WHO CAUGHT WHO?
Monday in the 5th Week of Lent
John 8: 1-11
This Gospel episode always intrigues me. The accusers of the adulterous woman claim that they caught the woman in the act of adultery. I wonder: Were they spying on her with the intention of imposing on her the death penalty or were the accusers peeping at the keyhole of the room she was in with her client because, in truth, they themselves really desired for her, too? If the scribes and Pharisees really caught the woman in the act of adultery, either they must have really intended to catch her so that she may be stoned to death or she must have actually caught them in their own lust for her. Who caught who?
If they intended to catch her so that she might be stoned to death, the scribes and Pharisees were not really after her conversion to God and the salvation of her soul. Like mad dogs thirsting for blood, they were after her death. Such is man’s inhumanity to man.
If she actually caught her accusers in their own lust for her, they were guilty of adultery as much as she was. For Jesus said, “…everyone who looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart” (Matthew 5:28). Adultery is not only in the act; adultery begins with the ill desires of the heart.
When we are rather too quick to point an accusing finger at someone, let us pause for a really long while and see what Jesus writes on the ground with His finger. He may be writing down a litany of our sins instead. Then the fingers we point at others are actually fingers pointed to us.
Jesus, tell us, who caught who?
John 8: 1-11
This Gospel episode always intrigues me. The accusers of the adulterous woman claim that they caught the woman in the act of adultery. I wonder: Were they spying on her with the intention of imposing on her the death penalty or were the accusers peeping at the keyhole of the room she was in with her client because, in truth, they themselves really desired for her, too? If the scribes and Pharisees really caught the woman in the act of adultery, either they must have really intended to catch her so that she may be stoned to death or she must have actually caught them in their own lust for her. Who caught who?
If they intended to catch her so that she might be stoned to death, the scribes and Pharisees were not really after her conversion to God and the salvation of her soul. Like mad dogs thirsting for blood, they were after her death. Such is man’s inhumanity to man.
If she actually caught her accusers in their own lust for her, they were guilty of adultery as much as she was. For Jesus said, “…everyone who looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart” (Matthew 5:28). Adultery is not only in the act; adultery begins with the ill desires of the heart.
When we are rather too quick to point an accusing finger at someone, let us pause for a really long while and see what Jesus writes on the ground with His finger. He may be writing down a litany of our sins instead. Then the fingers we point at others are actually fingers pointed to us.
Jesus, tell us, who caught who?
posted by Fr. Bobby @ 3:00 PM
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