Our gospel reading is one of the most
famous of all the stories of Jesus.
Interestingly it isn’t included in the lectionary at all, so we never
read it in worship. This famous text is
also mysterious at a couple levels.
First, it isn’t an original part of
the gospel of John. The oldest copies of
John that exist all omit this text.
Interestingly it sometimes shows up inserted in very ancient copies of
Luke’s gospel. All the biblical scholars
I’ve read all agree that it was not written by John, but that it is an ancient,
and probably original account of something that happened in Jesus’
ministry. And despite not being part of
John’s gospel originally it fits very well where it is.
Commentator Gail O’Day notes that it
provides a real world application of teachings Jesus gave earlier. If you were here last week you may remember
that we set the scene for today. The
annual Festival of the Booths was coming up.
Jesus and his family were in Galilee.
His brothers were going to travel to Jerusalem for the festival, which
was encouraged by all Jews. At first
Jesus says he will not go, but later he does go, and we find him then and there
in today’s reading. You may remember
that last week’s gospel posed a basic question:
Do you use your categories for life to define Jesus, or do you let Jesus
define your categories? The obvious
answer is that Jesus should define our categories, not the other way
around. Obvious as it is, it is much
harder to live out.
I think that takes us to the second
mysterious thing about the text, and that is the story itself. We’ll see that when we remind ourselves about
its historical context.
It is early in the morning and Jesus
is teaching in the temple, the religious center of Jerusalem. By “the temple” we mean the vast courtyards
surrounding the temple itself. No
teaching ever took place in the temple proper.
Jesus, and probably others would talk and teach in the courtyards to the
crowds that were there for the holidays.
By this point Jesus is becoming well known and has a following. He’s also had some run-ins with the religious
leaders.
The scribes and Pharisees bring a
woman caught in adultery to him. It’s a
trap to ensnare Jesus. They had to bring
her here into the temple complex. While
she was apparently caught in the act, it’s hard to believe there would have
been any place in the temple where she could have gotten away with it. Most likely the offense took place somewhere
in the city or surrounds and they drag her here into the temple.
They say, “Teacher, this woman was
caught in the very act of the adultery.
Now in the law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?” Interesting, that’s not what the law
taught. We read one of two places in the
law where the punishment is given. Both
the man and the woman are to be stoned.
So where is the man?
Further, the law requires that any
death sentence be corroborated by witnesses.
Where are the witnesses? Are
these leaders the witnesses? Their case
is sloppy and their knowledge of the law is suspect.
Notice what Jesus does. Pay attention to his body during this
scene. He was sitting when they
approached him. Now he bends down and
starts writing in the ground. Many
people have speculated what he wrote.
Ultimately it doesn’t matter.
What does matter is that he doesn’t say anything. By bending down and writing on the ground he
is clearly refusing to engage in the situation.
They keep questioning him – basically
badgering him for a response. And look
at his body movement again. He
straightens up and says as is most famous in the King James translation, “He
that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.”
I cannot imagine the terror this woman
felt while all this was going on. There
is certainly the embarrassment, the shame, of being caught and then drug
through the streets to be placed in front of this out-of-town preacher and used
as a manipulative tool. There is the
also the great likelihood that within a couple hours she will be executed. Definitely terrifying. Interestingly the religious leaders who drug
her in front of Jesus don’t seem to care.
She is an object to them, an object to be used for their own ends.
And speaking of being an object to be
used, often this woman is portrayed as a prostitute. But there is nothing whatsoever in the text
to suggest that. She has no back
story. We know nothing about her
past. Anything is possible. She might have been a prostitute. Or she might have been a woman who came into
Jerusalem as a pilgrim along with others for the festival. She may have just met the guy she was caught
with – and again, interestingly he does not show up in the story at all – or he
may have been a pilgrim too and this was a long time thing for them. Maybe she was caught in an arranged marriage
to a highly abusive man. That doesn’t
justify what she did, but it does affect how we feel about her; and about how
Jesus treats her.
The point is, the story gives us
nothing about her. And if it gives nothing
about her, then whatever it was about her doesn’t really matter to either the
story or to Jesus.
Look at what Jesus does right after he
says that whoever is without sin could cast the first stone. Verse 8, “And once again he bent down and
wrote on the ground.” He is refusing to
engage in the situation again.
Those who heard it they went away, one
by one, beginning with the eldest. It is
suggested that this eldest leaving first signifies that not even the most
senior and revered members of the community are without sin.
Keep watching Jesus. They leave, and when he was left alone with
the woman standing before him, Jesus straightens up. He says to her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?”
This is the
moment of resounding grace in the text.
Jesus stands up, I imagine looks her in the eye, and speaks directly to
her. He, and he alone, is treating her
in the fullness of humanity. She has his
undivided attention. He asks her a
genuine question. “Has no one condemned
you?” She replies, “No one, sir.” And Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you.”
The one who has
the power to condemn or acquit does not condemn her. Those who were wrongfully claiming the role
of judge, jury and executioner were the ones seeking condemnation.
Jesus does not
judge her in this passage. He does not
scold her. He forgives her.
Now let’s not
overlook Jesus’ final line. “Go your
way, and from now on do not sin again.”
There’s a lot packed into that line.
On the surface is the acknowledgement that what she did was wrong. He’s not condoning it. He’s not saying it was okay. He’s just saying she’s escaping punishment
for it. She should not do it again.
This forgiveness
should however, need to a new life. “Go
your way…” is Jesus direction to live as God intended her to live – just like
Jesus goes on his way – not the way others say he should go; like we read his
brothers doing last week.
We do not know
this woman’s past, but this will impact her in the future. If she is a, “woman of ill repute” that means
a new livelihood for her in a culture which gives women little in the way of
livelihoods apart from being married. If
she is not, however, she has been publically disgraced. What will her family and friends say? What will her husband say? What will her lover do and say?
We don’t know her
back story, but her future story isn’t going to be easy.
In this text
Jesus brought the promise of freedom to all – scribes, Pharisees, the woman –
but that freedom demands a renunciation of old ways and former claims; for all,
not just the woman.
God’s grace is a
wonderful but puzzling thing. Let us
embrace it but not exploit it. And let
us not become jealous when God’s grace appears to forgive greater sinners than
ourselves. Our lives must be
accountable, but they are more than accountability, and that is true freedom.
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