The Pharisees and the Scribes were right inasmuch as the woman was really adulterous. But the way they treated her was anything but kind. For them she was only a show-piece, to be cruelly exposed and shown around. It was really a show of power and privilege. They had only one intention: that the law of Moses indicated in Deut should be applied to her. Any adulterous acts in Deut. 22 is punishable by death.
The Pharisees and Scribes have the same murderous intent for Jesus. They are looking for ways and means to discredit him with the people. He is a threat to their beliefs about God and His laws. They are scandalize and indignant that this man Jesus could think outside the law and therefore outside God’s influence. They would readily accuse Jesus of the same cruelty that they imposed on the woman if Jesus would have said yes to stoning her.
Jesus was giving them and us now a wonderful example of kind thoughts and interpretation of the law of God. Jesus did not betray the truth, neither toward the Pharisees, nor toward the woman. And he does not provoke nor shame either of the two.
Today righteous Christians would condemn both Pharisees and the woman. Talk about Pharisaical attitude and hypocrisy. Jesus could have easily exposed their hypocrisy in public and could have ridiculed them. But nothing of this kind do we see in Christ’s behavior.
All need the loving mercy of God, even the offender. There is always an opportunity to repent as long as one still breathes. He only says: Let him who has not sinned cast the first stone. There is something to learn here. We today are so impatient with the sin of others. We have a tendency to judge who is right or wrong. It is difficult not to especially when it involves a clear cut aggressor.
Jesus never behaved this way. He says in another passage in SS that he only does what the Father is doing. So when Jesus acts it is the Father acting in Him. If he is compassionate and forgiving, the Father is compassionate and forgiving. This what He told Philip. If you see me, you see God. His kind words, to those whom we think do not deserve it (the Pharisees and the Scribes) allowed them to leave without shame.
Could we do as much to people who are unjust? Many would fail the test in this day and age. But the most amazing thing is his tenderness to the woman caught in adultery: we would call there today “family breaker” or even worse. He did not deny that her adultery was wrong. He did not overlook her fault as if nothing happened. He did not shame her, nor ridicule her. He forgives her sin and restores her divine life and encourages her to do better in the future: Go and do not sin again! Paraphrasing that Jesus is saying: Go and do not hurt yourself again.
To live without divine guidance in our action is to live a miserable life and thus inflicting misery upon ourselves. Renewal, conversion by kind thoughts is what we need to do in Lent. If we heed the spirit of Lent and wish to turn towards God the best way is to be healed and be reformed in our thoughts, to think as God thinks, to do as Jesus did.
In the gospel today we meet 2 sinners, lest we forget. If our thoughts are kind and compassionate and forgiving, recognizing what is good, then our acts will of necessity become right and just. It is unwise to dismiss our thinking because our thoughts reveal who we are. No one can prevent us from thinking. That is why when we think it is always free and honest. No one, not even the most dire environment can prevent anyone from thinking. And if it is free and honest in the sense that it is there present – then it reveals who we are. You can never lie to yourself. And God knows our thinking and that is why we need to convert, reform and let God heal our thoughts.
The Pharisees and Scribes to be fair is just protecting their belief in God and His laws. You see they studied God and all his laws. They know, so to speak, all about God…how He would think, how he would behave and His attitude towards sinners. It was black and white. But unfortunately, this kind of thinking makes them on equal footing with God especially when they defend God and his laws.
But to meet God in Jesus is a different matter. We are constantly amazed of the ever newness and refreshing understanding of God His Father. It is like a well spring of the Spirit within us. God constantly bestows on the pardoned sinner gifts no one has experienced before. To be thinking like God through Jesus expands our thoughts and life and brings peace and joy to our burdened hearts. It widens our world of existence from within and without. Our life becomes unpredictable because there is no plan from our side. It is simply being led by God in pastures we have not been before. The adulterous woman’s life has expanded beyond her imagination. She has gained an alternative life far greater than her former adulterous life which simply offered pleasure and nothing else or as St. Paul considered it, mere dung.
Lent is the time to commit ourselves to doing good. And we must be aware of it. We have to be aware of what we are doing especially when we are dealing with our neighbors.
Commitment to good is commitment to God for God is good. And it begins with good thoughts, God thoughts.