Word to the Wise
Monday, March 18, 2024 - 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]"Let the one among you who is without sin be the first to cast 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 [Jesus] 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]
The two scriptures today tell the stories of two women accused and condemned. From the Book of Daniel we have the story of Susannah, who is falsely accused by the two elders whose advances she spurned. The second is from the Gospel According to John in which the woman has been caught in the act of adultery. Her guilt is not in question. The real story is not about the two women, however, even if, on the surface it is also about the Jewish authorities trying to trap Jesus. The real story is about mob judgment and violence. It is about God's mercy in contrast to the mob's condemnation. Daniel, still young, is accorded "the prestige of old age," and pulls off an interrogation worthy of Perry Mason to catch the elders in their lies, thus sparing Susannah. Jesus says nothing to the mob except whatever he writes on the ground. One tradition has it that he was writing the sins of the elders! Note that it is the elders who leave first!
On Good Friday we will see another example of mob violence in the scene with Jesus before Pilate in which Pilate, who believes Jesus to be innocent, questions the mob and they reply: " Take him away, take him away! Crucify him!" [John 19:15]. It can be a difficult but instructive exercise to go into each of these scenes - Susannah, the woman caught in adultery, and Jesus, bloody and dressed like a king - and ask if we could be mere spectators? Would we have the courage to intervene like Daniel, or even write about it in the face of the mob like Jesus and then show mercy? Today's scripture is preparing us for the coming of Holy Week and Good Friday. Where will we be? AMEN