Reflection: John 8:1-11
Although the author of the gospel penned this episode of the adulteress, but the leaders of the early Church could not accept a God who contradict the law of Moses. They were afraid that Jesus’ words, Neither do I condemn you, could lead to the justification of adultery as licit and permissible. It helps us understand how difficult it is to accept the image of a God that Jesus presents to us. It is not the woman’s adultery that the scribes and the Pharisees could not accept, but it is the image of God that Jesus preached that they could not accept. This woman’s adultery is only an excuse for them to set a trap for Jesus. They bring the woman to Jesus because of his reputation of being a friend of the poor and the sinners. If he sided now with law enforcing Jews, he would be contradicting the messages of mercy and forgiveness that he was advocating. If he spoke for the woman, they could accuse him of breaking the law of Moses. Jesus does not respond. He bends down and begins to write on the ground. Writing on the ground has a clear reference to the only text in the Bible where the finger of God wrote on the stone, on the two tablets, the Ten Commandments. The commandments tell you how you must live, the mistakes you must avoid, and the positions you must take. With this gesture, Jesus is asking, ‘Are you still stuck to the law written on the stone? The prophet Jeremiah had announced that ‘one day, God would write his law not on stone, but in their hearts.’ The crowd grew uneasy because they had been exposed. Their hypocrisy has been revealed. They moved away, starting with the elders – the ‘priests,’—says the Greek text. Today we are invited to examine our conscience. Are we not the ones who delight in throwing stones at others through gossip and slanders. Are we in any way better than the Pharisees? The Lord says, “Do not judge.” However, Jesus challenges those who continue to claim righteousness and respectability and hurl stones, no longer with hands though, but through defaming, isolating, uttering harsh judgments, and spreading gossips. Jesus does not tolerate anyone who throws these cruel stones at those, already bent under the weight of their sins. Do we still believe that at the end of times God will judge and punish the sinners for the evil committed? Let us pay attention. Jesus did not say to the sinful woman: ‘For this time, I do not condemn you.’ Instead, He says: “I do not condemn you” (v. 11), neither today nor tomorrow nor ever.