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Greetings, Everyone!
Decades ago, when I was first hired to teach full time at DePaul University, I was invited to meet with the late Rev. John T. Richardson, C.M., the president of the university. I had already served as an adjunct in the English Department for several years, but as I was now transitioning into a full-time, five-year appointment, that meant a mandatory one-on-one meeting with Fr. Richardson. Like all other "new" faculty, I needed to demonstrate my understanding of the school's core mission: Vincentian Personalism. In lay terms, what this means is that every human has innate dignity and is worthy of respect and care-- the kind of care that the university has demonstrated since its founding in 1898 by making education accessible to all. It also reflects the care that Jesus extends not only to the woman caught in adultery, but to everyone in need of healing and forgiveness.
Though I no longer teach at DePaul, I have never forgotten that "The Way of Wisdom" is based on kindness and compassion. Sadly, our world today is lacking in both. I think of the more than 200,000 federal employees who have lost their livelihood on account of DOGE firings, of the seemingly haphazard deportation system which has landed innocent people in El Salvador's notorious mega prison, of cuts to "safety-net" programming for the poor and destitute... I think and continue to think, longing for a time when true greatness will be measured by how well we treat one another.
Lenten Blessings,
Elizabeth
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SCRIPTURE REFLECTION
Link to Sunday Readings
The scribes and Pharisees brought a woman
who had been caught in adultery
and made her stand in the middle.
They said to Jesus,
“Teacher, this woman was caught
committing adultery. Now, in the law,
Moses commanded us to stone such women.
What do you say?”
They said this to trap him,
so they could have some charge to bring against him.
Jesus bent down and began to write on the ground with his finger,
but when they continued questioning him,
he straightened up and said,
“Let the one among you who is without sin
be the first to throw a stone at her.”
Again, he bent down and wrote on the ground.
At this, they went away one by one,
beginning with the elders.
So he was left alone with the woman standing before him.
Straightening up, Jesus said to her,
“Woman, where are they?
Has no one condemned you?”
She replied, “No one, sir.”
Then Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you.
Go, and from now on do not sin any more.”
John 8:1-11
It takes two to Tango -- and two to commit adultery. Conveniently, the religious leaders drag a woman before Jesus, without her partner, and ask if he agrees with Moses that she should be stoned to death. The situation, of course, is a set-up. Neither the scribes nor the Pharisees are particularly interested in the woman; she is merely a prop they can use to trap Jesus. What they are hoping is that he will show his usual compassion and try to save her life-- a response that would defy the Mosaic code. According to Dt. 22, "If a man is discovered having relations with a woman who is married to another, both the man and the woman with whom he had relations shall die" (Dt 22:22). The same punishment would apply if a man were to rape a betrothed virgin in the city "because she did not cry out for help" (Dt 22:23-24); however, if the unfortunate betrothed maiden were raped in the open fields, only the man would die as there would be no one around to hear her cries (Dt 22:27). The one exception to the death penalty would be if a man raped a maiden who was not betrothed to another; in this case, he would have to pay her father fifty silver shekels and marry her! (Dt 22:28-29). Though we do not know the woman's status, it is probable that she is either married or betrothed; since Jesus tells her, "Go and sin no more," it is unlikely that she is the victim of rape. Maybe she and her partner are lovers; maybe-- and there is no scriptural evidence for this-- she is the local prostitute. Regardless, she has been caught "in the act" and is now awaiting execution.
Jesus responds with what Mahatma Gandhi would name "soul force" (Satyagraha). Refusing to answer the question posed by his interrogators, he instead writes on the ground, no doubt unnerving them as they have no idea what he is writing. When he finally speaks, his words are directed at the witnesses. According to Dt. 17:6-7, the testimony of two or three witnesses was required for putting a person to death; then, at the execution, the witnesses were to raise their stones first, before anyone else could join in the stoning. All Jesus has to say is, “Let the one among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her,” and the witnesses walk away, no doubt afraid of what he might know about their own sinful history.
In this story, which many scholars attribute to St. Luke rather than John the Evangelist, there is a collision of values: legalism v. compassion, hypocrisy v. authenticity, duplicity v. integrity, patriarchy v. egalitarianism. For the religious leaders, the woman is an object, a disposable pawn in their efforts to entrap Jesus. The fact that they bring her forward, alone, without her partner, suggests gender-based double standards, as well as a disregard for the Mosaic Laws regarding adultery. What they attempt to do is place Jesus in a "no win" situation: if he were to say "Stone her!" he would be going against his own teachings on mercy; if he were to say, "Spare her!" he would be breaking the Mosaic code. Instead, he turns the tables on his opponents and secures the woman's release. What we see in action is "soul mastery" -- the ability to respond without reacting or allowing oneself to be intimidated. Jesus, in fact, demonstrates the advice he gives in Mt 10: 16: "Be as shrewd as serpents and simple as doves." Since true discipleship involves putting oneself at risk, we need to be on guard, ready to resist vicious attacks without sacrificing our own humanity in the process. Dark and dangerous times, then, call for spiritual preparation, a fact known to all those who advocate for human rights...
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