Justice or Mercy
Do you lean more toward truth or grace? If you had to choose one, would you side toward justice or mercy?
What about Jesus? When He deals with you, with others, if He had to choose one, would He lean toward justice or mercy?
Today, we’ll see how Jesus treats someone who tries to satisfy her own thirst in a particularly selfish, shameful, and destructive way. It violated the Law. Violated trust. And Jesus is seemingly forced to choose: Justice or mercy.
It’s early morning. The temple court is filling up. People are pressing in—hungry, curious, carrying questions, carrying burdens. And Jesus sat down and began to teach, and for a moment, everything feels at peace… ordered, hopeful. (John 8:2)
And then, it’s like the doors burst open. Everything gets disrupted.
A mixed bag of religious and political leaders, the scribes and the Pharisees, brought a woman caught in adultery! Not presumed to be. Not caught sneaking out the back door… caught in the very act. (v4)
There are witnesses. And real victims. This woman’s husband. The man’s wife. Each of their children.
Adultery isn’t trivial to God. Marriage represents Jesus’ love for the church, and sex is a God-given expression of lifelong, exclusive commitment. One flesh. I belong to you completely, revealing myself in ways no other can ever know me. Sex reflects the oneness and delight of our eternal future with God.
And in that day, this was a cultural taboo. A naughty no-no.
And everyone listening knows that this act was punishable by death according to God’s Law for Israel.
Leviticus 20:10 If a man commits adultery with another man’s wife, the adulterer AND the adulteress shall surely be put to death.
Both shall be put to death. Not just the woman. The Law required equal punishment, equal justice.
But they’re not after justice. They’re after Jesus.
So they persist: “Moses commands us to stone her! What then do YOU say, Jesus?”
They’re trying to trap Him between the Law of Moses (justice) and this woman’s life (mercy). (v6)
They don’t really care about the Law—or about her.
But they know they can use this against Jesus because one thing they’re sure of: He’s not going to condemn her. Not even for cheating on her husband.
Jesus had such a reputation for loving sinners. Jesus had such a reputation for grace that they bet Jesus would go with mercy. That’s what attracted sinners.
They’ve set a brilliant trap.
If Jesus condemns her as God’s Law for Israel commands, He loses the very people He came to save.
But if He goes against God’s command and says, “Don’t stone her,” then He’s not from God. He’s not a good teacher or Messiah, let alone the Son of God.
Jesus said to them, “He who is without sin among you, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.”
Wow.
Notice that He did not say, “She didn’t do anything wrong. Nothing worthy of death.”
He did not tell them not to stone her.
He actually says, “Throw a stone at her.” He upholds God’s Law. He upholds justice. What she has done merits punishment. She deserves stones.
But there’s a condition: You must be without sin.
He’s not saying only perfect people can judge others’ actions. No. We can all say that rape is evil. If you cheat on your wife, we can rightly say it’s wrong. If you stomp on a litter of puppies, we will all gasp in horror.
We don’t have to be perfect to judge that an act is wrong. But who has the right to hate, reject, and condemn their person? Who among us could survive if the same standard of perfection were applied to our own lives?
God’s Law, applied fairly, condemns us all. It doesn’t just condemn her kind of sin but our sins, too. Under the Law, we’re all doomed sinners in need of a miracle… or grace.
Not looking anyone in the eye. Allowing the Spirit to work in consciences. Rocks drop.
One by one, they each back out and go home. Beginning with the older ones. Wiser? More self-aware? Until it’s just two people left in the center of the temple court. Just her and Jesus. (v9)
Jesus said to her, “Woman, where are they? Everyone knew what you did. Did no one condemn you?” (v10)
She said, “No one is condemning me, Lord.” (v11)
What a feeling.
And then the words everything has been building toward: Jesus said, “I do not condemn you, either…
Let that sink in. She is guilty—that’s reality. And God does not condemn her—that’s also reality.
How can both be true?
Because not long after this encounter, Jesus himself would stand before another crowd. This time, he wouldn’t stoop down in the dust. He would be lifted up on a cross. The righteous dying for the unrighteous. The judgment that should have fallen on her, the judgment that should fall on you and me—all of it landed squarely on him.
When we believe this, when we trust Jesus for this, God’s Son can say, “I do not condemn you, because I was condemned in your place.”
This is the gospel. We are all guilty—that’s reality. Yet God does not condemn us. He bore our punishment. He deals with our sin on the cross—so He can deal with us in grace.
Jesus dealt with our sin on the cross—so He can deal with us in grace.
The proud walk away from Jesus, bearing the weight of their own guilty consciences.
Yet, those who come to Jesus, without making excuses, but trusting Jesus… He says, “You are forgiven. You are loved. There is no condemnation. Your relationship with God is forever secure—bought with God’s blood and sealed by the Spirit.”
Jesus’ final words to her are huge: “Go, and from now on sin no more.” (v11)
Notice the order. First: “I do not condemn you.” Then: “Sin no more.”
This is the transformative nature of God’s grace. Many people operate on the principle: “If you hurt me, I will condemn you.” More reasonable people might say, “If you change, if you stop hurting me, I won’t condemn you.”
Jesus says something far better: “I do not condemn you. Period. I never will. Now, from now on, sin no more.”
When you receive His love into your hearts through faith, something shifts. You don’t stay neutral. Love responds.
So how do we respond to the love God has given us?
Jesus tells us: Go. From now on, sin no more. Out of your experience of God’s love, sin no more.
For her, that meant leaving a specific relationship. Going home. Loving Jesus and committing to her husband and family. Walking away from what was wounding her and others.
For us, it’s just as concrete. Bringing to Jesus the sins that keep us from God, the ones we excuse, hide, and deny. The ones that hurt us and others.
Because Jesus doesn’t just forgive us. He sets us free… to love Him in the very places where we’ve been living in sin.
Justice and Mercy Fulfilled
So does Jesus side with justice or mercy?
The answer is both. He doesn’t choose between them—he fulfilled both perfectly. Mercy won because the woman walked away free. Justice won because Jesus gave his life on the cross.
We have a God who has it all wrapped up. Wherever you’re at, whatever you’re struggling with, whatever you’ve done—in Christ, there is no condemnation. Not because what you did was right, but because Jesus took the condemnation upon himself.
And when you believe that, when you trust that, you’re not more prone to sin again. You’re more prone to draw closer to Jesus, to let your sin humble you and drive you to the one who offers not just forgiveness, but life itself.