declaring, I have been sent here. If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God or whether I speak of myself. He that speaks of himself seeks his own glory, but he that seeks his glory that sent him, the same is true, and there is no unrighteousness in him.

Now, Jesus is making some pretty dramatic claims here. He's saying, If I came and I started speaking of myself, it would be because I'm seeking my own glory, because that's what a person who is seeking glory does.

He talks about himself, he boasts of himself. But if I come seeking the glory of him who sent me, then the same is true, that witness is true. He's not seeking glory for himself, he's seeking glory for the one that sent him, and there is no unrighteousness in him.

Now, in a little while, Jesus is going to challenge them as they get into this dispute. And he said, Which of you can convince me of sin? Which of you can point out a sin that I've ever committed? Boy, no way that we could say that, is there?

No way could we make this kind of a claim, there is no unrighteousness in me. And so these are pretty radical claims that Jesus is making before the people. He said, Did not Moses give you the law? And yet, none of you keep the law, so why are you going about to kill me?

Jesus, the Sabbath, and Righteous Judgment

An interesting thing, they were accusing him, of course, and the thing is still festering. The last time he was down there, you remember he was at the pool of Bethesda, and he told the lame man to take his bed and walk.

And the lame man took his bed and started to walk, and the Jews caught him and said, Sabbath day, how come you're carrying your bed? And he said, The guy who healed me told me to take my bed and walk.

And they said, Who was it? He said, I don't know. And so Jesus later found the guy in the temple and he said, You know, go your way and sin no more. And he ran and told the Jews it was Jesus. And from that time, they sought to kill him because he had done it on the Sabbath day.

And that is still festering in the Jewish leadership, this fact that he had violated their Sabbath law. So he said, Look, Moses gave you the law, and yet none of you keep it. So why are you going about to kill me?

Jewish Opposition to Jewish Believers in Jesus

We were in Israel about three years ago, and there were some young people, Jewish young people up in the northern part of Israel who had received Jesus Christ. As their Lord and Savior, and they were having Bible studies and worship in their homes in one of the little areas there in the northern Galilee.

And they were under severe persecution from the Jewish community. In fact, while we were there. Some of the young people of the Jewish Defense League came in or from one of the communities came in and tore up their house, beat them up, took an axe and broke the refrigerator and broke up all of their furniture and just made shreds of their house because they were Christians.

And as far as the Jews were concerned, they were traitors, having left Judaism according to their thinking and received Jesus Christ. So we had heard of these Christians and we had invited them to come and to share with our group.

We had some guides who were all sweet and smiles and, you know, talking about Jesus and Jesus did this and the Lord did this and all. And they were very sweet and personable guides. And some of the people on the tour even thought that they were close to salvation.

And when this young man got up to speak to our group about being a Jew, having accepted Jesus, he first of all said, before I speak to you and share with you my love for Jesus as my Messiah, I would first like to say something to my friends here.

And he began to speak in Hebrew. And the moment he began to speak, it was like ice water was poured over the Jewish guides. It was like a mask was suddenly pulled off and their smiling faces turned and there was hatred, there was gnashing of teeth, there was bitterness.

It was really tense. In fact, they were ready to rip their clothes almost and grab stones and stone the kid. And I thought, what in the world is he saying to them, you know, that is creating such a reaction.

This one man who at that point was the head over the Israeli defense forces in northern Israel and a dear friend of ours who really is an easy going kind of a guy and not at all religious, though he's a Jew, he's not at all religious.

Great big old guy and a very respected leader there in northern Israel. He was with a group of the men from the kibbutz. And as this young man was talking to them in Hebrew, these men from the kibbutz became so incensed, they started saying among themselves, let's kill him when he leaves here tonight.

Let's kill him. And they were really ready to kill him. And this friend of ours, Yoram, said to them in Hebrew, do you guys keep Sabbath? They said, no. He said, are you guys religious? No. Well, then why do you want to kill this guy?

Just because he says he believes that Jesus is the Messiah. And he was able to talk them out of killing him because he showed them that they weren't really religious. What's your what's the big deal? What's your what's your problem?

You know, why do you want to kill him? You're not at all religious. Do you guys just on a religious kick? So what's your problem? But it's interesting here. Jesus said, look, Moses gave you the law, but none of you are keeping it.

So why are you trying to kill me? Because you think I violated your Sabbath day law. You're not keeping the law yourself. And so the people answered and said, you have a devil. Who's going about to kill you?

And Jesus answered and said unto them, I have done one work and you all marvel. Moses, therefore, gave unto you circumcision, not because it is of Moses. It actually preceded Moses. It came from Abraham, but it was of the fathers.

That is, it came from the father Abraham. And on the Sabbath day, you circumcise a man. Now he's referring back to this miracle on the Sabbath day. You see, I've done one miracle, one marvel among you and you're all upset.

Because it was on the Sabbath day, he's referring back to the incident at the Pool of Bethesda, where they determined at that point, we're going to kill him because he did it on the Sabbath day. So he said, look, Moses gave the law of circumcision, not because it was really of Moses.

It came from Abraham. But if the eighth day, the day that the child was to be circumcised, happened to be the Sabbath day, you'll go ahead and circumcise him anyhow, even though it is the Sabbath. So if a man on the Sabbath day receives circumcision, that the law of Moses should not be broken.

Are you angry at me because I have made a man completely whole on the Sabbath day? You know, I've done a work of God on the Sabbath day. You do the work of God, a circumcision on the Sabbath day. Why are you so upset with me for healing a man completely on the Sabbath day?

Judge not according to appearance, but judge righteous judgment. That's good advice. How many times we are guilty of judging by appearance? Oh, I have made such horrible mistakes judging by appearances.

I have judged so wrongly judging by appearances. In fact, I've been very unrighteous in some of my judgment because I was judging by appearances. He said, don't judge by appearances, judge righteous judgment.

Then said some of them of Jerusalem, is not this he whom they are seeking to kill? But look, he's speaking boldly and they're saying nothing to him. Do the rulers indeed know that this is the very Messiah?

Had they come to believe that he is the Messiah? How be it? We know this man, where he came from. But when the Messiah comes, no man knows where he is coming from. That was a tradition that they had developed, that the Messiah was just going to suddenly appear, just out of nowhere, sort of like Superman, just, you know, out of the sky.

It's a burning flame. No, it's the Messiah. And suddenly he's standing here in your midst. And they feel that that idea probably developed from the 53rd chapter of Isaiah, which said, and who shall declare his generation?

That is, who's going to tell of his parentage and all, you know, who can declare his generation? He just suddenly is here on the scene. No one knows where he came from, but here he is, suddenly in the midst of us.

And so they said, you think that the rulers are coming to believe he's the Messiah? Hey, we know where this fellow came from. And when the Messiah comes, no one will know where he came from. Then cried Jesus in the temple as he taught, saying, you both know me, and you know where I came from.

And I am not come of myself, but he that sent me is true whom you do not know. You may know me. You may know that I grew up in Nazareth, but you don't know the one who sent me. But I know him, for I am from him, and he hath sent me.

And notice over and over Christ declaring the fact that he had been sent. He was here on a mission. Then they sought to take him, but no man laid hands on him, because his hour was not yet come. This is the first time we read this phrase, except that Jesus in the first part said to Mary, my hour is not yet come.

But here is the beginning now of many, many times where we're going to be reading his hour was not yet come. That is the hour of crucifixion, six months or so down the road. And many of the people believed on him and said, when the Messiah comes, will he do more miracles than these, which this man has done?

Jesus Offers Living Water

And the Pharisees heard that the people were murmuring such things concerning him. And the Pharisees and the chief priests sent officers to take him. They felt that this is the time. We've got to do something.

And so they sent officers to arrest him. Then said Jesus unto them, yet a little while, and I am with you. And then I am going to him that sent me. And you will seek me and shall not find me. And where I am, you cannot come.

Now he's talking in all kinds of tenses. Notice the different tenses that he's talking in here. And the reason why he's talking in so many tenses is because he transcended time. He was living always in the eternal.

And because of his transcendency of time, he talked in many tenses. And Jesus said, yet a little while, and I am with you. And then I go to him that sent me. You will seek me and shall not find me. You will seek me, shall not find me.

And where I am, you cannot come. Speaking, you're going to seek me and find me. But where I am, you cannot come. You see the different tenses here. For I am, I am in the eternal. Then said the Jews among themselves, where's he going that we can't find him?

Is he going to go to the dispersed among the heathen and teach the heathen, the Gentiles? What kind of a saying is this that he said, you will seek me and shall not find me. And where I am, you cannot come.

What's he talking about? And then in the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried saying, if any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink. The last day, the great day of the feast would have been the eighth day of the feast for the feast of the tabernacles lasted for eight days.

On the last day, the great day of the feast, no doubt there on the temple mount, thousands of people assembled for this feast. It was one of the three major feast days in the Jewish calendar when all the adult males were required to come and present themselves before God.

According to the historian Josephus, as many as two and a half million people would gather in Jerusalem for these feasts during the time of Christ. And so you can imagine the large multitude of people on the temple mount.

Now, there was a significant symbolic action that took place each day of the feast. As the priest would fill the water jugs at the pool of Siloam and singing the Hallel Psalms to send the steps from the pool to the temple mount area.

And before the people pour out these jugs of water, letting them splash upon the pavement to remind the people that when their fathers were dying in the wilderness, God preserved them by the miraculous giving of water out of the rock when it was smitten by Moses.

And so water had a very important symbolic part to the feast of tabernacles. They realized that their fathers were about to be exterminated, but God preserved them and saved them by the water out of the rock.

And so Jesus on this last day, the great day of the feast, cried, if any man thirst, let him come to Me and drink. The thirst that Jesus is referring to is not a physical thirst or an emotional thirst, but that deep thirst in the spirit of man for God.

Way down deep in every man there is that thirst, that need for a meaningful relationship with God. And I don't care who you are or what your background is or where you are. Every man deep down inside has the thirst for God.

There are people who try to cover it. They try to cover it with a facade. They try to put on a show, an act, a display. They try to put on a grandiose kind of a front like I've got it made. There's no problems.

I don't need any help. I can do it on my own. But down deep inside, there's a cry for a meaningful relationship with God. A classic example is that little gal at the well there in Samaria who was so smart and chick and clever in her answers with Jesus until finally he removed her mask.

Spiritual Thirst and the Samaritan Woman

And he said to her, yes, you've told the truth when you say you don't have a husband because in reality you have had five husbands and the man you're presently living with you never did bother to get married to.

And he had ripped off her mask and she said, sir, I perceive you're a prophet. Our fathers say we're to worship God in these mountains and you say in Jerusalem, but where can I find God? Hey, down deep in every heart, that's the question.

Where can I find God? Man is thirsting in his spirit after God. Now, we try often to fill this thirst with physical things, but it never works. The reason behind the pleasure mania in the United States today is that people are trying to somehow satisfy the deep spiritual thirst within.

People try to satisfy it with emotional experiences and really that's one of the big causes of the drug abuse. It's one of the causes of alcoholism. It is interesting that Paul the apostle associates alcoholism with being filled with the spirit.

He said, be not drunk with wine wherein is excess, but be he filled with the spirit. And he associates the two. Why? Because there is a definite relationship. What is a man searching after when he turns to the bottle and becomes an alcoholic?

What is he looking for? He's looking for some kind of inner satisfaction, a peace, a peace of mind. He's looking for the capacity to cope. What does a man find when he is filled with the spirit? He finds a peace of mind.

He finds the capacity to cope. He finds a fullness and a satisfaction. And so it is only proper and quite proper that Paul would relate those two things, which on the surface seem so diverse, but when you get underneath, you're dealing with the same issues.

Man's thirst. One man though has a misdirected attempt to fill his thirst. So Jesus said, if any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink. And there you have the gospel in its simplest terms. That's it.

That's what the gospel is all about. For that man who is seeking in his spirit for a meaningful relationship with God, he can find it when he comes to Jesus Christ. You have a thirst deep inside. You need God.

I understand your need. Come unto me and drink. And then Jesus went on to explain. He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. Come to me and drink, because I will fulfill that need in your life.

I will fill that thirst. Not only will I fill the thirst, but I will cause your life to become an overflowing cup. You know, there are times, and you know, they're getting more frequent. I don't know.

Maybe I'm getting old and senile, but they seem to be getting more frequent. Times when God begins to impress me with his love and with his goodness, and he begins to pour out on my heart and upon my life of his spirit and of his love, until I say, oh God, I can't take it.

It's too much, Lord. You're too much, Lord. You better turn it off, God. I can't handle anymore, Lord. I'm full, Lord. You know, and he just keeps pouring. Lord, I'm running over. I can't handle it, Lord.

And he just keeps pouring. Oh, man, and I just get so caught away in the glory of God and his goodness and his love and his power. I can hardly handle it. I just can't handle it. I just, you know, you just got to get wiped out.

What a wonderful thing to be wiped out in the spirit. Just that neat wipe out, spiritual wipe out. Oh, man, it's glorious. As you just, you know, you're just, well, what can you say? Out of his innermost being, there will flow rivers of living water.

The Holy Spirit's Work in the Believer

Now, John adds his commentary. So here we have John's commentary on the Gospel of John. As he explains to us what Jesus was talking about, and his explanation comes after years of observation. He didn't know at the moment what Jesus was referring to.

But later on, when the Holy Spirit was poured out upon the church, and John began to have those overflowing experiences of God's power and love, then he understood and knew what Jesus was referring to.

And because he wrote after the experience of the Holy Spirit, after Pentecost, he is now able to give the explanation of what Jesus was referring to. And he said, this spake he of the Spirit which was not, that was to be given to those that believed upon him.

For the Spirit was not yet given. So, John makes reference then, or makes a commentary that Jesus was actually referring to the Holy Spirit. And what was he declaring of it? That it would be like a river or a torrent of living water gushing forth out of a person's life.

Now, can you say that that is your relationship to the Holy Spirit? In the Scriptures, I see a threefold relationship of the believer to the Holy Spirit, and it is designated by three Greek prepositions.

There is the first preposition, para. For Jesus said to his disciples, but I will pray the Father and he will give you another comforter, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him, but ye know him, for he dwells with you, para.

And he shall be in you. The Greek preposition in. So, a twofold relationship there. He is with you. Prior to our conversion, the Holy Spirit was with us. It was the Holy Spirit that convicted us of sin.

It was the Holy Spirit that pointed out that Jesus was the answer. And it was the Holy Spirit that drew us to Jesus, because no man can come except the Spirit draw him. And when the Holy Spirit had drawn me to Jesus, and I opened my heart and invited Jesus to come into my life, the Holy Spirit came in and began to reside in me, and the Holy Spirit began to indwell me.

So he was with me prior to conversion, drawing me to Jesus, and then he came into my heart the moment I received Jesus. And he began his work of teaching me all things. He began his work of conforming me into the image of Christ.

He began that glorious work in my life. But yet I read in the scripture of one further relationship that the believer can have to the Holy Spirit. And that is found in, first of all, the commandment of Jesus to his disciples, to tarry in Jerusalem and to wait for the promise of the Father.

For Jesus said, you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you. And here is the Greek preposition epi, which means upon, over, or I like, overflows. When the Holy Spirit begins to overflow your life, the dynamic of the Spirit flowing forth, and this is what Jesus is referring to here, that third relationship.

When the Spirit has accomplished his work within me, and now that objective work of the Spirit, as the Spirit of God begins to flow forth from my life, and others around me then begin to receive of the benefit of that work that God has done in me.

God has to work in me first. That's primary. But God is never satisfied with just the work in me. God desires that my life be an instrument through which he might work through me, or a channel through which he might flow from me, his dynamic love and power to a needy world.

So, this he was speaking of the Holy Spirit. What? He will gush forth from your life like a torrent of living water. Years ago, I was working with a man who had been on a weekend retreat as a counselor to a youth group.

And as we were working on Monday, he said, you know, I had some trouble this weekend at this camp where I was a counselor. I said, what was the problem? He said, well, one of the speakers was talking to the kids there and saying, now while you're here in camp, you're getting marvelous experiences of drawing close to God and you're being filled with God's Holy Spirit.

He said, but when you go back from this camp, he said, your mom is going to tell you to do something and you're going to say, I don't want to do it. And he said, your attitude, because of that attitude, a little bit of the Spirit is going to leak out.

And then maybe you'll tell a lie or something, a little bit more of the Spirit is going to leak out. And after a while, all of the Spirit will have leaked out. And then you're going to have to be refilled with the Spirit.

He said, no, that just didn't sound right to me. He said, but I couldn't quite put my finger on what was wrong. I said, well, I don't know of any place in the Scripture where it refers to the Spirit leaking out of your life.

I said, but I know of a Scripture that declares it's going to flow forth or it's going to gush out of your life like a torrent of living water. That's the relationship I want. I want my life to be just overflowing.

I want God's Spirit to just come flowing forth from my life like a torrent of living water. Now, many of the people and the Spirit was not yet given because that Jesus was not yet glorified. Jesus said, the Spirit can't come until I go.

Now, when I go, I'm going to pray the Father and He's going to give you another comforter. And so the Spirit was to come after Jesus was glorified and ascended to the Father. And of course, when the day of Pentecost was fully come and Peter was explaining to the people what had happened, he said, this same Jesus has God raised and is now there in heaven with God and has sent forth this which you see.

And so the proof that Jesus came to the Father was the outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon the church. Many of the people, therefore, when they heard this saying, said of a truth, this is the prophet. That is a reference to the prophecy in Deuteronomy where Moses said, and another prophet shall arise like unto myself and to him shall you give heed.

Moses promises there were going to come another prophet. Now, the interesting thing today is that you talk to many of the Jews, most of the Orthodox, and they will say to you that they do not believe that the Messiah will be the Son of God, but the Messiah will be a man just like Moses was a man.

And they say that because Moses said, and there shall arise another like unto myself and to him shall you give heed. So he's going to be just like Moses, they will tell you, who was a man that God anointed to lead them out of their captivity.

So God is going to anoint another man and we're looking for a man. And what will be their sign? We're looking for a man who will rebuild the temple. They believe that when the Messiah comes, he's going to help them rebuild their temple.

And that's how they're going to recognize him, a man helping them to rebuild the temple. This is the prophet, they said. That is the prophet that was referred to in Moses' prophecy. And others said, this is the Messiah.

Jesus as Messiah and the Division He Brings

But some said, shall the Messiah come out of Galilee? Hath not the scripture said that the Messiah is coming of the seed of David and out of the town of Bethlehem where David was? Evidently, they didn't know that Jesus came from Bethlehem.

That Mary and Joseph had traveled there, of course, to be enrolled because he was at the house in the lineage of David. And of course, as Luke traces Mary's genealogy, we find that she also was of David.

So he was of David and born in Bethlehem. But there was a division among the people because of him. And this is always true. Jesus is always dividing men. He was deliberately dividing men. He would say radical things which would divide men.

He said to Martha, I am the resurrection and the life. He that believeth on me, though he were dead, yet shall he live. And if you live and believe in me, you will never die. Do you believe this? You see, he said this radical thing and then he immediately challenged that.

Do you believe this? Now, by asking the question, do you believe this? He was deliberately creating a division. And even tonight, people are divided. Those who believe and those who do not believe. So the division that he was creating then is the division that carries on to the present day.

Those who believe, those who don't believe. Those who have eternal life, those who do not have eternal life. Those who have a hope, those who have no hope. Jesus is always making the division. Among men, and so they were divided because of him.

And some of them would have taken him. That is to arrest him and all, but no man laid hands on him. And so the officers of the chief priests and the Pharisees came back and they said unto them, why have you not brought him?

And the officers answered, never a man has spoken like this man. Then they answered the Pharisees and the Pharisees said to them, are you also deceived? Have any of the rulers of the Pharisees believed on him?

But these stupid people who don't know the law are cursed. Now, Nicodemus, the one who came to Jesus at night, being one of the Pharisees, said to them, does our law judge any man before it hears him and knows what he is doing?

And they answered and said unto him, are you also of Galilee? In other words, are you in league with him? Search and look, for out of Galilee arises no prophet. And so every man went to his own house.

The Woman Caught in Adultery

Now, Jesus went unto the Mount of Olives. And early in the morning, he came again to the temple. Now, the feast is over, but Jesus is returning to the temple on the next day. And all of the people came unto him and he sat down and taught them.

I told you this morning that the rabbi always sat when he taught. And the scribes and the Pharisees brought unto him a woman taken in adultery. And when they set her in the midst, they said unto him, Master, this woman was taken in adultery in the very act.

We caught her in the very act. Now, Moses in the law commanded us that such should be stoned. But what do you say? And this they said, tempting him that they might have an occasion to accuse him. But Jesus stooped down and with his finger wrote on the ground as though he did not even hear them.