Love sets you free

 ‘…Has no one condemned you?...’ (John 8:10)

John 8:1-11 (Year C: Passion Sunday – Lent 5)

A choice of readings

Almost as significant an issue as universal agreement, West and East, on the date of Easter (and an issue that divided the early Irish Church from Rome) would be universal agreement on the choice of Gospel reading for this 5^th Sunday of Lent in ‘Year C’ (when the Gospel of Luke provides most of the Sunday readings in the third of a three-year cycle of readings). Alas, I am going with the choice of reading from the Roman Catholic cycle which differs, on this Sunday from other cycles including the widely used ‘Revised Common Lectionary’ cycle. For some very strange reason John 8:1-11 (the story of the woman caught in adultery) does not feature in the Revised Common Lectionary cycle of Sunday readings. Might this omission be in any way connected to the omission of this passage from some of the ancient versions of the gospel of John especially among Christians in the East?  Some scholars have speculated that John 8:1-11 was a late insertion and was influenced by a terse two lines to be found in the Gospel of Luke (21:37-38).  Whatever the case may be, this passage from John is a good complement to the story of the Prodigal Son which was the basis for last week’s reflection (Without Shame).  Last week concerned a story about a father and two sons one of whom went well astray. This week’s story is about a woman who also went astray. The context and social circumstances could not be more different but one theme remains: God’s mercy rules.  As Luke and John have it, Jesus was at the moment of teaching in the surroundings of the Temple in Jerusalem – not to supplant the ‘Old Law’ as to radically re-situate it in the Law of Mercy which trumps all Laws and laws.

(For those on the RCL cycle a reflection on the alternative reading for this Sunday in John 12:1-8 may be found under a Blog from last year: “Extravagant Love”.   As it happens, both stories concern a woman of doubtful repute and the behaviour of Jesus towards such women in contrast to that of ‘respectable’ and ‘upright’ men of religious standing in the community. Take your pick of readings this Sunday!)

That which incites religious 'passion'

The story of Jesus and ‘the scribes and the Pharisees’ (Luke 8:1-11) tells us a lot about who Jesus was for John and his community towards the end of the first century.  Now, there is nothing to excite men, and religiously minded men in particular, than sex! (of those afflictions in the world such as climate change, poverty, war and oppression none creates more disunity, conflict and passion in some religious circles than the detailed functioning of sex).  John 8:1-11 presents a woman who ‘was caught in the very act of committing adultery’. But, Jesus was not falling for a trap deliberately set for him by malevolent agitators.  The LAW in this situation, according to its controllers, was death by stoning (see, for example, Deuteronomy 22:21-24). Such punishment is meted out to women today in some parts of the world including countries whose regimes are supported by the Western powers. Other sexual transgressions – in the view of the punishers – give rise to the same punishment. Although there are ten commandments some seem to be specially deserving of an angry punishment especially when it concerns women – so the twisted view of God that can pervade some religious mind-sets then and now.

Care is needed in quoting scripture

It would be possible to select out particular passages in the Old Testament to try to justify someone being put to death.  Knowing this to be the case should caution us against the use of these same or similar verses to justify particular theological views in today’s world. How can the biblical literalists quote one verse from one book of the Old Testament to suit their case and ignore another verse from the very same source.  All of scripture is sacred and divinely inspired. But, it is written by humans in a given culture at a given time for given purposes and needs to be ‘translated’ carefully in today’s world without losing the essential point that we (and not just I) believe God is communicating through these wonderful books, poems, letters and stories.  It would be tragic if this reading from Passion Sunday were to ever provide fuel for an ungodly passion to punish others for transgressions that we ourselves might have undertaken or other transgressions by us against others to which we are blind.

In presenting the woman caught in adultery the ‘scribes and Pharisees’ had two purposes in mind:

• To continue humiliating a woman caught in sin; and
• To catch out (and presumably humiliate) Jesus as either a breaker of the law or a stoner of women.

Dealing with the critics

In one word this was about humiliation. ‘And making her stand before all of them’ (v.3) the woman was put on trial. At the same time, Jesus was also on trial facing the same religious accusers and manipulators of truth.  Jesus took charge of the situation by doing and saying nothing for a while and refusing to be boxed in or manipulated by the agenda of his questioners. But, the questioners were not going to be deterred by Jesus’ behaviour. ‘They kept on questioning him..’ (v. 7). Then Jesus turns the tables so to speak (and recall that according to John this episode was happening in the Temple precincts).  He invites the first one without sin to cast the first stone. And then we he bent his head down and started writing with his finger on the sandy surface (one wonders what he was writing).  Now, here is what happens – the accusers melted away one by one ‘beginning with the elders’. To be fair to the accusers and the elders they had some vestiges of self-respect and conscience and walked away rather than initiate the stoning. Mind you they did not apologise. Neither did they hang around to look Jesus and the woman in the face.  In one fell swoop Jesus has silenced and scattered the accusers of this woman while, at the same time, setting that woman free to be who she really was and could be. Who was this woman and what became of her subsequently we do not know. Perhaps she became a key disciple – even a martyr – and her role was written out of history (and that would not be the first time such a thing has happened).  Or, maybe she just went back to a very ordinary life in which she found the true love that she was looking for because she had been completely missing the target.

There is an important line to this story which has also been omitted in some ancient scriptural texts and it is this: ‘Neither do I condemn you. Go your way, and from now on do not sin again’ (v. 11).  Put simply it means that there is no condemnation in Christ but he is with us and before us and behind us to enable us to walk in a new way in a new life. Not sinning any more is the challenge if we put it in a negative way. Practicing compassion, forgiveness from the heart and generosity where we find ourselves is the best antidote to those sins that drag us down or hold us back, viz, those things we do and say and that we know we should not do or say and those things we ought to do and say and that we know we do not.  In a letter to fellow Chistians in Philippi Paul wrote:

 ^…forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on towards the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus.

 ‘Where are they?’ asks Jesus (v.10). Indeed. Where are those who accused this woman and also Jesus? Where are those who might judge us and you and me for this and for that?  Who are they to judge? Who am I to judge others or even myself? (1 Corinthians 4:3) for there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ (Romans 8:1).  It is essential that we leave both judgment with Christ. It stops there. 

It’s as simple as that

And where were all those friends and neighbours and family? The woman was said to be alone with Jesus.  In all likelihood friends, family and neighbours were too scared, anyway, to come near her. Or, perhaps, they had already written her off and excluded her as a bad person.  The point is that she is now left ‘alone’ with Jesus. This is all that matters right now. At any moment we may find ourselves alone with Jesus who looks steadily at us today as he did 2,000 years ago with the woman of this story and he says “You are good. You are forgiven. You are not condemned. The past is gone. Look to the future with confidence and with a firm resolve to live a good life”. It’s as simple as that.