#CHURCHTALK 19: How Jesus handled sexual sin [Part 1]

First-century Jews who received Jesus' firsthand teaching did not have much of a problem with fornication than they did with adultery. The reason was that they typically got married early: shortly after reaching puberty.

Girls typically got hooked at 13 or 14, while the boys usually got married in their late teens. Also, a wide age difference between spouses was disliked culturally.

Take Jesus' parents, Joseph and Mary for instance. The Bible does not clearly mention how old they were when they got married and there is no verifiable data about it. But, a University of Dayton publication says that it is believed that they both were in their teens when Jesus was born, around 18 and 16 respectively. Some even say Mary was younger than that (about 13).

While it is suspected that Joseph had died by the time Jesus was 30, since he is not mentioned along with the other members of his family, that is not to say that he did not possibly die young. People die at all ages.

So, early marriage among first-century Jews literally ensured that fornication was never really an issue to be bothered about. However, adultery was, since it is possible that as spouses grew, they probably grew apart and wanted other people than their partners. So, Jesus never really spoke about fornication, but he did about adultery.

In the gospel of John chapter 8, the scribes and pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery to Jesus, to secure his approval for her to be stoned to death according to the law of Moses, or to have conclusive evidence of His disregard for the law (a crime for which He could then be arrested and tried by them).

John 8:3-5 [KJV] 
3. And the scribes and Pharisees brought unto him a woman taken in adultery; and when they had set her in the midst,
4. They say unto him, Master, this woman was taken in adultery, in the very act.
5. Now Moses in the law commanded us, that such should be stoned: but what sayest thou?

The response of Jesus in this encounter is so profoundly instructive.

His first response was to ignore the woman's accusers and take some time to assess the situation by distracting Himself.

John 8:6 [KJV] 
This they said, tempting him, that they might have to accuse him. But Jesus stooped down, and with his finger wrote on the ground, as though he heard them not.

When we meet or hear about people hooked on a sexual sin like fornication, masturbation or adultery, rather than jump into conclusions and entertain inuendos, it is wiser to be silent, take a step back and assess the situation properly first before saying a word. Don't be too quick to make a comment.

But, when they pestered Him further, His second response was to take a hard swipe at the hypocrisy of the woman's accusers, questioning their motive for exposing and seeking judgment on the woman in the first place by asking them a deep soul-searching question: Assess your own self. 

John 8:7 [KJV] 
So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself, and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.

Their hypocrisy was glaring and shameful! Moses, whom they were quoting, was deliberately being quoted in part by them, in order to serve their selfish aims; and the Lord wouldn't stand for that.

Twice, Moses gave commandment about adultery, and on both occasions, he was harder on the male adulterer, and commanded that both he and the woman involved be put to death. He said that was the only way they could keep Israel free from adulterous behavior. (Again, this suggests that adultery was indeed such a big issue among Jews that they needed a capital punishment to checkmate it).

Leviticus 20:10 [KJV] 
And the man that committeth adultery with another man's wife, even he that committeth adultery with his neighbour's wife, the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death.

Deuteronomy 22:22 [KJV] 
If a man be found lying with a woman married to an husband, then they shall both of them die, both the man that lay with the woman, and the woman: so shalt thou put away evil from Israel.

But, here were these scribes and pharisees, shaming, parading and seeking the death penalty on the woman only. Where was the man in their warped sense of justice and judgment?

Jesus, being the God of justice and judgment, wouldn't have that. So, He questioned their true motives by simply asking them to cast the first stone at the woman if they themselves had never sinned. The result was as expected: they were pricked in their conscience because of their own faults, dropped their stones and left ashamed, while the woman remained with Jesus uncondemned and unjudged.

The scripture doesn't say, but I assume that not all of the scribes and pharisees who dropped their stones and left did so because their conscience was pricked for their own sexual sins. I think the stark reality of their hypocritical action became embarrassingly evident to a lot of them.

When you see someone who is hooked on one sexual sin or the other, rather than seek their condemnation and judgment, first check whether you are whole yourself. Only God is permitted to judge, since He alone is just and perfect. But, if you must judge others, ensure that you look at the issue through the lens of your own life.

As the saying goes, "He that cometh to equity must come with clean hands". The scribes were clearly demanding equity with dirty hands. Make sure that you do not do the same when next you encounter a person who is into a sexual sin.

So, Jesus' second response was to the accusers, to draw their attention to their own failings. In doing this, He aimed to save the woman from condemnation. And He did.

This is instructive to us today. That you do not commit fornication or adultery does not mean that you do not masturbate. And that you do not do any of these actions does not mean that you do not lust after them in your heart or fall into any other sin at all. And Jesus said that if you lust after them in your heart, you've done them already. While taking aim to shoot at the failings of others, please make sure that one barrel of the shotgun is pointing at you too. That way, you'll think more clearly.

And even if you are clean from all these, remember that judgment and condemnation belong to God alone. You should not give it. In fact, one mark of those who have been saved is that they are more often unwilling to judge a sinner; because they know too well the captivity of sin and it's bondage, and they remember that it took God's grace for they themselves to be saved from it.

Let love lead.

Please join us again next week for the concluding part of this subject matter as we will be talking about three (3) more responses of Jesus to sexual sin.


Chukwubuikem Paul Anunaso is a CNBC Africa opinion writer and civil/structural engineer in Lagos, Nigeria. He is also the editor of The Paul Anunaso Blog, and can be reached at anunaso.cp@gmail.com

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