Second Chances

Today this gospel gives us a story of classic human behavior, and an essential lesson in a spirituality of repentance and forgiveness. The image of these Scribes and the Pharisees standing there with their fingers pointing and their fists full of stones is so very chilling. So quickly, so easily, so publicly they point and accuse, they blame and they shame.

Then all of a sudden, they are gone. Sometimes I think the meeting of the Scribes and Pharisees with Jesus is even more important than Jesus encounter with the woman. Certainly, we miss so much of this gospel if we only reflect upon Jesus or only identify with the woman in the story: she is not the only sinner St. John puts before us today.

Proclaiming this gospel and pondering its truth in the midst of Lent leads us to look at ourselves, not someone else. And that is the problem with these Scribes and Pharisees, and it is the challenge Jesus puts right in front of them!

"Look at yourselves", he suggests, "Don't be pointing your fingers of accusation and blame at another." The God of mercy calls us to drop the stones we are so willing and so readily throw at each another, and use these remaining Lenten days for our own repentance and our own forgiveness.

There is something always troubling about this story. Adultery is a sin committed by two people. The ancient law prescribes that both should be put to death. While the words of Jesus to the woman give us a strong focus on God's mercy, the absence of the other party to this sin allows us to shift our attention to the Scribes and Pharisees.

This is another of many confrontation stories between Jesus and these Scribes and Pharisees. He confronts a kind of Scribe and Pharisee that can exist in any religious group or business, or community—those people who are so absolutely certain that they are right, and that the truth begins and ends with them. The religious leaders in this gospel are so certain Jesus is not from God, that to get evidence against him they are willing to use a woman, publicly shame her, perhaps protect her male partner, and forget that they themselves are sinners.

Unlike them, Jesus condemns no one, neither the woman nor the Scribes and Pharisees. Instead, by his silence, he creates some space for them to see themselves, and give them room for self-recognition. An old legend, that I like, says that when Jesus bent down and began writing, he was writing the sins of all the crowd who were accusing this woman.

Somewhere in this story, we must find ourselves: either in the one who got away, the one who knows the mercy and compassion of God, or the ones who point and accuse, failing to recognize, in spite of all the signs, the presence of the God who has come to set them free. Or perhaps we can begin to find ourselves in the Holy One who is by his gentleness, the very healing, loving, forgiving presence of God.

However it works, we cannot just stand outside the gospel story and be mere spectators or observers. To do only this, would miss the opportunity for conversion. Who are you most like in the Gospel today? The woman caught? The judgmental, accusing Pharisees? The leering crowd?

Use this as the opportunity to become more like Jesus, the Source of Truth and Compassion and Forgiveness.