March 14th, 2026

It may certainly be said that the season of Lent continues on, with this Sunday having the title of the Fourth Sunday in Lent. There are two options with the Gospel Reading for this Sunday. The longer but simpler option is John 9:1-41, and the other option is 9:1-7, 13-17, and 34-39.

It also may be said that we are over halfway through the season of Lent. And it also may be said with some certainty that sometimes a halfway point is not so obvious. With the writings of this website, we have been going through the same Gospel account, the Gospel according to John, and an EXTREMELY literal translation has been laid out with each writing, and no verses have been skipped. And it may be said that we are approaching the middle of the book.

Currently we have been going through what is usually called the seventh chapter of that account. And if you are familiar with the layout of that account, it is somewhat in the middle of the first part of that account, as Jesus makes his way to Jerusalem for that final Passover. And if John 12:50 is the literary middle of the entire book (and this point will be discussed in the future, God willing), John 7:52 is somewhat past the middle of the first part of the book. As was said above, the middle is sometimes not so obvious.

The following may be said with some certainty, that in what is called chapter five, Jesus healed on the Sabbath a man who was lame because of some sin that he did (see John 5:14), where in chapter nine, Jesus also healed, also on a Sabbath, a man who was born blind, but not because of his sin or the sin of his parents (see John 9:3). This so-called seventh chapter is in the midst of those two extremes. (And I do not consider it a coincidence that Jesus, at the end of the reading below, says to the woman to sin no longer.)

If you have read the last two writings of this website, you would be familiar with the festival that was going on at the time. It was the Feast of Tabernacles, when Israel would remember that their ancestors lived in tents for a long time. And those two writings reflected what happened in the middle of the Feast and at the end of that Feast.

The point was made, and it bears repeating, that the middle and end points are significant, especially when the original text did not have chapter and verse divisions to help move a person along with the text. The main problem that was stated with the chapter and verse divisions is that they help point us back to the beginning of the entire work, and then along with that often comes an emphasis on its author and that author’s particular situation. A better emphasis would be at the end of the text, and with the midpoint being a good time to reflect on how far things have progressed within the text. The writer may have not wanted any type of emphasis to be made upon himself! In other words, the middle and end of what has been laid out for us are important points.

The above may be helpful as we look to the next part of the text of the Gospel according to John. Last week’s writing ended at John 7:52, and what follows is important, yet it is important in a different way than the rest of the text. Much could be said, but the comments will be shortened in an effort to be helpful.

You may have a bible handy. If so, please look up John 7:53-8:11 and see what is said regarding this text, probably at the bottom of the page. It is probably mentioned that these verses do not appear in many of the old manuscripts. That is certainly true. And certainly much could be said regarding that point.

Hopefully these shortened comments may be helpful. And a comparison of this text to the longer ending of the Gospel according to Mark may also be helpful. If you are familiar with that Gospel account, what is usually called the older ending is very unique. The women leave the tomb, actually they are running, and they are in trembling and in ecstasy, but in a negative way, and the text says that they did not say anything to anyone, because they were afraid. And that text ends there. But there is also a longer ending to the Gospel according to Mark, designated as chapter 16:9-20. Again, to be brief, because the vocabulary of this ending is significantly different from the words used throughout that account, this text has been considered to be written by someone other than Mark. And it is usually considered to be written later.

It should not be seen as a coincidence that the same things could be said of this text from the Gospel according to John. That may be seen a little bit in the translation, but a commentary may be more helpful in pointing out some of these things.

Just a few more points may be helpful regarding this additional text in the Gospel according to John, as well as the additional text in the Gospel according to Mark. First of all, it should be noted that with a more Hebrew ordering of these Gospel accounts, it is appropriate to have a longer ending of the Gospel according to Mark, as well as the text below.

What is a more Hebrew ordering of these four Gospel accounts is that the actual disciples are first, with the secretaries being second, with the longer account being first. With that ordering, the accounts go this way: The Gospel according to Matthew, John, Luke, and Mark. In essence, the second and the fourth accounts switch places. And it seems very appropriate to have a longer ending of the Gospel according to Mark that would not be so abrupt, leaving the reader and listener hanging. This is helpful to show how the four accounts can work together. It should also be said that the recent invention of the codex (a fancy word for “book”), the comparison between accounts may be done more easily than if the accounts were on four scrolls, and they would have to be unrolled at various places to compare the similar readings.

One more thing could be mentioned regarding these two additions to the text. With the ordering of the more Jewish accounts, the additions happen in two significant places. With the special ordering of Matthew, John, Luke, and Mark, an approximate middle of the text as a whole is within the Gospel according to John, especially since the Gospel according to Mark is  the shortest of the four. So a significant addition is made near the middle and at the end. Again, it may be said that the middle and end are important parts.

Another point that could be made in connection with those two readings is that they are surprisingly similar in size. There are several words in brackets (five in Mark and one in John), unsure as to their presence with these special manuscripts, but the number of the words in the Greek of the most recent edition of Nestle-Aland of the text of John 7:53-8:11 is one-hundred and sixty-nine (169), where the number of Greek words of Mark 16:9-20 is one-hundred and seventy-one (171).

With such evidence, it points toward a solution that the issue is not whether or not this reading is older or younger, but that these additions give a more Hebrew emphasis, and the early Christian-Jewish culture would appreciate these endings. It could also be said that the text below adds a day to the last day of that Feast that was described above, and the Hebrews are known to add a day to the seven days, and so eight is a number with which they closely connect.

Before the other points are made regarding the translation, one final point to be made is that this is a literary solution rather than a chronological one. The chronology of a document can be distracting or even frustrating, especially if that document has something that deals with ETERNAL salvation. Eternity is significantly more important than a moment in history, unless of course you are focusing on the crucified Jesus.

Finally, if you are familiar with the translations of this writing, you may skip this and the following paragraph. The translation below may be described as EXTREMELY literal, and because of that, it may be EXTREMELY helpful to have another translation of the text nearby or perhaps a study bible.

The first thing to mention regarding the description of being EXTREMELY literal is that the verse numbers will not be included within the text itself. It should also be noted that the words with hyphens occur when more than one English word is used to describe a single word of the ancient Greek. And the particular words chosen below are meant to point out the close connection that often occurs between the English and Greek languages. Also important to mention is that the order of the words below is also the same order that is in the ancient Greek. This may help to show the important words, especially when another word besides the verb is first in the sentence. The exception to this translation order is that there are just a small number of words that are usually second in a sentence that are meant to be first when translated. One more thing to mention is that the verbs in capital letters are called HISTORICAL PRESENTS, where a verb in a past tense is expected, but a verb in the present tense is given. These have been explained elsewhere, and it may be helpful to read some of the other writings of this website.

What follows is an EXTREMELY literal translation of John 7:53-8:11 (a text that is not in some translations; and some of the words may not be in some manuscripts):

And  they-traveled,  each-one,  into  the  house  of-him.  Now  Jesus  traveled  into  the  Mount  of-the  Olives.

Now  of-dawn,  again  he-happened-along  into  the  temple,  and  all  the  people  was-coming  toward  him,  and  having-sat,  he-was-teaching  them. 

Now  THEY-LEAD,  the  Grammatists  and  the  Pharisees,  a-woman  upon  adultery  having-been-caught,  and  having-stood  her  in-midst,  THEY-SAY  to-him,  “Teacher,  this,  the  woman,  has-been-caught  upon  the-act,  committing-adultery;  now  in  the  Law  to-us,  Moses  enjoined  the  such-ones  to-stone;  therefore  you,  what  do-you-say?”  Now  this,  they-were-saying,  tempting  him,  in-order-that  they-might-have  to-complain-against  him.

Now  the  Jesus,  down  having-bent,  with-the  finger  he-was-writing-down  into  the  ground.  Now  as  they-were-remaining-upon,  questioning  him,  he-stood-up,  and  he-said  to-them,  “The-one  sinless  of-you,  first,  upon  her,  let-him-throw  a-stone.”  And  again,  having-bent-down,  he-was-writing  into  the  ground.

Now  the-ones  having-heard,  they-were-coming-out,  one  according-to  one,  having-begun  from  the  presbyters,  and  he-was-left-down,  mono,  and  the  woman  in  the-midst  being.  Now  having-stood-up,  the  Jesus,  he-said  to-her,  “Woman,  where  are-they?  No-one  you,  condemned?”
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Now  the-one  said,  “No-one,  Lord.”

Now  he-said,  the  Jesus,  “Neither  I,  you,  I-condemn.  Travel,  and  from  the  now,  no-longer  sin.”