"“Then the scribes and Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery and made her stand in the middle (of the temple area where Jesus was teaching).” .”

John 8:3

This is the well-known story of the woman caught in adultery. In Jewish law adultery was one of the three gravest sins, all of which were punishable by death. As the experts of the law, the scribes and Pharisees bring this woman before Jesus and use her to try and destroy Jesus. They refer to Moses and say that he taught that such a woman should be stoned and they ask what Jesus has to say. If Jesus says that she should be stoned to death there goes his core teaching of love, mercy and befriending sinners. Plus, as a Jew under Roman law, he had no authority to pass or carry out the death sentence on any one. If Jesus offers pardon, he is breaking the law of Moses and condoning and even encouraging people to commit adultery. The trap has been set.

Imagine that you are there in the temple crowd, waiting for Jesus’ response. What was going on for the woman caught in adultery? First of all, to be a woman in those days was to be treated as a possession- someone used as a means to an end. How difficult would it have been for any woman to have dignity and self-esteem in that culture? Add to that all the weight of breaking the marriage covenant at the deepest level. The guilt of her adultery must have been ravaging her from the inside out. What about the fear of being killed? With all of this going on in her heart, she is brought into God’s house with her heinous sin to be utterly humiliated in front of others. What fear and shame must have shot through her veins?

What were the scribes and Pharisees thinking? Did they know this woman’s name? Did they care to know her name? Did they care about her esteem and dignity in God? What about her story? Why would she make the destroying choice of adultery in the first place? Were they in it for her good or just to use her as a valueless object to bring Jesus to a bad end?

What was Jesus thinking? He must have felt pity for them all. Pity is Jesus’ gut-wrenching, self-sacrificing, infinite love for us shown through the cross. Imagine how badly Jesus just wanted this woman to choose his real love in the first place instead of being duped and thinking it could happen in an adulterous relationship. Further, Jesus would never humiliate anyone on any level and use that person as a means to destroy the goodness of another. In this story we see the “leaders in the law” criticizing, humiliating and condemning the adulterous woman to bring her, and most especially Jesus, to a bad end. Jesus, by contrast, acts in the opposite way towards others. In his pity for us, he loves us into goodness.

How do I deal with sinners, and maybe especially myself? Am I like the leaders in the law who are critical, condemning, humiliating with a view to destroy others? Or do I cry out for the pity of Jesus in dealing with my own or other people’s sins? Do I care about why any one would sin in the first place and perpetually focus on how I can help that void and pain can be filled and healed?

Beg to have the gut-wrenching compassion of the cross dictate the way you relate. Love every person you meet into goodness.

God’s will!
+Fr. John