Wednesday, March 16, 2016

In an earlier visit I referred to John 8 where the religious leaders brought a woman to Jesus who was caught in adultery, asking Him if He thought she should be stoned. At first “Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger.” After they kept on questioning Him He straightened up and responded by indirectly answering them, “If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.” Then He “again stooped down and wrote on the ground.” This was such a direct/indirect answer, putting the focus on the accusers, rather than on the woman. The result: every last one of her accusers left the scene without even picking up a stone. His act of bending down and writing on the ground with His finger was another communication skill – body language. We are not told what He wrote on the ground, but bending down and not looking at them was His way of saying first, “Let me think about it.” Then after saying, “If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her,” He again stooped down and wrote on the ground. This time, His body language said, “Now I want you to think about it and act on your conclusion.” The convergence of His body language, His statement and His silence, exposed their disparaging attempt to destroy this woman and trap Jesus in a compromise. His body language forced the accusers to look at themselves and acknowledge their own guilt by embarrassingly walking away. That is powerful!