Fifth Sunday of Lent (C): John 8:1-11
At first glance, this Gospel story may seem like last week’s Parable of the Prodigal Son. A person appears who is guilty of a serious sin. This person is shown mercy, much to the consternation of those who claim to uphold the Law of Moses.
It is tempting for us to explain such stories by pointing out a contrast between the compassion of Christ and the apparent harshness of the Law of Moses. Law versus Gospel. But the reality is not so simple. The Law is not as harsh as some believe it to be. The Gospel is often quite demanding, if we take it seriously and try to live it out sincerely.
Let’s look at a couple of examples from the Law of Moses. Slavery was accepted as the norm in the ancient world. However, because Israel itself had been freed from slavery by God, the Law of Moses has a certain bias against slavery, if we read it in its entirety. In fact, during the Jubilee Year (which happened every fiftieth year), all slaves were to be freed. All. Freed. If this “primitive” and “harsh” Law had been followed literally in this country, slavery would never have become the scandal that it was, and the Civil War would not have happened.
Secondly, people may point out that the Law tells us that we are to love our neighbor but hate our enemy. However, it also says that if you see one of your enemy’s animals stuck or overburdened, you must help it. There is a kind of compassion for both people and animals in the Law of Moses that could teach us, even today, a thing or two.
The disputes between the scribes and Pharisees, on the one hand, and Jesus, on the other, were not over whether people should choose between Law and love. Rather, these disputes were always over how the Law was meant to be understood and applied.
In our Gospel story, a woman is brought before Jesus. The scribes and Pharisees claim that she was caught in the act of adultery. Moreover, they added, the law of Moses prescribed stoning for such an offense. What, then, will Jesus say? The Gospel narrator adds that they brought the woman to Jesus to test Him, so that they might find some charge to bring against Him.
What we may easily miss here is that the scribes and Pharisees, although they claim to be upholding the Law of Moses here, are actually violating it in at least three ways.
First of all, someone accused of a serious sin like adultery must first be put on trial. There are specific rules for how the trial is to be conducted. None of that is happening here. This is basically a lynch mob, not a court scene. No evidence is presented. No opportunity is given for the woman to defend herself. The woman’s husband is not mentioned. He is usually the one who would make such a charge. Law is not being followed here.
Secondly, both the Law and the prophets tell the people, over and over, that they must never show partiality in judgement. They must never condemn the innocent nor acquit the guilty, but act justly. Now, if this woman was truly caught in the act of adultery, she was not alone. A man was with her. Where is the man? Why is he not also brought forward and accused, as he must be, according to the Law of Moses? The woman is being scapegoated here.
Thirdly, we have seen that the law forbids a person to allow his enemy’s animal to suffer if something can be done to help it. How much worse it must be, according to the Law, for the scribes and Pharisees to use a human being (the accused woman) as a pawn to get at Jesus, their enemy. They violate both the spirit and the letter of the law.
If we want to experience the power of this Gospel story, we need to be able to identify not only with the accused woman, but also with her accusers. Have we ever joined in some gossip which scapegoated someone else or condemned someone else unfairly? Have we been part of a social media frenzy, where some individual is tried and condemned by the “court” of opinion rather than by law and evidence? Have we too easily believed accusations against someone because we don’t like that person, or that person’s politics, or the people that person associates with? Do we readily assume that if someone is accused of something, that person is automatically guilty? Do we ever use one person as a means of getting back at someone else? Have we used one person’s sins as a means to somehow excuse ourselves of blame for our own?
What does Jesus do in the face of all this? First of all, He does not cooperate. He knows well that this is not a sincere accusation, nor is it a real trial. He will not take part in a lynching. Jesus pauses and begins to write on the ground. People have speculated about what He was writing, but we simply are not told that information. Jesus delays, to allow the crowd time to see what they are doing in the heat of their anger and scapegoating. When the accusers persist, and fail to see the point, Jesus addresses them directly: “Let the one among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her”.
Jesus is not merely referring to other sins that the woman’s accusers may be guilty of. He is referring to the sin they are NOW guilty of. In pretending to uphold the Law, they are violating it so that they can accuse Jesus of something – using this woman as though she were nothing but bait to catch some fish with.
We are then told that the woman’s accusers then walk away, beginning with the eldest. Have they seen their sin and repented? Or, are they unwilling to declare themselves sinless before others by casting a stone at the woman, and thus “look bad” in front of others? We do not know for certain. This part of the story is left hanging so that we might be drawn in and ask ourselves what we would do if we find that we, too, are like these accusers.
Yes, we, too, hold stones in our own hands. We can use them to attack people who have been accused of something, even though we do not know if they are guilty. We can use them to attack people who are actually innocent, but who annoy us in some way.
Stones, however, have other uses. They can be used for building. We can, rather, use them to build a society where people are treated justly and fairly. We can build a society where even the accused are not presumed guilty until there is solid evidence. We can build a society that seeks to show mercy and compassion whenever possible. We can reject all forms of scapegoating and prejudice, never forgetting that we, too, sin and fail at times. We can seek to forgive, to heal divisions between people, and (by God’s grace) to help foster a world where people are reconciled and live in peace. We can seek forgiveness for any time when we have failed to act with justice and mercy. We can stand with Jesus Christ, who came to reconcile all people to the Father and to one another.