Sticking your neck out.

What if it IS True? Blog

Discovering, wrestling with, and trying like crazy to live Gospel virtue.

04/07/14

John 8:1-11

Jesus went to the Mount of Olives.
But early in the morning he arrived again in the temple area,
and all the people started coming to him,
and he sat down and taught them.
Then the scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman
who had been caught in adultery
and made her stand in the middle.
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.
So what do you say?”
They said this to test him,
so that 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 asking him,
he straightened up and said to them,
“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.
And in response, they went away one by one,
beginning with the elders.
So he was left alone with the woman before him.
Then Jesus straightened up and 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.”

Go and sin no more. If only, right? But why would Christ give such a seemingly impossible command. The only way I can look at this with any hope is that he knew well ahead of time what we humans would be about. He knows he's creation and also knows that the only way we can remotely obey this command is with a hearty dose of grace. So while we may not ever be able to avoid all sin, we can at least trust that when we do, Christ will be there to save us again.

I think it's important to try to avoid sin, however. I know that I can, with grace, work on my temper, for example. The times I might see as inconvenience like getting stuck in traffic or being interrupted during a busy day can actually be turned into a meditative prayer. I can choose to look at that moment as a needed break in the business. I can trust as St. Josemaria Escriva teaches in The Way, that what is happening now is happening for my own good and for my chance to grow in holiness. All easier said than done, but just opening our eyes to it makes it at least doable.

Another clear example of virtue in this passage is the coming to the defense of the defenseless. There's a graphically riveting scene from Daniel that companions this mass reading that shows Daniel coming to the defense of an accused woman in a very similar way as Jesus does here. So our question is, can we do this too? Is it something that we're willing to do? Sticking our neck out is risky, it's sticking our neck out. That's a metaphor for the guillotine, after all. So while we're working on not sinning, we can work on going the extra mile and look for opportunities to defend others. And if we're looking to be sinless, we can try to be charitable in this way of defending. 1 Peter is clear here. Charity covers a multitude of sins.

Good luck and God bless,

Leo Brown