The story found in John 8 regarding the woman caught in the act of adultery is a good illustration of real time justice.  Apparently added to the book of John at a date later than the original manuscript, the story highlights the response of the woman’s community to her law breaking. While  this story has been studied primarily to show how the leaders of the temple were trying to trap Jesus, it also is an example of how justice may be abused.  There were laws against adultery but they required witnesses. None were forthcoming.  It was just as illegal for the male participant in adultery as for the female.  Why is the man not included in the stoning? Those bringing judgment were using a situation that they knew would draw Jesus’ attention without regard to the one condemned.  The woman really did not matter.

It seems we still are doing this today.  We throw stones of word and deed at one another trying to prove who is right and who is wrong about the issues of the day while all but ignoring who is in need of justice or who is caught in the web of our society’s injustice or what is precipitating injustice. 

While this story may be a later insertion, it seems to fit snuggly between first, the report of a dispute between the ruling authorities of the temple and the temple police. The  police are sympathetic to Jesus’ teachings; the authorities are threatened by them. However, Nicodemus is quoted as saying “Our law does not judge people without first giving them a hearing to find out what they are doing, does it?” (John 7:51) And then we have the story of the woman caught in adultery.  A story that clearly indicates the answer, in action at least, to Nicodemus’ question: society does judge without a hearing.

The next scene is Jesus’ being confronted for being a witness about himself.  Jesus responds by saying, “You judge by human standards; I judge no one. Yet even if I do judge, my judgment is valid; for it is not I alone who judge, but I and the Father who sent me.” (John 8:15,16)

Two witnesses are here. But Jesus is talking about more than individual judgment, oversight of whether individuals are or are not obeying the letter of the law. Jesus is talking about justice—God’s justice. Judgment has a limited focus; justice is panoramic and multifaceted.