Today we have another Gospel passage with a familiar quote. People may not know its context, but they certainly can quote, “Let the one among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” (Or, in a more popular version, “Let the one without sin be the first cast a stone.”)
The story begins, “Jesus went to the Mount of Olives.” We know from the latter account of his agony in the garden that this was a place of prayer for him. It’s also the place where he wept over Jerusalem. He would return to the Mount each day to rest (Luke 21:37) and he went there on the night he was betrayed (Matthew 26:39). It seems his disciples would go elsewhere, but at the end of the day Jesus would return to the Mount of Olives.
John tells us the scribes and Pharisees brought a woman caught in adultery to Jesus “to test him.” If he upheld the Law and okayed the stoning of the woman, his enemies would accuse him before Pilate, since the Jewish authorities weren’t permitted to execute anyone. If he granted her a pardon, he would be accused of ignoring the Jewish Law and then lose standing before the people.
The forces that brought the woman to Jesus were powerful: the scribes had expertise, not just in writing (“scribe”) the Law, but interpreting it. The Pharisees were known for putting the Law scrupulously into practice in their daily lives. The scribes and Pharisees weren’t being honest. First of all, if they were interested in seeking justice they would have taken the woman to their religious authorities. Jesus wasn’t an official judge of legal matters. They were also misrepresenting the Law since it required, in the case of adultery, that both man and woman must be put to death (Dt 22:22; Lv 20:10). Further, they had brought the woman forward, but had ignored the man. Did they know who the man was? Was he a friend? Was he one of those who helped set up the exposure — “caught in the very act of committing adultery”?
People wonder what Jesus wrote when he bent down, “to write with his finger.” We don’t know, but it helps to know the possible symbolism here. We read in Exodus, “When the Lord had finished speaking to Moses on Mount Sinai, he gave the two tablets of the commandments, the stone tablets, inscribed by God’s own finger”(31:18). In Luke we read, “But if I drive out demons by the finger of God, then the kingdom of God has come to you”(11:20). This is the first reference in John’s Gospel to Jesus’ writing with his finger. Jesus with, “the finger of God,” is writing a new law — a law that releases the guilty from sin. The One sent by God has the authority of God to judge and then set free.
Don’t you find it interesting that Jesus doesn’t explicitly pronounce forgiveness or pardon for the woman? He didn’t say, “Go your way, your sins are forgiven” (as in Luke 5:28). Nor does he say that she did not do anything wrong. Still, we have interpreted his words to the woman as pardon; he releases her and then lets the matter rest with her. We can imagine what her experience must have been like: caught in a shameful act; on the verge of being executed; watching her accusers slink off aware of their own sins; then being set free by the one who rescued her and told her, “Neither do I condemn you. Go and from now on do not sin any more.”
One can imagine that hearing the Word of God, which did not condemn her, but set her free, might also have been a word that renewed and enabled her to start a new life. What effect would it have on us if we knew we had done wrong and were ready to be harshly and justifiably judged — and weren’t? Would we feel that “the finger of God” had touched and freed us so we could start all over?
We are not called to ignore or pass over sinful actions. But Jesus acts with mercy and compassion for others and offers forgiveness. Today’s passage reminds us that we are not to model ourselves after the example of those around us. Even when their arguments are right, they can still be wrong, if mercy and understanding are lacking. We tend to blame the “others” for the wrongs in our society — the poor, recent immigrants, the media, bosses, coworkers, spouses etc. — while we ourselves are guilty of the same things we blame them for.
Jesus does the unexpected for the woman and, in setting her free, he is doing what the prophet Isaiah promised God would do. “See, I am doing something new! Now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?” The prophet used images reminiscent of Israel’s exodus, their deliverance from Egyptian slavery, to once again instill hope in the people now held in Babylonian captivity. Isaiah is not speaking from a detached distance; for he is with the people in exile. He reminds them of what God once powerfully did for them and then tells them, to forget about all that. God is going to do even more wondrous things to free them.
Sometimes when we, like the Israelites, are going through difficult physical or spiritual tests, we look back on a former time with longing. We can get stuck in the past; as if ours is a once-only God. But Isaiah encourages that we draw hope from our past. God will not merely repeat what God once did; but will do something entirely new for us. Ours is a God of surprise.
The Isaiah reading shines a light on Jesus’ action towards the woman caught in adultery. He is her exodus; surprising her and leading her from her past towards “something new.” He announces, “Neither do I condemn you. Go and from now on do not sin any more.”
“The finger of God” is a strong biblical image, a reminder for us of the present action of God in our lives. The gospel is not just presenting Jesus as a model of compassion whom we ought to imitate. It’s clear from our experience that, on our own, we humans don’t tend towards compassion when a wrong has been committed. But in Jesus God has come close to us; we have been touched by “the finger of God” and so we are empowered to act mercifully as Jesus did. God has touched us with grace and so we reach out to others to be a sign of God’s saving love.
Jesus is a “natural” — it’s his very nature to save through mercy and forgiveness. Through our baptism we all are made new and share in his nature. When others were fast to condemn Jesus spoke, paused and gave them a chance to withdraw. There was no one left with the woman but Jesus and, the story reminds us, his nature is not to condemn, but to set free. Jesus took the woman very seriously. She was not an object to be used in a moral debate with the scribes and Pharisees. Instead, he saw her as a responsible human being who, despite her past, he would set free and give a new future. We resist sin, but in the face of the sinner, we ought to be compassionate, as Jesus was.
This gospel is chosen for a Sunday in Lent — it’s a reminder that despite our past, we can always change. God is not finished with us yet. Like the opportunity that was given to the woman, we can still start over and grow.