Fifth Sunday of Lent – Cycle C
Reflecting on John 8:1-11
That poor woman. How terrifying to be dragged in front of all those righteous men, so thrilled to finally have an actual, breathing sinner in front of them, and stones to boot! But I’ve always thought this event was a set-up. Yes, they may have known that a woman was consorting with a man not her husband. But perhaps this situation provided the perfect trap for Jesus, the Jew who preached compassion when faced with the rigors of the Law.
It must have been soul-deadening to walk around under the weight of those 619 laws.
I imagine those scribes and Pharisees had to have found the Law onerous as well. Had they noticed Jesus during the Festival, and assumed he’d be back in the Temple area the next day? Did they take advantage of the situation with the woman, and use her to force a confrontation with Jesus about compassion? The truth is, there isn’t a single known event of Jews stoning a woman caught in adultery.
I wonder if that proscription, coming all the way back in Leviticus 20:10, was something that bothered the Jews. Were they hoping Jesus would give them a way out of a terrible death penalty they would never have exacted anyway?
He did give them a way out, twice. The first was when he suggested that the one who was without sin throw the first stone. Whew! We’re all saved! We don’t have to pretend that we were actually going to kill her.
The second time Jesus offered a way out, of course, was on the Cross. That’s our way out from revenge, and violence. We should go, then, and not sin anymore.
How does your compassion offer a way out to people in your life?
Kathy McGovern ©2025