Jesus And The Woman Taken In Adultery: One Who Excuses Himself, Accuses Himself.

A rusty old shield one day prayed, “O sun, illumine me"; and the sun answered, “First, polish yourself."

Jesus told them, “Let the one among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.”

Apparently, each of the Pharisees was weighing in his mind the risk of pursuing his hypocrisy further, since they could be stoned themselves. They had attempted to trap Jesus, but now they were trapped by the same Law. So, each Pharisee, in his desire to avoid the very stones he had suggested for another, walked away one by one.

Lent is a time to examine our conscience and go to confession.

Jesus does not initially respond to the Pharisees’ challenge but remains silent. Why?

Saint John Paul II said: By his silence he invites everyone to self-reflection.

On the one hand, he invites the woman to acknowledge the wrong committed; on the other, he invites her accusers not to shrink from an examination of conscience: "Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her" (Jn 8: 7).

2). There is a difference between the evil act, which as such must be condemned, from the person who has committed it, to whom God offers the possibility of changing.

While man tends to identify the sinner with his sin, closing every escape, the heavenly Father instead has sent his Son into the world to offer everyone a way to salvation.

To illustrate:

A wise man was once threatened with death by a bandit called Angulimal.

“Then be good enough to fulfill my dying wish,” said the wise man. “Cut off the branch of that tree.”

One slash of the sword, and it was done! “What now?” asked the bandit.

Put it back again,” said the wise man.

The bandit laughed. “You must be crazy to think anyone can do that.”

“On the contrary, it is you who are crazy to think that you are mighty because you can wound and destroy. That is the task of children. The mighty know how to create and heal.”

v. 6 and v. 8 say that Jesus bent down. The Lord Jesus of glory Himself, stooped for you! God had commanded that adultery be prosecuted (Deut. 22:23-24), and Deuteronomy 22:24 was clear. She was to be stoned. However, Jesus wrote her acquittal on ground. He came to set us free.

Who is this woman? The answer may surprise you. She's you. And she's us. In a sense, we have all been "caught" in our sins because one day all hidden sin will be revealed for all to see. That is the Lord’s clear statement Luke 12:3.

Moving on, v.9 says “So [Jesus] was left alone with the woman before him.”

When all is said and done, it will just be you and Jesus. As the religious leaders walked away from the scandalous scene, all that was left was Jesus and the sinner. So, it will be for every one of us when we meet Jesus to receive our eternal judgment when we die, (please God, may we be found at that time as redeemed sinners in the state of grace).

The French have a proverb, one who excuses himself, accuses himself.

The woman spoke for the first and only time in our story. She answered, “No one, sir.” She didn’t try to explain away her circumstances. She made no excuses for her sin. Others condemned her. Jesus forgave her.

Lastly verse 11 says, “Go, and sin no more.”

Venerable Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen said, “It is a law of nature that no one ever gets his second wind until he has used up his first wind. So, it is with knowledge. Only when we practice the moral truths which we already know will a deeper understanding of those truths and a fuller revelation come to us. Each new height the mind reveals must be captured by the will before greater heights come into view.”

After absolution in confession, we can make amends. Jesus wants us to do so not with fear and obsessive rumination but with peace. For the lady, this means that all adulterous affairs must cease for the rest of her life. Lent is a time to let go of defense mechanisms and denial.

Our First reading, “see, I am doing something new!” which means that God’s victory during the exodus from Egypt is prototype of restoration. God will again free the exiles!

Maybe the woman went back to her husband and reconciled. One thing is that we can’t imagine is that she went back to living the way she had in the past. Living with boundaries is a learned behavior. As she does so, she will be given new moral knowledge and greater heights of holiness.