Dear Parish Family,
How does it happen that a group of men catch a woman “in the very act” of committing adultery, and only the woman is apprehended? What happened to her partner? Already the scenario is suspect. And if the scribes and Pharisees are bent on justice, why do they bring the alleged adulteress to Jesus rather than to one of their legal officials? They refer to the fact that the Law of Moses mandates the death penalty in such a case and ask what Jesus has to say. The Evangelist says, “They said this to test him, so that they could have some charge to bring against him.” What is the test? Jesus is put between the wall and hard rock: If he condemns woman to death, he will be in trouble with the Roman authority that reserved to itself the death penalty, and if he let the woman go scot-free, he would be in contempt of the Mosaic Law.
Jesus refuses to play his adversaries’ game. Instead, he proceeds to do that famously enigmatic writing on the ground. What the narrative makes clear is that Jesus refuses to be lured into their trap. When they continue to press him, Jesus says, “Let the one among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” Is Jesus suggesting that the criminal law and legal punishment can only be administered by sinless people? Rather Jesus is highlighting the fact that appearing to be seekers after law and order, the Scribes and Pharisees are exposed as hypocrites simply bent on protecting their own power. Jesus' delay tactic of scribbling on the ground has allowed some time for this reality to sink in. One by one, the accusers depart, leaving Jesus alone with the accused.
In words that suggest that he is savoring the irony of the situation, Jesus says, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” “No one, sir,” she says. Then Jesus says, “Neither do I condemn you. Go, and from now on do not sin anymore.” What delicacy. As every preacher has observed, Jesus forgives the sinner without denying the sin. Mercy invites conversion.
Even this sinful woman is invited to a holy life when she encounters the Messiah. Lent and Easter provide us with the opportunity “to go forth weeping so that we can come back rejoicing,” so that we can “turn to the Lord and live.” (Responsorial Psalm). The challenge is personal conversion. The challenge is also social conversion, the transformation of the world. We are not to retreat from the world into a closet of private spirituality; rather, we ask God in this Lenten season “to help us to embrace the world you have given us, that we may transform the darkness of its pain into the life and joy of Easter.”
It is easy for the Christian to take a self-righteous attitude toward the world; it is much more difficult to take Jesus’ attitude: “Neither do I condemn you: go and do not sin again.” All of us have contributed to the darkness of the world; none of us can cast the first stone. We are invited to be ‘the broken-healers.’
Fr. Tom Kunnel C.O.