Today we hear the familiar story of the Woman Caught in Adultery. What should we focus our vision on right now? We
should focus on God. On what God is doing right now. In this story what Jesus
does in the present moment is what holds value – not just for the woman but for
all those gathered around trying to make sense of who Jesus is and what his
brand of faithfulness actually entails.
Jesus refuses to get into the debate about the value
of the law. Instead, he asks those gathered around to consider their own
faithfulness. The scribes and Pharisees have dragged this woman into the temple
area in order to exploit her sin for their own purposes. Jesus does not engage
in this enterprise at all. Have you ever wondered – what in the world is he
writing in the sand? What a strange reaction. Maybe he’s writing out a list of
their sins or hinting at them. Whatever it is, though, it works, and everyone
leaves, including the judgmental religious leaders. Instead, he waits for the
crowd to disperse, and then engages the person. Jesus does not address her sin,
he addresses her fear of condemnation, assuring her that she is not condemned.
She is not perfect as we too are imperfect.
I remember being on retreat once and the director had
me reflect on this scripture. We were at a house near a beach, and she encouraged
me to go and walk on the beach and to sit on the sand and write what I heard
Jesus saying to me. It was an extremely powerful prayer experience. I sat on
the beach for a long time and kept writing in the sand smoothing it out and
writing again. As I sat there, I kept thinking about the woman and what she
must have felt. In the end she felt Jesus’ love and mercy and that is all that
mattered.
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