Summary: I have always disliked this Gospel story. I don’t like the thought of that woman standing there in her shame in front of a bunch of haughty accusers pointing at her, threatening her, and challenging Jesus. It is just an ugly scene, an ugly thought, a sad moment that really only resolves kindly for that woman. The rest of us are left standing there looking down.I don’t like the fact that she is being used. This is not about her, and it is not about adultery. It is about those scribes and pharisees with all their self-righteous moral superiority using that woman to trap Jesus and prove themselves so law abiding and innocent. I just don’t like it when people get used by other people to make themselves look good. It happens all the time, because people who want to look good are not good, or at least do not feel good about themselves, so they have to use someone else or tear them down with their accusations, gossip, or whispered stories that may or may not be true.I don’t like the fact that she is there alone. It takes two to commit that sin. Where is that guy? Did he slip away in the confusion of being caught? In that culture, according to the Book of Deuteronomy (22,22) which those scribes and pharisees knew very well, both were to be killed. They are not enforcing the law. Maybe the husband set the trap knowing that she would be killed. Perhaps some enemies of his set the trap in order to shame him. It is impossible to decide but the embarrassment of the situation is surpassed only by the malice of setting the trap to catch the partners in the act. There is ugly malice here, and it isn’t adultery.Of course, the trap for the woman only a setup for the trap being set for Jesus which is what this is all about. If Jesus urges them to release the woman, he violates the law, and they will pounce on him faster than they did on the woman. If he orders her to be stoned, he will be in trouble with the Romans who have taken away the right of capital punishment from the Judeans.He doodles on the ground. It was and still is what people did at that time and place when they are thinking. Finally he responds to their badgering by challenging this zealous lynch mob to consider their motives. He asks them to think about why they are there, and that stops them in their tracks, because their righteous goal is motivated by the wrong reason; and that’s not a good way to accomplish something right. Doing the right thing for the wrong reason never makes it the right thing no matter what.In the end, it seems to me that the scribes and pharisees are the ones caught, not just the woman. In a world where getting caught now seems to be worse than what you were caught doing, the story leaves us with more than enough to think about for the rest of Lent as we prepare for Passion Week. It’s almost as though unless we get caught doing wrong, we can keep on going without a thought about what’s going on. Sadly, our children are learning this all too quickly. They seem to spend more time in denial and lying, covering up and devising schemes to not get caught than they might in looking at why they do those things in the first place. We have taught them this behavior, and it is like a virus spreading widely and wildly.The consequence of all this is a lot of resentment, revenge and anger. We seem to resent mercy, and we find the easy forgiveness of Jesus a little hard to imitate. In him we find no revenge even toward the scribes and pharisees who try so hard to trap him. At best, this ugly story can give us hope for the day when we shall stand before the judge, the prophet, the Son of Man in all our guilt and shame and hope that there will be no rush to judgement, and that having used others far too often, accused, and blamed others, we might escape the stoning and death we deserve.The one who said: “Behold, I make all things new.” is remaking the look of justice. The best we can do is stand there in grateful awe and silence waiting for the look of mercy. If that is our hope, we might have a better chance that it would come true by beginning to practice and share that mercy with each other, lifting the burden of shame, purifying all our motives for the good that we do, and making sure that we never again use anyone to make ourselves look better while embracing the truth that we are sinners hoping for forgiveness and we have no business holding stones in our hands.
