Casting the first stone

March 13, 2016 5th Sunday of Lent 1st Reading: Is 43:16-212nd Reading: Phil 3:8-14 Gospel: Jn 8:1-11

Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. At daybreak Jesus appeared in the Temple again. All the people came to him, and he sat down and began to teach them.

Then the teachers of the Law and the Pharisees brought in a woman who had been caught in the act of adultery. They made her stand in front of everyone. “Master,” they said, “this woman has been caught in the act of adultery. Now the Law of Moses orders that such women be stoned to death; but you, what do you say?” They said this to test Jesus, in order to have some charge against him.

Jesus bent down and started writing on the ground with his finger. And as they continued to ask him, he straightened up and said to them, “Let anyone among you who has no sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” And he bent down again, writing on the ground.

As a result of these words, they went away, one by one, starting with the elders, and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him. Then Jesus stood up and said to her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” She replied, “No one.” And Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you; go away and don’t sin again.”

D@iGITAL-EXPERIENCE (Daily Gospel in the Assimilated Life Experience)

Jesus’ enemies who had failed to trap him in the past finally found a tool to pin him down. Under their current laws the adulterous woman was supposed to be stoned to death. If Jesus stopped the stoning, they could charge him of obstruction. If Jesus allowed it, they could discredit him for betraying his preferential love for sinners.

Jesus chose none of the two. All he said was “Let anyone among you who has no sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” They could have cast that first stone since they were righteous in the eyes of the public. But by scribbling on the ground Jesus who could read minds (Matt. 12:25) could expose their sins. They couldn’t allow the case of a woman of ill repute to put their public image at risk.

At first the issue of the adulterous woman focused on what was right. The focus shifted in the end to who was left. Only Jesus was left because he alone had the right to cast the first stone. The woman’s story assures all sinners of the bottomless compassion of God. But it also challenges sinners to stop sinning. Isaiah echoes Jesus’ call to stop sinning in the first reading: “Do not dwell on the past…” (Isaiah 43:16-21). The second reading points to our source of strength in case we take the challenge: “May I know him and experience the power of his resurrection” (Philippians 3:8-14).—Rev. Fr. Dan Domingo P. delos Angeles, Jr., DM. Email: dan.delosangeles@gmail.com.

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