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.”

REFLECTION:
We are presented with a very sad situation. For ­Jesus, it was ­doubly sad. We know the reason the Jewish leaders brought the woman to Jesus; it was to trap him.
The woman had been objectified. She didn’t have a name; she had no dignity; she was simply a sinner.
The leaders wanted Jesus to make the judgment.And behind these leaders were the angry crowd.
But Jesus remained silent. He was silent because he was discouraged by the hardness of their hearts.
He could have been asking himself, what has gone wrong with this people? Can human freedom be reduced to this? His heart must have been so sad.
Yes, the woman had done wrong according to their Law. But Jesus would not condemn nor would he justify her actions.
Rather, he invited them to look with their hearts the weaknesses of other people and discover the goodness
within them as he did with the Samaritan woman in John,chapter 4.
In this story of John, the woman was freed. She was saved from stoning but more so, she had been given a chance to live life anew.

© Copyright Bible Diary 2020