THE gospel reading today presents us with the woman who was caught in the act of adultery and who had been dragged to the presence of Jesus Christ in order to see if He would proceed with her condemnation to death, as stipulated by Jewish law.
This incident is also singled out by Pope John Paul II in his important letter on the dignity and vocation of women. There, the pope points out an important discrepancy—the woman’s condemnation is sought, but the man, who is equally guilty, is nowhere to be found. The guilty male partner seems to get away scot-free.
What was Jesus’ reaction? The gospel tells us that he refused to condemn the woman to death. At the same time, He did not condone her sin of adultery.
We can say that He preferred the conversion of that sinful person over her punishment. In fact, Jesus’ advice to her was “From now on, sin no more” (John 8:11).
Yet we can extend that concern of Jesus to the anonymous accomplice in her sin. And we can even extend it to all the men who had gathered around in order to participate in the prospective stoning session. In fact, we can extend this piece of advice to ourselves.
Regarding the men who clamored for the punishment of the woman, Jesus also had a lesson for them. “Let the one without sin among you be the first to cast a stone at her” (John 8:7).
Were they not also sinful? Did they not have something to be sorry for, too? After a bit of personal examination, they had to admit it. And so they began to leave, all of them, the old and the young.
That incident at least helped them not to be self-complacent. Like the woman, Jesus’ first advice was for them to sin no more.
It is so easy to raise a fuss over the supposed faults of others. It is so easy to suffer for all the sins of mankind, past, present and future.
In a mysterious way, as Christ was suffering on the cross, He also had in mind the personal sins of each one of us. So that whenever we offend God grievously, it is like we were crucifying Christ once again. And every time we commit a venial sin, we are somehow inflicting more pain to His wounds.
This coming Holy Week is a wonderful occasion for us to resolve to fight against sin. And we can do so by going to the sacrament of penance and reconciliation. In that sacrament, we apply all the merits of Christ’s suffering to our guilty condition.
On the other hand, if we choose to ignore this moment of grace and conversion, we are wasting all that suffering and squandering away the love of God.