Alone Again

According to John, the apostles all went home, leaving Jesus alone to pray.

Then each of them went home, while Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. Early in the morning he came again to the temple. All the people came to him and he sat down and began to teach them. The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery; and making her stand before all of them, they said to him, "Teacher, this woman was caught in the very act of committing adultery. Now in the law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?" They said this to test him, so that they might have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground. When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, "Let anyone among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her." And once again he bent down and wrote on the ground. When they heard it, they went away, one by one, beginning with the elders; and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him. Jesus straightened up and said to her, "Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?" She said, "No one, sir." And Jesus said, "Neither do I condemn you. Go your way, and from now on do not sin again." - John 7:53-8:11

In the morning, Jesus returns to the Temple and begins to teach.

So, there must have been a crowd or people eager to hear what Jesus had to say.  And they would have seen the Pharisees and scribes arrive with the woman they charged with adultery.

It is odd that the crowd isn't mentioned.  Just the woman, the men who are accusing her, and Jesus.

And when Jesus finishes writing in the dirt, there is no one left but the woman and him.

So, who told the story?

The way John tells the story, the woman has no name.  She is anybody who could be dragged out and accused of a sin or crime.  And she is alone.

The man who committed this sin with her is not present, or at least he is not singled out.  Perhaps he was one of the men accusing her.

Perhaps his name was one Jesus scratched into the ground, if that is what he did.

Or maybe her husband was there among them.

Maybe he was the one to gather them all together to charge her.  And why bring her to Jesus?  That was probably the idea of the Pharisees who hated him more than hating the sin itself.

They were willing to make a spectacle of the situation, but they made one mistake.  They left the judgment in Jesus' hands.

By handing her over to him, they gave up their authority over her, and Jesus used that against them.

Once again, it was the Pharisees and scribes who were alone, open to ridicule and disgrace, without even realizing it.

So, Jesus shows them that they were also guilty of sin.

Actually, they showed it themselves by walking away when challenged.

What could teh men have done that caused them to walk away?  We will never know.  It didn't have to be a big sin, but it could have been.  

Once one turned, the others, possibly knowing something about the failings of each, decided to leave as well.

Imagine how they felt.  Chances are they were not remorseful, since they would come back to arrest him another day.

They simply chose to let this one go.

And so did Jesus.

He shows us in this that he has compassion for those who are judged, whether they are guilty or not.  

What does that tell us about us?

More to come...