Judgment on the Adulteress.

(John 8:1-11).

This is narrated by Evangelist John only. Having spent the night in prayer on the Mount of Olives — situated east of Jerusalem, where the Lord used to withdraw to for the night on His visits to Jerusalem — He came to the temple in the morning and again began to teach the people. The Scribes and Pharisees, endeavoring to “have something of which to accuse Him,” brought a woman caught in the sin of adultery, and “testing Him” they said: “Teacher, this woman was caught in adultery, in the very act. Now Moses, in the law, commanded us that such should be stoned. But what do You say?” Had the Lord said: “stone her,” He would have been accused by them before the Roman authorities, because the right of passing death sentences by the Senhadrin had been revoked — especially, the right to carry it out. On the other hand, if He had said “release her,” He would have been accused before the people as being a violator of Moses’ law. Stooping, the Lord wrote on the ground with His finger, “as though He did not hear.”

The Evangelist does not reveal what He wrote, and it’s useless to try and establish what it was. The most common deduction is that in response, the Lord was writing the sins committed by those who posed the question. As they persisted in getting an answer, the Lord lifted His head and told them: “He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her.” The Lord’s words produced a jolting reaction on the not completely sleeping conscience of the Pharisees. Evidently, in recollecting their own sins — similar to that of the woman’s — they started to leave one after another, accused by their conscience, until the Lord was left alone with the woman. Thus, as we can see, the Lord responded to the cunningness of the Pharisees by shifting their question of guilt of the woman, from the abstract-legal realm into a moral one. In doing so, He placed the very accusers into a position of the accused before their consciences.

The Lord acted in this fashion, because the Pharisees that had brought the woman, did not constitute a legal court that was capable of determining a punishment for her sin. They brought the woman to the Lord with evil intentions, exposing her to shame, calumny and condemnation, while forgetting about their own sins in which they were accused of by the Lord.

Characteristically, the woman did not take advantage of the favorable moment in departing quickly. Evidently, her conscience spoke and penitent feelings stirred. This would explain why the Lord then said: “Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more.” Naturally, one shouldn’t interpret these words as not condemning sin. The Lord came to seek out and save lost souls (Mat. 18:11; Luke 7:48; John 3:17; 12:47): That’s why He condemns sin but not the sinners, wishing to predispose them toward repentance. Consequently, the words leveled at the adulteress have the following meaning: “I am not punishing you for your sins, but want you to repent: go forth and do not sin again” — all the potency is in these final words. This section of the Gospel teaches us to avoid the sin of condemning your loved ones. Instead, it offers us to condemn ourselves for our personal sins and repent in them.