Word to the Wise
Monday, March 22, 2021 - 5th Week of Lent - Mon
[Dan 13:1-9, 15-17, 19-30, 33-62 or 13:41c-62 and John 8:1-11 or, in Year C, John 8:12-20,325]"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]
In a dramatic gospel like the Gospel According to John, the scene of the Woman Caught in Adultery stands out! What is the real issue? Is it the wrongful act of adultery? Is it the desire of the scribes and Pharisees to test Jesus? Is it the mob thirsting for a lynching party? Where are we? Are we "tsk-tsk-ing" about any of those three things? Are we ready to throw a stone at the lady, or the accusers or the crowd (or even at Jesus for being so merciful when we would not be?) Hmmmm....... Who drops stones and leaves first? Isn't it the elders? Experience should have taught them that if they are the first to cast a stone, the rest of the mob might say, "Are you really without sin? Come'on!"
There are further questions about the unfairness of social and legal custom of the time that would penalize the woman more than the man she was with. There is the dynamic of "scapegoating" that can inflame a mob in our own time. In the "discourse" that follows this incident, Jesus says at one point, "If you remain in my word, you will truly be my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." Could Jesus be writing OUR sins in the sand?Can we really know the truth about Jesus if we do not accept the truth about ourselves (standing there with a rock in hand) and be equally merciful to ourselves as Jesus was to that woman? Are we ready to know the Truth? AMEN