We’re told in John 8 that Jesus has gone “to the temple again” at dawn (v.2). By using the word “again,” John tells us this has become a regular event. A sizeable crowd expects this routine and now surrounds him, listening to him teach them.
We’re also told that Jesus sits down to teach (v.2).
At dawn [Jesus] went to the temple again, and all the people were coming to him. He sat down and began to teach them.
— John 8:2 CSB
In amongst the other information that verse 2 provides us with, Jesus' posture seems an irrelevant fact to most of us. But in a story that's all over within 11 verses and lacks narrative detail overall, the information we're given is important to our understanding.
And John wants us to know, Jesus is sitting.
The scribes and the Pharisees interrupt Jesus’ teaching when they force a nameless woman “caught in adultery” (v.3) to encounter Jesus.
We don’t know how many scribes and Pharisees surround this woman, what her state of dress is, or if she’s hurt. John doesn’t mention whether she's sobbing or defiant after being dragged before Jesus. And there’s no mention of the man she committed adultery with.
As I said, the story is short on narrative detail.
So let’s set the scene. It’s dawn (v.2). The scribes and the Pharisees have therefore taken part in a dawn raid of someone’s home where they’ve found a man and a woman sleeping together who shouldn’t be. A group of them have then half-dragged, half-carried a presumably semi-naked woman to the temple.
How did they know to raid this home? And on this dawn? And where is the other half of this adulterous couple now? Hmmm. It all stinks of a setup. We can only guess at whether someone lured the woman into a one-night stand or whether she was having a long-term affair. Either way, her night's sexual partner betrays her, and she finds herself in a crowd in front of Jesus.
Oh, and John wants us to know she's standing.
Interesting...
Then the scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman caught in adultery, making her stand in the centre.
— John 8:3 CSB (emphasis mine)
