A Children’s Sermon on John 8:1-11 — The Woman Taken in Adultery

Preface for Pastors and Parents

Here’s my children’s sermon on John 8:1-11. One of my faithful Patreon supporters emailed to ask if I had written a children’s sermon on John 8:1-11, and I had to say no. 

I’ve almost exclusively written them on the Gospel readings in the Revised Common Lectionary. This passage never gets used by the Lectionary.

What does that tell me? I think it actually indicates how important this scene from Jesus’ life was to the earliest Christians. It was perhaps told orally so often that everybody thought it was in the Gospels. Then as they copied the Gospels time and again, some scribe thought, “Hey! That great story is missing! What’s up with that? Now where was it supposed to go?” And he slipped it in. 

Eventually John 8 seemed the right place, so it stuck. However it came to be, it’s there now, and it is worthy of every Christian’s close attention.

But what to do with that pesky word “adultery” in a children’s sermon on John 8:1-11? I certainly don’t want to explain it to the 4- to 10-year-olds in a Sunday service.

Let’s see…

A Children’s Sermon on John 8:1-11

Good morning kids! I am so happy to see you here in worship today. Thanks for coming up to hear the children’s sermon.

One night, Jesus and his friends had camped out on the Mount of Olives. The next morning, Jesus got up and said. “I’m going for a walk. See you later.”

“Where are you going?” they asked. 

“To the Temple,” he said. 

They called out, “Maybe we’ll see you there later on.” 

And I suppose they must have, because somebody wrote down this story.

At the Temple

When Jesus got near the Temple doors, people crowded around him. So he started teaching them about the Kingdom of God. 

But then a noisy group of men came down the road. When they got closer everybody moved out of their way. 

Jesus noticed that they were bringing a woman with them, holding her tightly by the arms. She looked really upset, like she wanted to get away.

“Jesus!” said the man leading the group. “We were hoping to find you here. We brought this … this woman!”

“I see that,” Jesus said. He tried to catch the woman’s eye, but she wouldn’t look at him. She just looked at the ground. 

Jesus got down on his knees and started writing something in the dirt. She was looking down, so she saw the first words were “In the”. 

“Well?” said the man. “We caught this woman!”

Jesus didn’t look up. As he kept on writing, he said, “Well maybe you should let her go. I think you are hurting her arms.” 

The woman could see that the next word he wrote was “image”. 

So the men did let the woman go. They gave her a shove, so she stood between Jesus and their group.

“I said,” the man went on, “we caught her with the man who lives next door to her. They were doing something God’s law forbids. The Law of God says we should kill her by throwing rocks at her. That’s what we are gonna do!” 

Jesus had just finished writing “of God”. So he stood up, dusted off his hands. 

The woman thought about what he had written: “In the image of God.”

No Man, No Rocks

 Jesus said, “You said she was with the man who lives next door to her. Where is he?”

The men shrugged and looked at their feet.

“Well, he’s a friend of some of the guys here,” said the leader. “But this woman is guilty. We caught her.”

“Yeah, you mentioned that,” said Jesus. “Seems like you only want to obey God if the person you punish is not a friend.”

Nobody spoke.

“So did you bring the rocks?” Jesus asked.

The men looked at each other and shrugged. Their leader said, “No. We, um…”

Jesus interrupted. “Well if you’re going to do what that law says, you’re going to need rocks. Why don’t you go away and come back when you’re really ready.”

All the men shuffled off. But someone shouted “We’ll be back!”

And Jesus got back on his knees and started writing, slowly, in the dirt again. The woman watched him write “You shall love”.

The woman said “Are you going to let them throw rocks at me?” He didn’t speak. She started to cry.

She saw Jesus write “your neighbor”. Then he said “I don’t know. Maybe they won’t come back. But tell me: did you do what they said you did?”

She sniffled, but before she could answer, the men returned, with big rocks in their hands. “We’re back!” the leader said. “And we’re ready to do what God’s law says we should do!” 

She saw Jesus finish writing “as yourself”. She thought about that one too: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

Jesus stood up, dusted himself off.

A Couple Questions

He said, “I’m afraid you will have to wait a minute. I’ve got a question for you. Is this maybe the first time you’ve tried to obey God’s law?”

“Why do you ask?” said the leader. 

“Because it sounds like maybe you’re new at this,” Jesus said. “Anyway, we need to make sure you’re the right people to obey this particular law.”

“Oh come on,” said the leader. “Everyone should always obey God’s law. And we never broke the law she broke.

“Hmm… I wonder,” said Jesus. 

Jesus started drawing in the dirt again. This time she saw him write “You shall not render”. 

“Think about it,” said Jesus. “If you knew someone stole a lot of money—say he’d already been convicted in court—would you let him decide who gets arrested for stealing?”

“What does this have to do with us?” said the leader. “It’s time for us to stone this sinful woman.”

Jesus stood up again. The woman saw he’d just finished writing. “an unjust judgment.” So he’d written “You shall not render an unjust judgment.”

Jesus dusted himself off once more. He said. “Okay, let’s do this one at a time. How about you arrange yourselves in three groups. If you’ve broken a whole lot of God’s laws, make a group way back on the other side of the street. If maybe you used to break God’s laws but you don’t do it much any more, stand in the middle. And if you always try to be good and hardly ever break God’s laws, make a group right up close here.”

They grumbled, but they did it. They made three groups. Then Jesus said, “Okay, so now let’s go one at a time. Whoever here has never ever broken even one of God’s laws, that person gets to go first.”

Nobody?

The group close by all looked at each other. But nobody stepped forward.

So Jesus started writing in the dirt again.

One by one, the men drifted away. They dropped their rocks by the roadside and they left. The woman saw that Jesus had written “God’s steadfast love endures forever.” 

Eventually he looked up and caught the woman’s eye. “Oh, so isn’t anyone going to stone you after all?”

“No sir,” she said.

“Well,” Jesus said, “I’m certainly not going to.”

“But…” said the woman. “What should I do now?” 

She was holding her face in her hands and weeping.

“My daughter,” Jesus said. “Go and live your life—But from now on, live the way God teaches you to live.”

Wondering 

I wonder why those men were so full of meanness? 

I wonder what they did the next time they saw someone doing what they disapproved of? 

I wonder what that woman did to try to learn to live God’s way?

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You are, of course, free to use this children’s sermon, or adapt it as you find most useful. But, if you use it, please do one (or more!) of the following.

• You can let me know that you are using it, either in the comments below, or using the contact form above.
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