I DO NOT CONDEMN YOU EITHER

JOHN CHAPTER 8:1-11

 Then everyone went home, but Jesus went to the Mount of Olives.  Early the next morning he went back to the Temple. All the people gathered round him, and he sat down and began to teach them.  The teachers of the Law and the Pharisees brought in a woman who had been caught committing adultery, and they made her stand before them all.  “Teacher,” they said to Jesus “this woman was caught in the very act of committing adultery.  In our Law Moses commanded that such a woman must be stoned to death. Now, what do you say?” They said this to trap him.

But he bent over and wrote on the ground with his finger. As they stood there asking him questions, he straighten himself up and said to them, “whoever one of you has not committed no sin may throw the first stone at her”. Then he bent over again and wrote on the ground. When they heard this, they all left one by one, the older ones first.

Jesus was left alone with the woman still standing there. He straighten himself up and said to her, “Where are they? Is there no one left to condemn you?

 

No one, Sir, she answered. 

“Well, then, “Jesus said, “I do not condemn you either. Go, but do not sin again.” 

When pain and suffering, humiliation and fear takes us down into the deepest parts of the self, resurrection is only one thought away. Sr. Joan Chittister, O.S.B. 

After the argument about his divinity, and trying to explain: Lord Jesus you know everything. You are patient, there was no hatred in your heart, and you went to Mount Olives to pray.  It’s like all night you were in communion with God.

 

Caught in the act of adultery: The teachers and Pharisees were out to set a trap for Jesus, they called him “Teacher” did they really accept him as teacher? Can you imagine the woman humiliation? Can you imagine her state of mind? Did anyone bother to know why she committed the sin? They who condemned her, are they sinless? Yet they are out to commit murder. What would have remained of her, if Christ did not intervened? The Law of Moses they claimed to obey how sincere are they? So many questions, my brothers and sisters you could join me in asking.

I pray that I will not be a hypocrite, God of mercy direct my actions.  Lord Jesus Christ, thank you for your mercy, your patience and love.