Hope for the Broken

September 10, 2025

There is a story of a woman in the scriptures who knew exactly what it felt like to be broken and in need of restoration. It takes place in the Gospel of John as Jesus is traveling to the temple to teach. As he sits down with the crowd, his teaching is interrupted by an angry mob of religious leaders who are dragging a woman along with them.

…but Jesus went to the Mount of Olives.

At dawn he appeared again in the temple courts, where all the people gathered around him, and he sat down to teach them. The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group and said to Jesus, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?” They were using this question as a trap, to have a basis for accusing him.

-John 8:1-6a

The woman in this story is brought before everyone with the accusation that she had been caught in the act of adultery. She was cheating on her husband with someone else, and these men apprehended her in the middle of the scandal.

How embarrassing. How humiliating.

She would have been fully aware that the consequence for this sin, according to Mosaic Law, was for her to be stoned to death.

This is what brokenness looks like. A broken marriage. A broken woman. A broken reputation. This is rock bottom.

The woman is being used as a pawn in the religious leaders’ plan to rid themselves of Jesus. Here, sin is being exploited in front of everyone to harm Jesus. This woman is caught in the middle, and her sin is exposed.

Do you remember the snowy winters of your childhood? I remember waking up and watching the television as the names of schools which were closed due to the snow running across the bottom of the screen. It was so exciting to see the name of our school click by.

I would put on boots, warm clothes, and gloves to go play outside for hours. It was inevitable that slowly my fingers would grow cold and numb and force me back inside.

Removing the gloves and placing my hands by the fire was so painful. They would tingle and burn. But over time, that exposure to the heat would thaw my cold skin until it felt warm once again.

Our sin being laid bare is one of the worst and best feelings possible. On one hand, it is horrible because everyone knows the truth about you. On the other hand, it is wonderful because, finally, everyone knows the truth about you. It’s like thawing fingers from cold winter snow; as the pain subsides, there is the warmth of a fresh start.

The woman in our scripture is caught in adultery and is now brought before Jesus. She had lost hope that her fate would avoid a death by stoning. But then Jesus intervenes.

But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” Again, he stooped down and wrote on the ground.

At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there. 

-John 8:6b-9

Rather than agree to this woman’s death on account of the law, Jesus does something different. The Bible says that he stoops down and begins to write in the sand with his finger. We are not told exactly what he is writing. Perhaps it is the names of the men who had brought the woman, perhaps it is a list of their sins, or perhaps it is a list of hers.

Regardless, when pushed by the mob for an answer, Jesus stands up and tells them they are free to proceed, but the one among them without sin should be the first to throw a stone.

We receive hope amid our brokenness when we acknowledge that we all have fallen short and all have sinned before God.

The beauty of the fellowship of the Church is that we can extend forgiveness and grace to one another because we are all broken people learning each day how to live under the grace of God.

Jesus is teaching the religious group a lesson about grace. If you cannot throw a stone at this woman, it is because you are guilty of breaking the law yourself.

So, these men, one by one, drop their stones and go home. I love the details we are given here. First, the older men leave. Their wisdom causes them to understand the lesson first. Eventually the younger, and perhaps more stubborn, men follow.

As the dust settles, it is only Jesus and the woman left.

Jesus straightened up and asked her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?”

“No one, sir,” she said.

“Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.”

-John 8:10-11

I can imagine Jesus looking at this woman with such compassion and love. For the first time in this woman’s brokenness, she must have felt hope. Jesus is the only one in this story who does not condemn her for her mistakes. He is the only one who does not want to punish her for her wrongdoing. Rather, Jesus offers her grace.

Jesus clearly does not condone the woman’s sin. In fact, the last words he speaks to her are “go and sin no more.” Jesus cares about how we live our lives. He cares about the decisions we make that leave us broken. Jesus wants to expose the sin, but not for the same reasons as the religious leaders.

Pastor Steven Furtick says it this way, “God exposes sin, not to shame us, but to change us.”

Jesus exposes sin (not just things like adultery, but the sin of pride, greed, lust, selfishness, lack of faith, even worry) for a different reason. He wants to make us whole. He wants to take the broken pieces and put them back together.

This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: “Go down to the potter’s house, and there I will give you my message.” So, I went down to the potter’s house, and I saw him working at the wheel. But the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands; so, the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him.

Then the word of the Lord came to me. He said, “Can I not do with you, Israel, as this potter does?” declares the Lord. “Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand…”

-Jeremiah 18:1-6

When we come to Christ, confess our blunders at His feet, God grabs hold of us, forgives us our sins, and makes us new. This is God’s grace at work.

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!

-1 Corinthians 5:17

If you find yourself broken today. Jesus meets you here in this place, and remember, where Jesus is, hope abounds.

The LORD is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.

-Psalm 34:18