***
Gospel: John 8:1-11
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.”
The Gospel of the Lord.
***
***
The woman caught in adultery is a harrowing story, which we’ve all heard before. After being caught in the very act of adultery and publicly humiliated, she is thrown at the feet of Jesus, as the religious authorities ask him to issue a verdict.
Should she be stoned or not?
Withdrawing, the Lord begins doodling in the dirt. What, exactly, was he writing? Some say he was buying time to collect his thoughts. Others say that he was writing a personal account of each of those men’s sins, reminding them that they, too, are human.
Perhaps the Lord was doing something even greater, issuing a sweeping verdict against the entire nation of Israel, accusing everyone of being imperfect – and in need of change.
***
In the Old Testament, God made several covenants with his people, which demanded mutual fidelity, lest blood be shed.
As it’s written in the Book of Exodus, “You shall not have other gods besides me.” Yet Israel repeatedly breaks their end of the covenant by worshipping false idols and giving into the desires of their flesh.
As the Lord cries out through the prophet Hosea: “She [Israel] is not my wife, and I am not her husband. Let her remove her adultery from my face.”
In spite of Israel’s infidelity, God reveals himself to be a loving and forgiving God, “down to the thousandth generation.”
All Israel needed – or, in the case of today’s Gospel, all these men and this sole woman needed – was to repent and Jesus would wipe away their sins like a palm sweeping across dirt.
***
If the Lord were kneeling before us today, what offenses might he write against us?
Jesus can wipe all of these away just as easily as he can write them – if only we repent.
***
***
Image credits: (1) Bishop Craig Schweitzer (2) Adobe Stock (3) Pinterest