GOSPEL READING:
John 8:1-111 but Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. 2 Early in the morning he came again to the temple; all the people came to him, and he sat down and taught them. 3 The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery, and placing her in the midst 4 they said to him, "Teacher, this woman has been caught in the act of adultery. 5 Now in the law Moses commanded us to stone such. What do you say about her?" 6 This they said to test him, that they might have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground. 7 And as they continued to ask him, he stood up and said to them, "Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her." 8 And once more he bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground. 9 But when they heard it, they went away, one by one, beginning with the eldest, and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him. 10 Jesus looked up and said to her, "Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?" 11 She said, "No one, Lord." And Jesus said, "Neither do I condemn you; go, and do not sin again."
SCRIPTURE READING:
Isaiah 43:16-2116 Thus says the LORD, who makes a way in the sea, a path in the mighty waters, 17 who brings forth chariot and horse, army and warrior; they lie down, they cannot rise, they are extinguished, quenched like a wick: 18 "Remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old. 19 Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert. 20 The wild beasts will honor me, the jackals and the ostriches; for I give water in the wilderness, rivers in the desert, to give drink to my chosen people, 21 the people whom I formed for myself that they might declare my praise.
Meditation: Are you ready to be changed and transformed in
Christ-like holiness? God never withholds his grace from us. His
steadfast love and mercy is new every day (Lamentations 3:22-23).
Through the gift and grace of the Holy Spirit we can be changed
and made new in Christ. He can set us free from our unruly desires
and passions.
Unjust accusations against Jesus
The Gospel accounts frequently describe how Jesus had to face
unjust accusations made by the Pharisees, the ruling elders of
Israel. They were upset with Jesus' teaching and they wanted to
discredit him in any way they could. They wanted to not only
silence him, but to get rid of him because of his claim to speak
with God's authority. When a moral dilemma or difficult legal
question arose, it was typical for the Jews to take the matter to
a rabbi for a decision. The scribes and the Pharisees brought to
Jesus a woman who had been caught in the act of adultery. John
writes that they wanted to "test" Jesus on the issue of
retribution so " they might have some charge to bring against him"
(John 8:6).
Jewish law treated adultery as a serious crime since it
violated God's ordinance and wreaked havoc on the stability of
marriage and family life. It was one of the three gravest sins
punishable by death. If Jesus said the woman must be pardoned, he
would be accused of breaking the law of Moses. If he said
the woman must be stoned, he would lose his reputation for being
the merciful friend of sinners.
Jesus then does something quite unexpected - he begins
to write in the sand. The word for "writing" which is used here in
the Gospel text has a literal meaning "to write down a record
against someone" (for another example see Job 13:26). Perhaps
Jesus was writing down a list of the sins of the accusers standing
before him. Jesus now turns the challenge towards his accusers. In
effect he says:Go ahead and stone her! But
let the man who is without sin be the first to cast a stone.The
Lord leaves the matter to their own consciences.
Pardon, restoration, and new life
When the adulterous woman is left alone with Jesus, he both
expresses mercy and he strongly exhorts her to not sin again. The
scribes wished to condemn, Jesus wished to forgive and to restore
the sinner to health. His challenge involved a choice - either to
go back to her former way of sin and death or to reach out to
God's offer of forgiveness, restoration, and new life in his
kingdom of peace and righteousness. Jesus gave her pardon and a
new start on life. God's grace enables us to confront our sin for
what it is - unfaithfulness to God, and to turn back to God with a
repentant heart and a thankful spirit for God's mercy and
forgiveness. Do you know the joy of repentance and a clean
conscience?
God our Father, we find it difficult to come to you, because our knowledge of you is imperfect. In our ignorance we have imagined you to be our enemy; we have wrongly thought that you take pleasure in punishing our sins; and we have foolishly conceived you to be a tyrant over human life. But since Jesus came among us, he has shown that you are loving, that you are on our side against all that stunts life, and that our resentment against you was groundless. So we come to you, asking you to forgive our past ignorance, and wanting to know more and more of you and your forgiving love, through Jesus Christ our Lord. (Prayer of Saint Augustine)
Psalm 126:1-6
1 When the LORD restored the fortunes of Zion, we were like those who dream.
2 Then our mouth was filled with laughter, and our tongue with shouts of joy; then they said among the nations, "The LORD has done great things for them."
3 The LORD has done great things for us; we are glad.
4 Restore our fortunes, O LORD, like the watercourses in the Negeb!
5 May those who sow in tears reap with shouts of joy!
6 He that goes forth weeping, bearing the seed for sowing, shall come home with shouts of joy, bringing his sheaves with him.
Daily Quote from the Early Church Fathers: A humble examination, by Bede the Venerable, 672-735 A.D.
"In line with our usual human way of doing
things, we can understand that the reason why the Lord might wish
to bend before his unprincipled tempters and to write on the
ground was that by directing his look elsewhere he might give them
the freedom to go away. He foresaw that as they had been astounded
by his answer, they would be more inclined to depart quickly than
to ask him more questions...
Figuratively speaking, the fact that both
before and after he gave his opinion he bent and wrote on the
ground admonishes us that both before we rebuke a sinning neighbor
and after we have rendered to him the ministry of due correction,
we should subject ourselves to a suitably humble examination, lest
perhaps we be entangled in the same things that we censure in [our
neighbors] or in any other sort of misdeeds. For it often comes
about, for example, that people who publicly judge a murderer to
be a sinner may not perceive the worse evil of the hatred with
which they themselves despoil someone in secret. People who bring
an accusation against a fornicator may ignore the plague of the
pride with which they congratulate themselves for their own
chastity. People who condemn a drunkard may not see the venom of
envy with which they themselves are eaten away.
In dangers of this sort, what saving remedy is
left for us except that, when we look at some other sinner, we
immediately bend down - that is, we humbly observe how we would be
cast down by our frail condition if divine benevolence did not
keep us from falling? Let us write with a finger on the ground -
that is, let us meticulously ponder with discrimination whether we
can say with blessed Job, 'For our heart does not censure us in
all our life' (Job 27:6), and let us painstakingly remember that
if our heart censures us, God is greater than our heart and he
knows all things." (excerpt from HOMILIES
ON THE GOSPELS 1.25)
