Passage: John 8: 1-11
1 Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. 2 Early in the morning he came again to the temple. All the people came to him and he sat down and began to teach them. 3 The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery; and making her stand before all of them, 4 they said to him, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the very act of committing adultery. 5 Now in the law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?” 6 They said this to test him, so that they might have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground. 7 When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “Let anyone among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” 8 And once again he bent down and wrote on the ground. 9 When they heard it, they went away, one by one, beginning with the elders; and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him. 10 Jesus straightened up and said to her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” 11 She said, “No one, sir.” And Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you. Go your way, and from now on do not sin again.”
The background for the final words of forgiveness Jesus is to speak, is what really expands the story to convey a larger meaning. While Jesus is teaching in the Temple – don’t we wonder what Jesus was saying before he is interrupted – the Pharisees, in an attempt to catch Jesus in a controversial position, bring to him a woman caught in adultery. Let us be clear, the Pharisees are not that interested in the woman or the sin at this moment. They went out and found something they thought could be used to entrap Jesus. Just the opposite of their motives, Jesus is not that concerned with the argument concerning the Law of Moses nor the snare the Pharisees have set before him. Jesus is concerned about the shame and threat experienced by the woman who was being made a spectacle before him.
What was he thinking as he sat there silently, tracing out something unreadable in the dirt, face lowered, possibly so they would not see the anger, or maybe the sadness, in his gaze? Perhaps he was wondering how the man who’d also been caught in adultery had slipped through the Pharisees’ hands. Possibly he was considering how often the Pharisees had luridly watched this woman, so that they could seize her so conveniently for this confrontation. Probably Jesus knew in his heart the lust and darkness that exists in the souls of most persons. Maybe he was simply contemplating how sad we humans are that we are willing to dehumanize another person just to win an argument.
And clearly the Pharisees found his silence distressing and uncomfortable, as they wondered if Jesus might truly see the evil intentions that filled their hearts. And in this moment, these men knew that they had been caught in this act, as well. So the silence could not last very long. “When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, ‘Let anyone among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.’”
But Jesus did not continue to glare at the Pharisees with the condemnation they might have deserved. “And once again he bent down and wrote on the ground.” Richard Rohr suggests what I consider to be an enlightened interpretation of this action:
I personally think that Jesus’ bending down to write [again] (the only example of Jesus writing) was to avoid any confrontational stare and cruel accusation of the men. He wanted them to take responsibility themselves. [Yet] His love was so gracious and universal that he even wanted to the save them from the condemnation of his eyes: “Neither do I condemn you,” he says to both the woman and the men.
Today, we Pharisees will still drag folks out into the public square to shame them for what we see as their shortcomings or brokenness, so that we can exclude them from the circle of the blessed. But in so doing, are we finding cause for crucifying Jesus all over again?
Prayer: O gracious Lord, we give thanks for all the times You have not shamed us when we have been caught being unfaithful to You. We give thanks for your mercy, despite our own tendency to judge others. Continue to soften our hearts with Your love, so that we, like You, might wish that all could be saved.
Amen.