“Has no one condemned you?”
As we enter the second half of the Season of Lent, our Gospel themes zero in on the love and mercy of Jesus. In that regard, this coming Sunday's Gospel reading is one of the most dramatic in all of scripture: the story of the Woman Caught in Adultery. From the eighth chapter of John's Gospel, this heart-wrenching story is filled with emotion.
It begins with a woman thrown down before Jesus, and we are told she "had been caught in adultery." So many questions arise initially: Where is the man she was caught with? How did it come about that she "was caught in the very act"? Was this a set up in order to have something to bring before Jesus to humiliate him?
These Pharisees are convinced that the Law of Moses is on their side and that they have a right to stone her to death. But they also know that the Roman law forbids them to carry out capital punishment. They are testing Jesus to see where his loyalties lie: to God and God's Law or to the despised Roman occupiers and their laws. And Jesus clearly knows what they are trying to do. So, he bends down to write in the sand with his finger. More questions: What is he writing? Is this a stall tactic? Why is he being so calm in the midst of this apparent moment of crisis? Then Jesus shows his true colors; he reveals the depths of his mercy; he makes known the love of his Sacred Heart: “Let the one among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” A dramatic challenge to answer the dramatic ultimatum.
One can imagine the stunned silence among the crowd. Men, with smirks on their faces and stones in their hands, ready to throw them at a moments' notice, suddenly humiliated by the very one they were trying to humiliate. Then, slowly, "they went away one by one, beginning with the elders", and likely filled with rage and plotting a new way to ruin him.
Then comes the end of the story: the woman's encounter with Jesus. Up to this point the woman was just a pawn, a useful tool for these men to show forth their power and to humiliate Jesus. Now, Jesus turns to her, likely bruised, battered, dirty from the ground, tears rolling down her cheeks, and perhaps wearing very little clothing. He asks two simple questions: “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” The answer may be obvious, but Jesus still waits. The woman replies: “No one, sir.” And Jesus, eyes filled with mercy, heart filled with love, and desire filled with a hopeful future, says, “Neither do I condemn you. Go, and from now on do not sin any more.”
As we move ever closer to Good Friday, the great day of our salvation, may we never cease to say, like this woman likely said for the rest of her life: Jesus, I trust in your mercy.
Want to prepare your heart and mind for Sunday's Mass? Click here to find the readings.