Fifth Sunday of Lent (Year C Readings)
Let me tell you how important the story of Jesus' encounter with the woman taken in adultery is. What if I told you that this passage does not originally belong to the gospel of John. The style in which the story is written reads more like it belong to the Synoptic gospels. Moreover, the place where it has been inserted in the gospel of John seems artificial. The story was part of the oral tradition. But the editors of the gospel of John found it necessary to preserve it in the written tradition. It is a true and treasured witness to Jesus of Nazareth.
Separating the Situation from the Plot
To understand the passage, we have to distinguish the situation from the plot. The situation is that the woman has been caught in the very act of adultery and she has been placed in the middle of the crowd. Jesus’ opponents have already decided that the woman will be dealt with according to the law of Moses. She will be stoned.
The plot is different. It is not the woman who is at the center of the plot. Jesus is at the center of the plot. The plot is to test Jesus. They were trying to create a situation where Jesus might be found in conflict with Moses and the Law. This way they could do to him what they had planned to do to her.
Jesus knew the plot. But Jesus deals with the situation with unusual calm. Jesus knows the law. He is the Law. He knows that the law was not given to test people and oppress them. According to the Law, the woman deserved to be stoned. But Jesus was willing to risk turning the Law upside down, especially, if the woman was being made is a mere object in a plot schemed by unconscionable men.
Surprisingly, Jesus does not contest the Law. Jesus merely asks them to let the person who has not sinned throw the first stone. They all walked away. They had to walk away because every one of them was with sin. She was left alone with the only man who could have thrown the first stone. He was the only sinless one there. He does not stone. He does not condemn. Rather, He sends away forgiven, loved, and free.
Here are my three practical implications. To draw the practical implications, I am drawing on today’s first reading from Isaiah. God says, “Remember not the events of the past, the things of long ago consider not; see, I am doing something new!” (Is 43:18-19a). In the story of the woman taken in adultery, Jesus was offering a new of way looking at God, religion, and the human person.
1) Jesus’ revelation of God was something new. Unlike the past, instead of people getting stoned to death, Jesus revealed a God of tenderness, a God of compassion, a God not just of second and third chances but a God of seventy- times-seven chances. Let me take this even further. Jesus revealed a God who would rather die for us than see us be stoned and perish.
This was something totally new for the people who encountered the God of Jesus Christ. Even today, it is not unusual to hear preachers present a God whose justice is without mercy, whose love is not free, and whose temple is only for the worthy. The story of the woman taken in adultery show us a God whose justice is mercy, whose love is free, and at whose table there is a place for everyone. Indeed, in Jesus, God has made all things new.
2) Jesus breathed new life insight into religion. Central to our faith is doctrines, laws, rituals, and obligations. All these are important. As Jesus said to the woman at the end of the passage, “Go and sin no more.” There are doctrines to be adhered, laws to be followed, rituals to be performed. But Jesus teaches us that central to religion and society also is the dignity of the human person.
The laws, doctrines, rituals, and obligations are not unimportant, but as we see with the woman taken in adultery, Jesus would not allow them to objectify her merely to fulfil the Law. Religion is meant to give life, not destroy it. Religion is meant to set us free, not enslave us. Religion is meant to lead us to love and not to judgement. Religion is meant to lead us to forgiveness, not condemnation. Religion is meant to bring humanity to God and not drive them away. Jesus transformed how we imagine religion, our relationship with God, and our relationship with others, even sinners and enemies. Jesus was making all things new.
3) Finally, one more thing that is new – a new understanding of sin and forgiveness. There are a lot of things common to human beings. We all have a soul, we all have hour intellect, and we all have free will. But there is yet another thing that is common to us – that we are all sinners. Despite this, often we have the tendency to minimize our sins and exaggerate other people’s fault. There is always someone who is worse than us. Perhaps, it makes us look better in our own eyes.
Jesus’ opponents were all sinners. Not one of them could have thrown the first stone. Despite this, they were bent on making a scene of her sin but not their own. They had created their own concept of sin and forgiveness.
There is a twist in the story. Each of the woman's accusers may walked away without throwing a stone. But the only person who went away forgiven, loved, and free that day was the woman. The rest went away with their sin in them. The self-righteous have no need of God. It is the sinner who ends up being forgiven, loved and free. Jesus has made all things new.
Our Christian living is a new life lived in Jesus Christ. May our life bear witness to the God who says, “See, I am doing something new!”
- Fr. Satish Joseph