Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more

 And everyone went to his own house.  But Jesus went to the Mount of Olives.

Now early in the morning He came again into the temple, and all the people came to Him; and He sat down and taught them.  Then the scribes and Pharisees brought to Him a woman caught in adultery.  And when they had set her in the midst, they said to Him, "Teacher, this woman was caught in adultery, in the very act.  Now Moses, in the law, commanded us that such should be stoned.  But what do You say?"  This they said, testing Him, that they might have something of which to accuse Him.  But Jesus stooped down and wrote on the ground with His finger, as though He did not hear.  So when they continued asking Him, He raised Himself up and said to them, "He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first."  And again He stopped down and wrote on the ground.  Then those who heard it, being convicted by their conscience, went out one by one, beginning with the oldest even to the last.  And Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst.  When Jesus had raised Himself up and saw no one but the woman, He said to her, "Woman, where are those accusers of yours?  Has no one condemned you?"  She said, "No one, Lord."  And Jesus said to her, "Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more." 

- John 7:53-8:11

Yesterday we read that, on the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, "If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink.  He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water."  But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.  Therefore many from the crowd, when they heard this saying, said, "Truly this is the Prophet."  Others said, "This is the Christ."  But some said, "Will the Christ come out of Galilee?  Has not Scripture said that the Christ comes from the seed of David and from the town of Bethlehem, where David was?"  So there was a division among the people because of Him.  Now some of them wanted to take Him, but no one laid hands on Him.  Then the officers came to the chief priests and Pharisees, who said to them, "Why have you not brought Him?"  The officers answered, "No man ever spoke like this Man!"  Then the Pharisees answered them, "Are you also deceived?  Have any of the rulers or the Pharisees believed in Him?  But this crowd that does not know the law is accursed."  Nicodemus (he who came to Jesus by night, being one of them) said to them, "Does our law judge a man before it hears him and knows what he is doing?"  They answered and said to him, "Are you also from Galilee?  Search and look, for no prophet has arisen out of Galilee."

 And everyone went to his own house.  But Jesus went to the Mount of Olives.  After the tumultuous events in the temple, all depart for the evening, and Jesus spends the night with the pilgrims, on the Mount of Olives.

Now early in the morning He came again into the temple, and all the people came to Him; and He sat down and taught them.  Then the scribes and Pharisees brought to Him a woman caught in adultery.  And when they had set her in the midst, they said to Him, "Teacher, this woman was caught in adultery, in the very act."   Today's entire reading, from 7:53 (above) to the story of the woman caught in adultery, is not found in several ancient manuscripts.  Neither is it covered in the commentaries of St. John Chrysostom and certain other Patristic writers.  But, my study bible says, it is still sealed by the Church as inspired, authentic, canonical Scripture, and therefore bears the same authority as all other Scripture.  This story is found in over 900 manuscripts.

"Now Moses, in the law, commanded us that such should be stoned.  But what do You say?"  This they said, testing Him, that they might have something of which to accuse Him.  But Jesus stooped down and wrote on the ground with His finger, as though He did not hear.  My study bible tells us that the law dictated the death penalty for adulterers (Leviticus 20:10).  If we read the law carefully, we note it stipulates the death penalty for both parties, not just the woman.   My study bible adds that this ordinance was not observed to the letter at the time of Jesus.  The Pharisees bring this woman to Him simply because it was an opportunity to test Him.  If Jesus objects to the punishment, He can be accused of opposing the Law.  If He upholds the punishment, He can be accused of showing no mercy to sinners.  Interestingly, this is the single place in the New Testament in which we're told that Jesus wrote something.  There are several theories regarding what He wrote.  Some say that He wrote the Ten Commandments, which each of the accusers have violated at least once.  Others say that He wrote the names of the accusers who had committed adultery themselves.

So when they continued asking Him, He raised Himself up and said to them, "He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first."  And again He stopped down and wrote on the ground.  Then those who heard it, being convicted by their conscience, went out one by one, beginning with the oldest even to the last.  And Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst.  When Jesus had raised Himself up and saw no one but the woman, He said to her, "Woman, where are those accusers of yours?  Has no one condemned you?"  She said, "No one, Lord."  And Jesus said to her, "Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more."  My study bible says that Jesus' answer confounds the Pharisees, as He upholds a great principle of the Law -- that the wages of sin is death (Genesis 2:17, Romans 6:23) -- but without neglecting its greater aspect of mercy (Deuteronomy 13:17, Psalms 116:2-117:4, Hosea 6:6).  This mercy, my study bible tells us, is offered freely to all repentant sinners.  But in order to receive that gift, we must make the effort to flee from sin, as Christ commands in the final verse.

It's interesting to observe that Jesus is, in some sense, the God of second chances.  He is our Lord of mercy, but He does not cease to preach "go and sin no more."  He does not say that what she did is fine, He simply refuses to condemn, and teaches her that she must change her conduct.  These things form a delicate balance, which some people frequently find difficult to grasp.  "Mercy" is construed as something the opposite of "justice."  But this simply isn't the case.  One doesn't leave the other out.  Rather, they are part and parcel of one another.  What Christ does here is illustrate our lives as a continuum, in which we are called to learn and to grow, in which we are constantly called back to God, to the place where we need to be, the road we need to be on.  These are our "second chances," and they don't neglect the weighty matters of spiritual law.  Instead, they give us a kind of roadmap, a place to find our way, the GPS of God, if you will.  Our Lord always calls us back, but neither does He make excuses -- instead He holds us accountable for the things of which we are capable, for the "better behavior" that He knows we must accept to live and to make a part of our lives in this world.  Over the course of the past three readings, we have observed how John's Gospel concerns itself with matters of justice, of good judgment, of righteous judgment.  Here, Jesus shows righteous judgment not only by not condemning this woman and giving her a second chance, but through some mysterious factor sending those away who are also not without sin.  Modern ears such as ours may view this law which gives a death penalty for adultery as extreme and bad on its face.  But let us not forget that my study bible tells us that even in Christ's time it wasn't enforced.  And certainly it included the same penalty for both parties engaged in adultery -- and where is the man with whom this woman is accused of committing the crime?  Noticeably absent, and perhaps one of the men in the crowd at that.  Quite possibly the entire episode is one which is deliberately "set up" in order to trap Jesus in the first place.  As Jesus does not pronounce the woman entirely innocent of committing adultery, we might presume she was someone rather notorious or known for such -- and in such a case, Jesus' giving her a second chance adds an even deeper meaning to His notion of justice.  For if this woman indeed is an adulterer (which Jesus certainly seems to acknowledge as true), He is giving to her a road out of the habitual pattern of her life.  He's offering to her a way to set her own life straight and out of the grip of sin.  Thus, His refusal to condemn is also a refusal to pigeon-hole, to set her in a place where she has a permanent label of adulteress.  He gives her new life, exactly as He has promised in His sermons that He has come to bestow on all, if we but grasp it and take hold of His way.  And that is the real story here about righteous judgment, that we each have a way out of our habitual patterns, the labels we put upon ourselves or which others put upon us.  Our Lord is the God of second chances, the One who does not turn away, who offers us a way out, if we will but grasp the mission, the effort, the life and commands He places before us.  Let us note, in keeping with modern phrases regarding justice and judgment, that this is not a "Get Out of Jail Free" card.  Jesus doesn't give easy excuses or free passes.  Instead, He gives new life, a second chance, a new way to go forward.  He offers us a map for salvation, a plan, because we are not capable of designing such roads and maps ourselves.  He gives us what we need most, a "way," as in "I am the way, the truth, and the life" (14:6), in which way is translated from the Greek word which also means road or path.  Christ's justice does not bypass the law nor sin, but neither does it neglect mercy.  It offers us second chances, and His call or command to "Follow Me" must be understood as always calling us back to His way, which He has described as straight and narrow (Matthew 7:14).  This is the path we seek and follow, calling us back to Him -- the One who is both the path and the door (10:7).  Let us find and seek His way to righteous judgment, and the life He offers which is always new (Revelation 21:5), and through which we are always called forward.