LAY DOMINICANS Central Province USA

Sunday’s Gospel Message

“A woman caught in adultery”

One of the most fascinating aspects of every trap Jesus” opponents devised is that each time they netted themselves. It’s almost a cartoon: Elmer Fudd aims at Bugs Bunny, never noticing the gun barrel has been bent, and shoots himself in the foot.

But think about it for a minute. In the first place, where would you go to catch some woman in the act of adultery? There may be someplace here in our town, but I sure don’t know where it is. How did the religious leaders know the address?

And then, who was the man? Why did they let the guy go--and which one of them got him to volunteer?

It’s helpful to remember this when someone attacks our faith, and we’re momentarily off guard. Whatever the nature of their attack, it says more about them than about Christ.

“Neither do I condemn you” Some have suggested that when Jesus wroe on the ground He recorded the sins of the woman’s accusers. They slipped away, not because of any shame or sympathy for the woman, but because they dared not risk exposure. Whether or not this is true, it is dangerous to condemn others. In doing go, we condemn ourselves, for none of us is without sin.

What’s stunning in this account, however, are Jesus’ words. As one who was without sin, and who had been appointed by the Father to judge humankind (cf. 5:22), Jesus refused to condemn the woman despite her real guilt.

The saying echoes John’s words in 3:17. Jesus did not come into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. And that salvation involves more than forgiveness. It involves a change of life: a change reflected in Christ’s words, “Go now and leave your life of sin.”

I remember from my old Lutheran days reading that D.L. Moody once met by a man who staggered out of a bar, gripped the evangelist’s lapels, and announced with delight, “You’re he man who saved me!” Moody replied, “I suspect I did. If Jesus had saved you, you wouldn’t be here now.”

When Jesus saves us, we really do leave our life of sin.