Come, Follow Me Sunday School Lesson

John 7 begins just before the Feast of Tabernacles – 1 of the 3 main Jewish festivals

          - Most joyous, basically a harvest festival
          - Jesus’ family goes with out him, but he goes up secretly
Jesus teaches in the temple, what do these statements teach about Christ’s purpose:

“If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink” 7:37-39 – Eternal life through the atonement and comfort, gives life purpose

“The light of the world” 8:12 – eternal perspective, cast out darkness, stronger than evil

“Before Abraham was, I am” 8:58 – Jesus as Jehovah, eternal nature of the plan of salvation

“The Son of God” – 9:8-10 – Our divine nature, divinity of man’s spirit

“The door” 10:7-9 – there is an open but orderly way to salvation

“The good shepherd” 10:11-14 – protection, guidance, watchful, individual care

Obedience then the lesson 7:16-17 – We gain a testimony as we live the gospel, not the other way

Know Christ, know the Father 8:19 – We come to know the Father as we come to know Christ

 

Woman taken in adultery

Bruce R. McConkie says why this seemed like the perfect plan: 

1. If he agrees with the law of Moses:

- He would anger the people, who generally considered death for    

   adultery archaic and extreme

-  “Run counter to the prevailing civil law by prescribing what Rome  

    (prohibited)”

 2. If he disagrees with the law of Moses, he would be accused of: 

- Perverting the law and advocating disrespect of and departure from it.

The woman was dragged to Jesus and he was asked for his judgment

Not his jurisdiction, this was a legal matter, supreme court justice the Pope for advice

Lev. 20:10 – “And the man that committeth adultery with another man’s wife, even he that committeh adultery with his neighbor’s wife, the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death.”

Only the woman was brought to for judgment, violating the law.

The law was broken in the adultery, but the law was not followed in her prosecution

This would be like a cop arresting a woman at a traffic stop for an expired license. Was the woman wrong? Clearly. Was the law broken by her? Of course. But instead of following protocol, doesn’t read her her rights, doesn’t let me have a phone call, doesn’t book or process her, just puts her in his patrol car and drives straight to the court house, bursts in on the judge and demands that he stops whatever he is doing to sentence her.

The law of Moses not only dictated the law, but also dictated the execution of the law

An article written by a Messianic Jew and Rabbi says, “whenever someone was caught in adultery, both the man and the woman would be brought to the Nicanor gates and accused… However, in this instance they only brought the woman. This was a violation of the Oral Law of God. Strike one.”

The second requirement is that broken law and the names of the accused be written on a non-permanent surface. The floor of the temple was a common place to do this because of the dust on the floor from people’s shoes.

When Jesus stoops down and writes on the floor, he isn’t making stick figures, he isn’t ignoring them, he isn’t bored, he is obeying the law.

“By doing this (writing in the dust of the temple floor), Jesus showed these accusers that THEY were not keeping the law, but He would anyway. Strike two.”  

Jesus’ answer “he that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her. She was guilty of sin, but so were the rest of them, and because Jesus was the one who paid for everyone’s sins, he was the only one who could decide her punishment and he was inclined to free her with a command to repent.

From the JST we learn that she did repent “And the woman glorified God from that hour, and believed on his name.” 

 

Man born blind