This is a Trap

This is a Trap

John 8:1-6, New International Version

8 1 but Jesus went to the Mount of Olives.

2 At dawn he appeared again in the temple courts, where all the people gathered around him, and he sat down to teach them. 3 The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group 4 and said to Jesus, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. 5 In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?” 6 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

Sermonic Moves:  

1. Traps often appear in the midst of right-doing and ministerial focus; the appearance of traps are often a consequence of the agitation that authentic anointing produces in the arrogant and envious.  These scribes and Pharisees want to see Jesus fail.
2. Traps sadly treat the vulnerable as pawns and not as persons deserving of respect, assistance and compassion; we all have human fragility to contend with and that fragility should not be exploited for the sake of personal gain.  A woman who presumably was caught in adultery with a man, who too was the offender but not apprehended, was used by these men to expose what they hoped would be a weak point in Jesus’s understanding of justice and law.  
3. Traps are handled best not by immediate and swift engagement, but by a steady focus of the ministerial foci of liberation, life and light, Jesus ain’t got time to be bothered with trappers.  Instead of engaging the trappers, Jesus writes on the ground.