Monday of the Fifth Week of Lent - March 26, 2012
John 8:2 - 11
At dawn he appeared again in the temple courts, where all the people gathered around him, and he sat down to teach them. The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group and said to Jesus, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?” They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him.
But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground.
At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there. Jesus straightened up and asked her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?”
“No one, sir,” she said.
“Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.”
The men who brought this woman to Jesus were not interested in the woman. They were interested in the issue, in the sin. She was a mere prop for them. That happens often when people are issue-driven, compelled to take a stand for what they feel is right and moral. Then, humans lose their faces. Real people become the pawns moved about for the sake of the issue or the cause.
You see that a lot in political campaigns among those running for public office. Their cause becomes the matter of highest importance, and while they may pull persons out of the crowd to use as examples of their moral stance, for the most part they have convinced themselves that their cause is right and just, apart from how it impacts real people.
The passage also says something to us about sin and our human experience. That is: None of us are left out. "Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her," was Jesus' way of saying, "No one is exempt. No one is clean here. No one lives life perfectly. Everyone is broken and wounded."
This is the human condition, the real fact of what life is like for us. Of course, these Pharisees may have agreed that no one was perfect, BUT . . .
. . . but she was a woman, and they were men. And throughout history, men have sat in the seats of power (and judgement), while women have been those judged (and without power).
. . . but the woman's sin was not their sin, and someone else's sin always looks more serious and threatening than our own.
. . . but her sin was sexual, and because for centuries humans have subconsciously thought of the body (and matter) as dirty/evil and the spirit as pure, sin has been linked to sexuality. Even modern folks still live subconsciously with this framework.
. . . but the Pharisees graded sin on a sliding scale. Her adultery was a bigger sin than their judgement, pride, ego, stubbornness, and hard-heartedness.
We are each broken and wounded in different ways. We have our own unique limitations. This is not our excuse to do wrong or to harm another; rather, it is the reality of our human situation.
Jesus demonstrated that the appropriate response to human brokenness and moral laxity is not judgement, but compassion. Judgement rarely changes behavior at the roots (it can intimidate behavior change for a season). Compassion often leads to a change of heart, and is healing both for the giver and the receiver.
For today . . . if there is anything in the scripture or the meditation material that stirs you, stay with it. Bring that stirring into your prayer. Listen for the voice of God in it. You may want to write down a few thoughts of your own. Let this passage speak to you today.
At dawn he appeared again in the temple courts, where all the people gathered around him, and he sat down to teach them. The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group and said to Jesus, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?” They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him.
But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground.
At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there. Jesus straightened up and asked her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?”
“No one, sir,” she said.
“Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.”
The men who brought this woman to Jesus were not interested in the woman. They were interested in the issue, in the sin. She was a mere prop for them. That happens often when people are issue-driven, compelled to take a stand for what they feel is right and moral. Then, humans lose their faces. Real people become the pawns moved about for the sake of the issue or the cause.
You see that a lot in political campaigns among those running for public office. Their cause becomes the matter of highest importance, and while they may pull persons out of the crowd to use as examples of their moral stance, for the most part they have convinced themselves that their cause is right and just, apart from how it impacts real people.
The passage also says something to us about sin and our human experience. That is: None of us are left out. "Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her," was Jesus' way of saying, "No one is exempt. No one is clean here. No one lives life perfectly. Everyone is broken and wounded."
This is the human condition, the real fact of what life is like for us. Of course, these Pharisees may have agreed that no one was perfect, BUT . . .
. . . but she was a woman, and they were men. And throughout history, men have sat in the seats of power (and judgement), while women have been those judged (and without power).
. . . but the woman's sin was not their sin, and someone else's sin always looks more serious and threatening than our own.
. . . but her sin was sexual, and because for centuries humans have subconsciously thought of the body (and matter) as dirty/evil and the spirit as pure, sin has been linked to sexuality. Even modern folks still live subconsciously with this framework.
. . . but the Pharisees graded sin on a sliding scale. Her adultery was a bigger sin than their judgement, pride, ego, stubbornness, and hard-heartedness.
We are each broken and wounded in different ways. We have our own unique limitations. This is not our excuse to do wrong or to harm another; rather, it is the reality of our human situation.
Jesus demonstrated that the appropriate response to human brokenness and moral laxity is not judgement, but compassion. Judgement rarely changes behavior at the roots (it can intimidate behavior change for a season). Compassion often leads to a change of heart, and is healing both for the giver and the receiver.
For today . . . if there is anything in the scripture or the meditation material that stirs you, stay with it. Bring that stirring into your prayer. Listen for the voice of God in it. You may want to write down a few thoughts of your own. Let this passage speak to you today.
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