The scenario is certainly a familiar one. The Pharisees are laying a trap for Jesus in hopes of forcing Him to make one of two responses, both designed to alienate Him from one faction of His followers or another. In this instance, they bring forth a woman caught in the act of adultery and pointed out that Moses's command was to stone such an offender to death.
This application of Jewish Law is based upon ?Leviticus 20:10 and Deuteronomy 22:22–24, which under the Old Covenant did indeed call for the death penalty for adulterers, though not necessarily by stoning (depending on the particulars of the offense) and holds _both_ offenders to this penalty--yet only the woman is brought before Jesus for judgement. Already we see hypocrisy at work.?
Further hypocrisy will be demonstrated by these same accusers who here cry for the woman's death by stoning as "mandated" by Jewish Law, yet will soon turn to the Roman governor Pilate to carry out their dirty work of executing Jesus under the pretext that only Roman officials can adjudicate and enforce cases for which there is a death penalty!
Thus the poor woman brought before Jesus was a mere pawn in their game: their concern was not with rendering a righteous judgement but to trap Jesus in a no-win situation, discredit Him publicly, and secure for themselves the superior status of "religious authority." Jesus, on the other hand, was primarily concerned with the plight of the woman brought before Him and sought an outcome based on healing and reconciliation.
One curious aspect of this passage is Jesus--seemingly distracted--drawing or writing in the sand. What He was writing specifically does not appear to have been important, or else it would have been mentioned in the passage. One interpretation is that He was just biding His time--first perhaps allowing passions to cool in hopes of a better outcome, then perhaps waiting for the ramifications of His counter-challenge to sink in to those who tried to set Him up. Or perhaps He was first thinking through His response. In any case, we see the result.
Scriptural accounts like this are amazing, in that so many lessons can be drawn from such few words!?
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Another source I referenced on this matter noted that life is like a constant game of mirrors: we project our frustrations onto others, we condemn them for things we don’t dare see in ourselves, yet we care for others when they display our most fragile features.
Other people constantly show us a reflection of ourselves and reveal parts of us that we would be unable to see otherwise. Sometimes we are surprised, sometimes unbelieving, and sometimes even frustrated. Many of our relationships are the product of this game of mirrors. Jesus also finds Himself in the middle of this game and agrees to play along.
The adulterous woman thrown into the center becomes a projection of all the men that surround her. In her they see all of their inability to be faithful to the Law. They project onto her their frustration, their inability to persevere. This woman’s adultery is their own potential adultery, their own inevitable infidelity to God.
They vent upon her the rage they have towards themselves upon seeing that they too are unfaithful observers of the Word.
Whatever our personal proclivity to sin might be, we are all adulterers, unfaithful to ourselves, our vocations, unfaithful to life, traitors to our most dear relationships. We strive constantly to find new "lovers" to deceive us with their false promises--whether our "lover" is proclivity to adultery or any other sin. Only with great difficulty can we stay where life has placed us for we are constantly running away, seduced by our "summer loves."
Jesus stands and removes Himself from the role that others have wanted to put Him in. He steps aside, allowing the Scribes and Pharisees to see themselves in the woman’s adultery. In her, every man sees his own sin. In her, every man can see the destiny that he deserves and that which he is delivered from. Those who accused her realize that they have become the accused.
After the Scribes and Pharisees have left, Jesus can take up His role again as the authentic judge of the woman before Him. He is the only true judge, He who, being without sin, is the only one that could condemn her. But Jesus stands up for her also: He that stands before her is the one who has come to redeem us from the burden of sin that we bear, and to offer us--through His loving self-sacrifice and grace--another way: a healing and redemptive way! ?
Once again, this woman is a reflection of each of us. In her freedom we see ourselves freed. In her we can see our own astonishment: we have been sinners and yet we have not been stoned. This woman does not deserve forgiveness and neither do we. And yet God has given it to us. We are left in wonder with this woman of the Gospel.
Life is a game of mirrors that we cannot escape from, mirrors that can fuel our rage, mirrors that we would often like to smash. But there can also be mirrors that, providentially, initiate a conversion in our hearts.
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Another source offers the following:
_Nine things to draw from this Scripture_
1. What happens in this account?
The Gospel passage recounts the episode of the adulterous woman in two vivid scenes: In the first, we witness a dispute between Jesus and the scribes and Pharisees concerning a woman caught in flagrant adultery who, in accordance with the prescriptions of the Book of Leviticus (cf. 20: 10), was condemned to stoning. In the second scene, a brief but moving dialogue develops between Jesus and the sinner-woman.
2. Why is this story so dramatic?
Those men ask Jesus to judge the sinful woman in order "to test Him" and impel Him to take a false step. The scene is full of drama: the life of that person and also His own life depend on Jesus's?answer. Indeed, the hypocritical accusers pretend to entrust the judgement to Him whereas it is actually He Himself whom they wish to accuse and judge.
3. How was this supposed to "test" Jesus?
The pitiless accusers of the woman, citing the law of Moses, provoke Jesus - they call Him "Teacher" (Didáskale) - asking Him whether it would be right to stone her. They were aware of His mercy and His love for sinners and were curious to see how He would manage in such a case which, in their interpretation of Mosaic law, was crystal clear. They intend to show that His teaching on God’s merciful love contradicts the Law, which prescribed the death?penalty for such.
If He absolves the woman caught in flagrant adultery, it will be said that He has transgressed the precepts of Moses; if He condemns her, it will be said that He is inconsistent with His message of mercy towards sinners.
4. Jesus does not initially respond to their question but remains silent. Why?
By His silence He invites everyone to self-reflection. On the one hand, He invites the woman to acknowledge the wrong committed; on the other, He invites her accusers not to shrink from an examination of their own conscience and guilt before God: "Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her." ?
5. While He is silent, Jesus also writes on the ground. What can we learn from this?
While His accusers are insistently interrogating Him, Jesus bends down and starts writing with His finger on the ground. St Augustine notes that this gesture portrays Christ as the divine legislator: In fact, God wrote the law--the "Ten Commandments"--with His finger on tablets of stone.
Thus Jesus is the Legislator: He is Justice in person.
6. Eventually, Jesus says, "Let he who is without sin cast the first stone." What does this reveal?
While this authoritative reply reminds us that it is only the Lord who can judge, it reveals the true meaning of divine mercy, which leaves open the possibility for repentance and emphasizes the great respect for the dignity of the person, which not even sin can take away.
“Go, and do not sin again”. The last words of this episode show that God does not want the sinner to die, but to repent of the evil s/he has committed and live.
7. Legal disputes about what the Law of Moses technically required were common in Jesus's day. What does His attitude show us?
Jesus does not enter into a theoretical discussion with His interlocutors on this section of Mosaic Law. He is not concerned with winning an academic dispute about an interpretation of Mosaic Law, but His goal is to save a soul and reveal that salvation is only found in God's love through His grace and mercy. This is why He came down to the earth, this is why He was to die on the Cross and why the Father was to raise Him on the third day.
St Augustine noted, commenting on John's Gospel, that: ?"The Lord, in His response, neither failed to respect the law nor departed from His meekness".
8. What does this passage show us about Jesus's attitude toward sin--and to sinners?
This Gospel passage clearly teaches that Christian forgiveness is not synonymous with mere tolerance, but implies something more demanding. It does not mean overlooking evil, or even worse, denying it. God does not forgive evil but the individual, and He teaches us to distinguish the evil act, which as such must be condemned, from the person who has committed it, to whom He offers the possibility of changing.
While man tends to identify the sinner with his sin, closing every escape, the heavenly Father instead has sent His Son into the world to offer everyone a way to salvation.
9. How can we apply this passage to our own situations?
The woman's situation is certainly serious. But the message flows precisely from this situation: in whatever condition we find ourselves, we can always open ourselves to conversion and receive forgiveness for our sins. "Neither do I condemn you; go, and do not sin again."
On Calvary, by the supreme sacrifice of His life, the Messiah will seal for every man and woman the infinite gift of God's pardon and mercy.
How could we see ourselves in this Gospel without feeling a surge of confidence? How could we not recognize it as “good news” for the men and women of our day, who long to rediscover the true sense of mercy and pardon?
There is a need for Christian forgiveness, which instills hope and trust without weakening the struggle against evil.
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A final perspective from an external source:
“We look at the sky, there are many, many stars; but when the sun rises in the morning, the light is such that we can’t see the stars. God’s mercy is like that: a great light of love and tenderness.’ So when Jesus acts as confessor to the woman He does not humiliate her, He does not say: ‘What have you done? When did you do it? How did you do it? With whom did you do it?’ No! He says: ‘Go and do not sin again!’ God’s mercy is great, Jesus’s mercy is great.
WARM HEART
We find the warm and open heart of Jesus hard to take. It seems too good to be true that God is so forgiving. One way to understand God’s mercy is to allow ourselves to be forgiven and show mercy. It is the sort of mercy a parent shows when they still believe in their child who has done great wrong. Trainee teachers were sometimes told – ‘when a child really drives you mad, remember he has a mother who loves him!’ A help to show mercy is to see the mercy in the eye of God for someone with whom we have a big difference.
Mercy when we receive it helps us show mercy ourselves. When we are hard on others, it’s sometimes because we are hard on ourselves and cannot really believe we are loved. The light of God’s mercy is bright enough that you can no longer see the stars that are our sins and faults and failings. Maybe Jesus means something like this when he says that He is the light of the world.
Be merciful O Lord, for we have sinned. Forgive us and heal us!
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Finally, some closing thoughts of my own--or rather general insights that have come to me from one source or another at one time or another:
I am constantly amazed by God's intent and ability to bring hope, healing and reconciliation to any situation anywhere, no matter the nature of the evil involved or how desperate the situation may appear to be! Think of it: were this a mere riddle--with all of its constraints considering the context in which it occurred, and to which you did not know Jesus's response before hand--would you have come up with the healing and redeeming course of action that Jesus chose? I can't imagine coming up with this resolution on my?own!
Instead of a fiasco--a result of evil intent on so many levels--is there anyone who emerged from Jesus's solution to the problem not better for it? For the woman herself who was spared, and granted another chance? For those who brought her to trial for nefarious purposes and who--although humbled--left with a valuable insight into their own sinful nature, resulting in their at least being honest enough to acknowledge such and depart without exacerbating the evil they had intended to inflict? For the crowds who were able to witness it all and--if self-reflective--gain the same insights as the participants in this scenario?
Thanks be to God that He is a God who constantly wants the best for us--constantly wants us to turn to Him and His solutions based on love, healing and reconciliation--a God who stands ready to do all of that for each and every one of us this very moment if we allow His healing Spirit and grace to act in and through us to bring hope, healing and reconciliation to us and to a world which has never been more desperately in need of it!
Thanks be to God for that indeed!
AMEN!!
