Shall we condemn her?

"There exists no culture in which adultery is unknown, no cultural device or code that extinguishes philandering." Helen Fisher

By Alex P. Vidal

NEW YORK CITY -- There is a very interesting incident in our history about a woman arrested for committing adultery.
Although the woman in this account was caught in an act of sin, Saints and Scoundrels of the Bible narrates that she was "most definitely an innocent party in the Pharisees' attempt to trap Jesus with his own words."
This sinful woman came face-to-face with the Messiah, it adds.
One day while Jesus was teaching the crowds in the temple courts, "teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery" (John 8:3 NIV).
Saints and Scoundrel of the Bible narrates: But these men who seemed so concerned about the law were disregarding it themselves--they had arrested only one of the guilty parties, and adultery takes two people.

HIRE

They brought only the woman to Jesus, suggesting that she had been hired into the relationship for the sole purpose of trapping her partners.
"They made her stand before the group and said to Jesus, 'Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. In the law, Moses commanded us to stone su ch woman. Now what do you say?" (8:35).
In their eyes, Jesus could have no right answer. If he said, "Stone her," then they could report him to the Roman authorities, who didn't allow Jews to carry out executions.
If Jesus said they should let her go, then he would be guilty of violating the law of Moses.
While the woman stood by, fully expecting death to come quickly, Jesus stooped and wrote on the ground with his finger.

CLOSE

The Bible dosen't tell us what he wrote, or if the woman was close enough to read it.
He may have been listing the sins of the accusers, assumes the book co-authored by Linda Chaffee Taylor, Carol Chaffee Fielding, and Drenda Thomas Richards.
Regardless of the message, they kept questioning Jesus until he stood up and said to them, "If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her" (John 8:7).
Evidently, continues the book, the older men in the group were more aware of their sins than the younger men.

CONFUSION

As they slipped quietly away, one by one, the older ones first, the woman's sense of dread must have changed to confusion.
She had been so close to death--what would happen to her now?
Then the Master turned to her and asked, "Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?"
"No one, sir," she said.
"Then neither do I condemn you," Jesus declared. "Go now and leave your life of sin (8:10-11).
With those words the woman received forgiveness. Jesus did not condone her sin but, rather, told her to change her ways, to turn over a new leaf.