What Did He Write?

The woman was caught in the very act of adultery. The accusers brought her before Jesus and seemed very eager to get His opinion on what to do with her. The Law of Moses required that such a sinner be stoned to death. As eager as they were to throw the book at her, they were all the more eager to catch Jesus in a trap.

He stooped over and wrote something in the dirt. I have always wanted to know what he wrote there on the cracked and dry ground. There are many speculations about what He wrote – maybe he wrote the sins of the accusers. Since He stooped down to write in the dirt again, maybe he attached names to those sins. But that is pure speculation because the Bible doesn’t say what He wrote.

One thing that struck me as I read this passage in John chapter 8 this morning is that God’s Word is powerful, whether spoken or, in this case, written. Whatever Jesus wrote the first time apparently didn’t sink in quickly. But when He wrote the second time, some light bulbs went off in the accusers heads. Those hand-written words straight from the finger of God-incarnate packed some spiritual punch. It caused every one of them to turn around and hightail it out of there. Was it guilt? Conviction? A sinking realization of whose presence they were in? Whatever was going through their minds at the time, it was something prompted by the Word of God.

When I get to heaven, that is one question I’d like to ask. "Jesus, what did you write on the ground that day?" He might answer, "it was my Word, living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword… able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart".