Sermon Notes — March 22, 2026
Due to technical difficulties, there is no video for Sunday, March 22, 2026 worship service.
“The Good News is: Rooted in Justice, Mercy, and Faithfulness (Rated R for Mature Audiences)”
John 8:2-11 (CEB)
Rev. Terry Carty
March 22, 2026
Footnotes
a. John 8:11 Or Lord
b. John 8:11 Critical editions of the Gk New Testament do not contain 7:53–8:11.
In the scripture story, the Scribes and the Pharisees had put Jesus in a pickle. There was no good answer he could give. Either he could support the ancient Law of Moses which called for her offense to have a death sentence, or he could support the Roman decree that no executions could be carried out without Roman sanction. Simply put, if Jesus says stone her, he appears to support an illegal execution. If he says don’t stone her, he appears to reject the Law of Moses. It is a lose-lose choice he is demanded to make.
Jesus bent down and used his finger to write on the ground. Maybe he was writing something for them to read, or maybe he was just diverting them while he got his mind around how he would respond. Jesus centered himself, straightened up, and responded to the Pharisees in a way that silenced them. Then he again focused on writing on the ground.
I remember when I was a child that I would often play in the dirt. (We didn’t have video games back then, so it was dirt,) I would make little roads and drive toy cars and trucks along them. But sometimes a smooth dirt surface became a canvas for me to draw shapes. I could use the flat of my hand to re-smooth the dirt and make a new canvas for drawing. I can still remember how calming it was for me.
It was much later in life that I found that drawing shapes in smoothed dirt or sand is a simple contemplative practice used in therapeutic and spiritual traditions. Perhaps Jesus used this gentle, tactile practice to quiet his mind and focus his attention. Perhaps he was writing the 10 commandments, or, maybe, writing the sins of the Pharisees. The scholars of the ages didn’t know. No one knows. Don’t be distracted today by this unexplained detail.
We are easily distracted. Lately, it only takes today’s sensational news story to take our minds off what was of importance to us yesterday. I offer this prayer for our centering, so that, like my childhood doodling in the dirt, it will calm us and help us focus on the meaning in the scripture.
[say prayer]
Holy God, when you speak, we don’t want to miss it. When you bend down and write in the dirt, when you move through the trees, when you wake with the dawn, when you tug on our heart, or whisper into our dreams, we don’t want to miss it. So today we pray, Quiet the steady stream of thoughts marching through our minds. Open up space in our hearts so that we can receive your word for us today With hope we pray. Amen.
Today’s scripture story has another distraction that I want to address too. If you look this scripture story up in your favorite translation, you will probably find a footnote that tells you, “Critical editions of the Greek New Testament” do not contain this story.
True, it was not included in some of the earliest Greek copies of John’s gospel. But the story itself is a part of earliest Christian tradition. The story may have “floated” a bit until scribes attached here in John. But it was included when Jerome translated the Greek into Latin in the 4th century and it was included 416 years ago in the English King James Version.
Today I use this story (fully part of our Bible) to tell you something good. The Good News of Jesus is rooted in Justice, Mercy, and Faithfulness.
Jesus, like the prophets before him, and like God of the Hebrew scriptures, came with a message of restoring people to faithfulness. Our scripture story today illustrates something that Jesus emphasizes all through the gospels – something that his disciples and followers continued to emphasize throughout the New Testament.
Jesus shouts his truth concisely in Matthew 23:23. “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe [your spices] and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. It is these you [should] have practiced without neglecting the other [requirements of Law].”
Jesus said that the ‘weightier matters of law’ are Justice…Mercy…Faith.
In the Matthew verse, the Koine Greek word eleos is translated to the English word ‘Mercy.’ That is linguistically a valid translation, but the Greek carries a much richer meaning than the way it translates in English. eleos refers to compassion that moves someone to act for another person’s good, especially when that person is suffering, weak, or undeserving. It is not just a feeling of pity — it is active mercy. In the New Testament, eleos often describes how God treats human beings:
God shows mercy to those who cannot save themselves
God’s mercy includes forgiveness, compassion, and restoration
You may remember that two weeks ago I defined ‘justice’ in terms of restoration of that which was broken – making it ‘right’ again. Here the just practice of restoration is paired with ‘mercy.’ Justice and mercy together help us understand ‘righteousness’ as justice that restores using forgiveness and compassion.
Getting back to our scripture story this morning, a woman was caught in an act that Mosaic law called for a death penalty. The death penalty is a final punitive action that leaves no alternative for making the broken right again. I gave this story an ‘R’ rating. But the ‘R’ was not for the allegation of adultery. The ‘R’ was for the imminent danger of being executed by being mercilessly pounded with stones until death – a deadly violence. The story is not so much about the woman as it is about finding a merciful way for justice to prevail.
Jesus paused, writing in the dirt, which took the crowd’s eyes away from the woman’s loss of dignity. Then he stood and turned the tables on the accusers: which of you is without sin? These are Jewish people who, like us, acknowledge that no one is without sin. In Jesus’ time, Jews had to make an annual sacrifice for the sins they were not even aware of. Today their sacrifice for unknown sins is a prayer offering.
When Jesus again leaned down and took his eyes off the accusers, they began to drop their rocks and walk away. No one was left to condemn her. A disastrous outcome was averted.
It was then that Jesus restored that which was broken. Justice paired with mercy prevailed. Jesus told her that she was free to go…and sin no more. She was given a clean slate.
You might wonder what happened to the woman – did she sin no more? Or did she continue to be adulterous? I say that it didn’t matter. Justice and mercy had prevailed, and her life was again her own to live. The greater question is what happened to the accusers? I like to think that they became a kinder, gentler village and that those particular scribes and Pharisees had more to think about than trapping Jesus. Were they living their lives faithfully by the ‘weightier matters of law’ that were more important?
Don’t get me wrong. I think that rules are important. Rules help us to know the boundaries of society. It is good to have rules that are good for all – I put my emphasis on the common good. But rules are often difficult. As we wrestle with our own rules, we should ask, “What is the most just, merciful, and faithful interpretation?”
Let me give you a real-life example. I heard a story about a pastor went to an interview hoping to become ordained an elder in the United Methodist Church. He had completed his seminary education, been assigned to pastor a church for three years, written papers, been examined by doctors, and was recommended by several people including the Personnel Committee at his church. This interview was his last requirement.
But he choked … he completely blew his interview.
This happens sometimes. It did not end his journey to ordination, but he was told ‘not yet.’ He was not ready yet. There are rules. He was given some requirements to accomplish before he could come back for another interview.
He was disappointed and confused. He felt rejected by the church. He questioned his call from God to be a minister. But the committee that interviewed him had done nothing wrong. They wanted him to pass, and there is a protocol for that. They made a plan with him to be successful. In the meantime, he would continue to be a fully authorized and functioning pastor.
But one week later, the Personnel Committee at his church…who had recommended him for ordination and, in December, had asked for him to be sent back to the church for another year… the Personnel Committee came to his office to tell him they had reconsidered. They had asked to have him removed as their pastor.
Now that was devastating! We expect the church to test and qualify our pastors, but this congregation went beyond the rules. They were punishing him, rejecting him, calling for him and his family to be moved away. This action did not ask, “What is the most just, merciful, and faithful interpretation?” It made me think of Jesus and his confrontation with the Scribes and Pharisees. His situation with his congregation was untenable. He was broken. He was in a pickle. When I heard it, I wanted to bend down and write in the dirt, hoping to see how I could help him.
I pray on behalf of people like him and on behalf of the United Methodist Church. I pray that District Superintendents and Bishops can work with them and their churches to find solutions that are just, merciful, and faithful.
We are confronted with situations regarding rules and our responses all the time. Just yesterday, I was racing around trying to get to as many of my grandsons’ ballgames as possible. They were spread out between Warner Park and Watertown (the other side of Lebanon). I confess that I broke some rules related to speed limits. But I didn’t think about that as I tried to merge into a slow-moving line of traffic on the interstate. The traffic had come to a stop, and I nosed into the right lane, but the car pulled forward to block me out. I smoldered as I waited for my next opportunity. As the line of traffic crawled forward though, I kept my eye on that car. I think that the driver realized the injustice of not letting me in. They acted to repair the brokenness by letting several other drivers in ahead of them. Justice was served and they began to act with mercy. I was satisfied.
But I still had a lesson to learn. I pulled into the parking lot at the Warner Park ballpark and was met by several cars that were driving out the wrong way on the one-way drive! How dare they! There are rules here - arrows painted on the pavement! I rolled down my window and pointed angrily toward the direction they should be driving while mouthing “wrong way!”
By the time I got parked, I was repentant. I had just broken the concept that I would preach about today: The good news is that Jesus said the ‘weightier matters of law’ are Justice…Mercy…Faith. I had tried to enforce justice that was not paired with mercy. I had broken my faith in God of Grace.
We all wrestle with our rules. We often fail. But occasionally we succeed. Occasionally we figuratively pause and bend down to write in the dirt. When that happens, as we wrestle with our own rules, we should ask, “What is the most just, merciful, and faithful interpretation?”
May it be so, amen.