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What Did Jesus Write On The Temple Ground In Jerusalem?
The Holy Bible has many areas where
things are often merely implied, sometimes left unsaid,
and at other times, a test to your powers of reasoning.
One such area that has intrigued Bible readers over
the centuries is the question: "What did Jesus
write on the Temple ground in Jerusalem?"
The scene is early morning in the Temple.
Jesus has just come down from the Mount of Olives, and
is teaching the people gathered in the Temple precincts.
The scribes and Pharisees drag in a woman, caught in
the very act of adultery, and shove her in front of
Jesus.
"Teacher," they said to Jesus,
"this woman was caught in the very act of committing
adultery. In our Law, Moses commanded that such a woman
must be stoned to death. Now, what do you say?"
( John 8:4-5 )
Their words underlined the fact that
the Mosaic law was very clear to all of them. The punishment
for adultery was death by stoning. Normally, they would
have wasted no time giving vent to their sadistic nature.
But, these guys had it in for Jesus, and they saw a
golden opportunity to 'kill two birds with one stone'!
The scribes and Pharisees had caught
the woman red-handed and knew the law thoroughly, but
they were putting Jesus in a dreadful dilemma. If he
endorsed the Mosaic law, his teaching of love, mercy
and compassion would not only be dented, but he would
seriously be challenging the prevalent Roman law, which
forbade any Jew to pass, or carry out, a death sentence
on anyone.
On the other hand, if he said that the
woman should be pardoned, he would not only be breaking
the Mosaic law, but he would also be declaring "open
season" for adultery!
Caught on the horns of this dilemma,
"...he bent over and wrote on the ground with his
finger." ( John 8:6 ) The Bible doesn't tell us
what Jesus wrote on the ground with his finger, so it
gives rise to different possibilities and interpretations.
Was he simply doodling and playing for
time while he pondered on the dilemma before him? Again,
since Jesus always prayed to God the Father for guidance,
was he buying time till he got his Divine answer?
It is suggested that Jesus was indeed
playing for time, while he deliberately closed his ears
to the scribes and Pharisees to force them to keep on
repeating their charges, so that they would expose their
sadistic nature to themselves.
Another interesting suggestion is that
Jesus was filled with such a deep sense of embarrassment
and confusion, at the naked cruelty of the very teachers
of the Law, that he stooped down to write with his finger
on the ground to avoid meeting the lustful eyes of the
scribes and Pharisees, as well as the woman's shame
of guilt.
However, the most plausible explanation
would be, that Jesus was confronting the self-righteous
scribes and Pharisees with a record of their own sins.
Jesus bent down to write on the ground the sins of the
very men who were accusing the woman.
But they, in their desire to destroy
Jesus, did not read the writing on the ground. He had
to straighten up and remind them: "...Whichever
one of you has committed no sin may throw the first
stone at her." ( John 8:7 ) He then bent down again
to write on the ground the next batch of their sins.
God, in His Infinite Wisdom, has designed
a man's hand such, that every time he points accusingly
at his brother, he will have three of his own fingers
pointing back at him! So, although we don't actually
know what Jesus wrote on the dusty Temple ground in
Jerusalem that day, you can be sure that whatever it
was, it certainly told the scribes and Pharisees that
they were "hypocrites"!
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