RSV ~ John 8 Notes
Jn 8:6 | ISB Notes
to test him: The Pharisees are not seeking legal advice from Jesus. Their question in 8:5 is a trap designed to incriminate or discredit him. (1) If Jesus authorizes the stoning, the Pharisees will report him to the Romans for criminal wrongdoing, for the Jews were not permitted to administer capital punishment under Roman rule (18:31). (2) If Jesus forbids the stoning, the Pharisees will discredit him as a false messiah who contradicts Moses, for the Torah classifies adultery as a capital crime (Lev 20:10; Deut 22:22).
Jn 8:7 | ISB Notes
Let him who is without sin: Many popular interpretations of this verse are unworkable because they lead Jesus straight into the trap set by the Pharisees in 8:4-5. (1) Some argue that Jesus is overturning the death penalty for adultery prescribed in the Torah. This could not have been so because the Pharisees would have immediately discredited him for contradicting Moses. In fact, Jesus is not addressing the status or legality of the death penalty at all; he is simply dodging the Phariseesâ trap. (2) Others argue that Jesus permits the adulteress to walk free because no witnesses are present to testify against her. This could not have been so, first, because it wrongly implies that Jesus would have been caught off guard if the witnesses who caught the adulteress in the act did come forward and, second, because it wrongly implies that Jesus would then have authorized the stoning. (3) Others argue that Jesus brings the examination to a halt because the womanâs partner is absent and so the process of incrimination cannot proceed. This could not have been so, first, because of a clear precedent in the OT where Susanna is falsely condemned for adultery without first establishing who and where her partner was (Dan 13:34-41) and, second, because it wrongly implies that Jesus would have authorized the stoning if the womanâs partner had eventually been found. Against these views, it must be stressed that Jesus eludes the trap entirelyâhe neither authorizes the stoning (incriminating himself) nor contradicts Moses (compromising his teaching). The genius of his response is that it turns the tables on the Pharisees and forces them into their own trap. Although the Pharisees probably considered themselves sinless (like Saul, Phil 3:5-6), and thus qualified to administer the stoning, they realize that executing the adulteress will bring Romeâs reprisal on them instead of Jesus, who is not truly authorizing the stoning because he does not truly think the Pharisees are without sin (9:40-41). On the other hand, by restraining themselves and walking away, the Pharisees are made to look like sinners and compromisers in the eyes of the crowd.
Jn 8:8 | ISB Notes
wrote ⌠on the ground: What Jesus inscribes in the dirt is unknown but probably symbolic.
⢠The gesture may recall Jer 17:13, a warning that those who forsake the Lord âshall be written in the earthâ because they have rejected the âfountain of living waterâ. The Pharisees fall into this category for rejecting Jesus, who has just been identified as the source of âliving waterâ (7:38).
⢠Morally (St. Bede, Hom. in Evan.): Christ, who twice bends down to write on the ground, teaches us to bend low in humility to examine ourselves both before and after addressing the faults of our neighbor. If his example becomes our practice, we will avoid as he did the extremes of being unjust and unmerciful toward others.
Jn 8:9 | ISB Notes
the eldest: i.e., the wisest, who were the first to detect the brilliance of Jesusâ reply (8:7).
Jn 8:11 | ISB Notes
do not sin again: Jesus neither condemns the woman nor condones her sins. He rather forgives her past and challenges her to live a life of purity in the future (see also 5:14).
Jn 8:12 | ISB Notes
the light of the world: Christ enlightens the world with truth as the golden candelabras illuminated the Temple courts with fire during the feast of Tabernacles.
The location of Jesus as he delivers these words supports this symbolism: he is standing in the âtreasuryâ adjacent to the Court of Women (8:20), precisely where the lamp-lighting ceremony was recently conducted. See note on Jn 7:2.
⢠Several OT themes prepared the way for Jesus, the âtrue lightâ (1:9). (1) Ex 13:21 describes how Yahweh, enthroned in a pillar of fire, enlightened the way for Israel to travel through the wilderness toward the Promised Land. (2) Ps 119:105 describes the Law of the Lord as a light for our path. (3) Is 42:6 and 49:6 call Israel to be a light to the nations.
Jn 8:15 | ISB Notes
according to the flesh: i.e., on the basis of limited human reason. See note on Jn 6:63.
Jn 8:17 | ISB Notes
it is written: Deut 17:6 and 19:15 require two or three witnesses to establish credible legal testimony in court.
Jn 8:20 | ISB Notes
his hour: See topical essay: The âHourâ of Jesus at Jn 4.
Jn 8:23 | ISB Notes
from below: Not from hell but from the earth. Jesus comes from heaven above (3:31).
Jn 8:24 | ISB Notes
you will die: An assurance not simply of bodily i death, which is the fate of everyone, but of spiritual death, which irrevocably separates sinners from God for all eternity.
I am: Recalls the name of Yahweh revealed to Moses at the burning bush. See note on Jn 6:20.
⢠Jesus stresses in this context the importance of believing (8:24) and knowing (8:28) that he is the great âI amâ. This evokes Is 43:10-11, where witnesses from Israel come to âknowâ and âbelieveâ that the Lord is truly the God of their forefathers, the sovereign âI amâ.
Jn 8:28 | ISB Notes
lifted up the Son: i.e., in his Passion, Resurrection, and Ascension. .
Jn 8:32 | ISB Notes
truth will make you free: Jesus embodies divine truth (14:6) and has come to bear witness to the truth (18:37). Acceptance of him liberates us from the slavery of sin, ignorance, and deception (8:12; CCC 2466).
Jn 8:33-47 | ISB Notes
The exchange between Jesus and the Jewish authorities turns around the question of family identity. Jesus is the Son of his heavenly Father, who extends the gift of sonship to those who accept his word (1:12; 8:36). Those claiming that Abraham is their father are denied the status of Abrahamic sonship, not because they have no genealogical ties to the patriarch, but because they do not imitate his faith (8:39-40). They are rather sons of Satan, for the character traits of their father, the devil, are manifest in them as they reject the word of Jesus and seek to kill him (8:40, 44).
Jn 8:33 | ISB Notes
never been in bondage: An almost ridiculous response. Throughout biblical history, Israel had been enslaved by the Egyptians, subjugated by the Philistines, Assyrians, Babylonians, and Persians, and was now in the grip of Imperial Rome. These forms of political domination were merely symptoms of Israelâs slavery to sin.
Jn 8:34 | ISB Notes
slave to sin: Man is powerless to break free from the devil and the bondage of his own weaknesses. This predicament entangles everyone, Israelites and Gentiles al
ike (Rom 3:9). Christ alone can liberate slaves of the devil and make them sons of the Father (Gal 4:3-7) (CCC 549, 1741).
Jn 8:35 | ISB Notes
The slave ⌠the son: Jesus alludes to the story of Abrahamâs two sons, Ishmael and Isaac, to demonstrate that genealogical descent from the patriarch does not guarantee the blessing of divine sonship in the New Covenant.
⢠Ishmael was born to Abraham by a slave woman, Hagar (Gen 16:15), while Isaac was born to Abraham by his lawful wife, Sarah (Gen 21:3). Though both were the nat
ural sons of Abraham, Ishmael was later expelled from Abrahamâs family, disinherited, and excluded from the blessings of the covenant (Gen 17:19-21; 21:10-14). Jesus applies this narrative to the sons of Abraham in his own day: Unless they accept him in faith and become sons of God (1:12), they will follow the way of Ishmael, being driven out from the house of Abraham and cut off from the blessings promised to his descendants (Gal 4:21-31).
Jn 8:44 | ISB Notes
your father the devil: A bold indictment of Israelâs leadership. They are sons neither of Abraham (8:40) nor of God the Father (8:42), but are the offspring of a murderer, liar, and deceiver (CCC 391, 2482).
Jn 8:46 | ISB Notes
convicts me of sin?: Jesus is completely unstained by sin, as is his conscience (Heb 4:15; 1 Pet 2:22; CCC 578).
Jn 8:48 | ISB Notes
a Samaritan: An insult implying that Jesus was born of mixed racial parentage and followed a deviant form of religion. See note on Jn 4:7-42. have a demon: A common charge leveled at Jesus (7:20; 10:20; Mt 9:34; 12:24).
⢠Morally (St. Gregory the Great, Homily 18): Jesus sets the example of perfect composure in the face of insults, since he denied the charge of being a demoniac but did not counter it with an abusive response. If Jesus did not avenge himself, then neither should we return injury for injury when reviled by our neighbor.
Jn 8:51 | ISB Notes
never see death: Not that Jesus exempts believers from the experience of bodily death, but that he saves their souls from spiritual death by the gift of eternal life (Rom 6:23).
Jn 8:56 | ISB Notes
to see my day: Probably a reference to the events in Gen 22:1-18.
⢠(1) When Abraham nearly sacrifices Isaac as a holocaust, only to receive him back alive, the patriarch witnessed a preview of the Father surrendering his Son to death and receiving him back in the Resurrection (Heb 11:1719). (2) In response to this act of faith, Yahweh rewarded Abraham with a sworn covenant promise that one of his descendants would arise to bless all nations (Gen 22:16-18). This oath is fulfilled in the dying and rising of Jesus, who offers blessings to every nation (Mt 28:18-20; Gal 3:14; CCC 706).
Jn 8:57 | ISB Notes
not yet fifty years old: Jesus is only in his early thirties (Lk 3:23).
Jn 8:58 | ISB Notes
before Abraham was, I am: Jesus takes for himself the divine name of Yahweh, âI amâ (Ex 3:14). He thus claims to be one with God (10:30), whose life in eternity has neither beginning nor end. The Pharisees hear this claim loud and clear and, thinking it outrageous, stand ready to stone him for blasphemy (8:59; Lev 24:16) (CCC 590). See notes on Jn 1:1 and 6:20.