From the Sunday Note, with additional thoughts:
Jesus went to the Mount of Olives.
But early in the morning he arrived again in the temple area,
and all the people started coming to him,
and he sat down and taught them.
Then the scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman
who had been caught in adultery
and made her stand in the middle.
They said to him,
“Teacher, this woman was caught
in the very act of committing adultery.
Now in the law, Moses commanded us to stone such women.
So what do you say?”
They said this to test him,
so that they could have some charge to bring against him.
Jesus bent down and began to write on the ground with his finger.
But when they continued asking him,
he straightened up and said to them,
“Let the one among you who is without sin
be the first to throw a stone at her.”
Again he bent down and wrote on the ground.
And in response, they went away one by one,
beginning with the elders.
So he was left alone with the woman before him.
Then Jesus straightened up and said to her,
“Woman, where are they?
Has no one condemned you?”
She replied, “No one, sir.”
Then Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you.
Go, and from now on do not sin any more.”
John 8:1-11, Gospel for this Sunday
Jesus’ opponents here try a variation of divide-and-conquer. They expect him either to oppose the Law, exposing himself as a fraud to many Jews, or to order that the woman be stoned, provoking the Romans, who forbade capital punishment for adultery in Roman law, and besides, forbade their Jewish subjects from using capital punishment for any reason.
The charge against her is not trumped up—she is guilty, guilty, guilty—but Jesus does not give them a quick answer. Instead, he stoops down and begins writing in the dirt with his finger. Encouraged by this lack of an immediate response, his opponents crowd in and press him for a reply. We are not told what he wrote in the dirt, but the wording “with his finger” suggests a line from the prophet Jeremiah17:13: those who turn away from thee shall be written in the earth, for they have forsaken the Lord, the fountain of living water.(RSV) So, perhaps he’s writing their names, or perhaps a reference to all the commandments written on Moses’ stone tablets by “the finger of God.” At any rate, Jesus then dramatically stands up, ending their murmuring, and pronounces “Let the one among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.”
He begins writing on the ground again. Names of those standing there? Other laws? We don’t know, but beginning with the elders, they begin to withdraw, until Jesus is left there with the woman. The only sinless person present has declined to throw the first stone.
Notice he does not ignore or justify her adultery. The law against adultery stands as necessary for flourishing human life between men and women and for their children. This sin deals in death, and the Author of Life invites her to choose to live, instead: he offers her mercy, and he warns her to change.
From that point anyone who would follow Christ—this woman if she so chooses, or any one of us—is in the situation of Paul. He did repeated evils in persecuting Christians. Then he was offered mercy and warned. He changed. He explains his new situation in this passage from his letter to the Philippians, our second reading for this Sunday:
It is not that I have … already attained perfect maturity,
but I continue my pursuit in hope that I may possess it,
…. Just one thing: forgetting what lies behind
but straining forward to what lies ahead,
I continue my pursuit toward the goal,
the prize of God’s upward calling, in Christ Jesus.
Excerpt from Philippians 3:12-14
For further reflection:
Every one of us is a mess, but God loves us anyway. If we read and actually get the sense of Scripture, each one of us would hear God saying, “So-and-so, you are a mess, but I love you anyway. Let’s get up and try that again.” Moms and Dads of young children live that out every day, multiple times a day, and will do so for at least a couple of decades for each child. Or imagine a coach working with 6-year-olds on their baseball skills. Etc. Etc. The rules don’t change, the proper way to play or to keep the rules doesn’t change, but the coaches or the moms and dads never give up. Consider the example of Jesus’ handling of Peter’s 3 major denials of Him in their meeting after the Resurrection. Peter’s failures are not dodged, he is implicitly asked to repent, and he is immediately accepted again with his Savior’s love.
Even then, are we talking about once-and-for-all situations, now past, that would never happen again? Or do we see examples of Paul struggling later to master that temper of his that could corrupt his zeal? (See Galatians). Do we hear of Peter ever thinking of cutting and running again? Remember the tradition of Peter hustling out of Rome when persecutions began and, meeting Jesus, asks him “Lord, which way are you going?” (“Quo vadis”–look it up in Wikipedia) He then follows Jesus back into Rome where Christians are being crucified.)