Welcome to Day 2150 of Wisdom-Trek, and thank you for joining me.

This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom

The Gospel of John – 18 – Letters in the Sand – Daily Wisdom

The Gospel of John – Part 3 Authentication of the Word – Letters in the Sand

Today we continue our series, the Good News according to John the Apostle. Last we saw that the religious leaders in Jerusalem had enough of Jesus, and as He is teaching in the temple, we saw Jesus in the Lion’s Den. Today, our scripture is John 8:1-11. John 8 contains one of the most recognizable stories in the Bible: the woman who was caught in adultery and brought before Jesus. It is a powerful story. You will resonate with this story if you have ever felt condemned, ashamed, or exposed as a failure. However, we must address several other things before looking at the account. First, most newer Bibles have a note before the text: The most ancient Greek manuscripts do not include John 7:53-8:11. This troubles many people. Some feel these versions are trying to edit the Bible or engage in what we call today “revisionist history.” However, that is not what is happening at all. These scholars are not guilty of not respecting the Word of God. This note is there because they absolutely respect the Bible as the Word of God! As archaeology continues to unearth more and more copies of the Bible, some of those copies are earlier manuscripts (or copies) than previously existed. Generally speaking, the older the manuscript, the closer it is to the original that God Himself inspired. In this case, the oldest manuscripts are missing this account, indicating the story was added later. However, other early manuscripts do have the story in John. Therefore, the note on the text warns us: Be careful about holding this text above other texts because it may be a later addition. These verses are equal to the rest of the gospel account. We know it was an early account, which seems consistent with the character we see of Jesus throughout the rest of the Bible (and John’s gospel). So it is consistent with the rest of the scripture. And we do not have any reason to discount the story other than that it is not in the earliest manuscripts. So, though it is important to be cautious, we can approach this story as genuine history, not a later fabrication. Then they all went home, but Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. At dawn, he appeared again in the temple courts, where all the people gathered around him, and he sat down to teach them. The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group and said to Jesus, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. In the Law, Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now, what do you say?” They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him. But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground. At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time,/ the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there. Jesus straightened up and asked her, woman, where are they? Has no one...