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.”
Reflection:
To let go of something, one must possess it first. To forget, one
must remember first. Jesus lets the woman go from her burdensome
past into the liberating freedom to live her life differently. He does so,
precisely because her entire life has been so darkened by her humiliating
past, a memory forced on her by society, giving her no freedom to
break free. Jesus gives her a future. However, the crowd who brought
her had no consciousness of their sinful past. Hence, Jesus gently
nudges them to remember their own stories. He doesn’t do so to
chain them to their past, but to make them realize their kinship with the
woman, own up their past, and then let it go, embracing the freedom he
was offering them as well.
© Copyright Bible Diary 2022