John 8: 3 – 11
The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman caught in
adultery, and having set her down in the middle of the town square, they said
to Jesus, “Teacher, this woman has been caught in adultery, in the very act.
Now in the Law, Moses commanded us to stone such women; what then do you say?”
They were saying this, testing him, so that they might have grounds for
accusing him. Jesus stooped down and with his finger wrote on the ground. But
when they persisted in asking him, he straightened up, and said to them, “He
who is without sin among you, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.”
Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground. When they heard it, they began
to go away one by one, beginning with the older ones, and he was left alone,
and the woman, where she was, in the middle of the square. Straightening up,
Jesus said to her, “Woman, where have they gone? Did no one condemn you?” She
said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you. Go, and from now on
sin no more.”
*
God
is not a man or a woman. God is not a Christian or a Jew or a Muslim or a Hindu
or a Buddhist or a Taoist. God is love — pure unconditional love. When we
experience unconditional love, we are in the presence of God. When we love
someone unconditionally, God is acting through us.
We
try to represent God in words and pictures; in symbols and stained glass
windows. But God cannot be framed in mental images. God cannot be described in
human words. The only thing that we can know with certainty about God is what
Saint John tells us in the Gospel: God is love, and he or she who abides in
love, abides in God.
The
presence of God in our lives is not measured by how many Masses or church
services we attend, or how many rosaries or devotions we pray, or how many
hymns we sing. It’s not dependent on
the acts of religious piety we practice, or the politics we subscribe to. It’s
not observable by the color of our skin, our religious affiliation, our place
in society, our marital status, our finances, or our sexual orientation. The
presence of God in our lives is dependent on one thing only — the presence of
unconditional love in our hearts. Someone once asked Jesus what the greatest
commandment is — what is the most important thing that we were called to do
with our lives? His answer was very clear: “Love God with your whole heart and
soul, and love your neighbor as yourself.”
The
people in today’s Gospel were very self-righteous and unloving. They saw themselves
as judges and as God’s avenging agents. But Jesus very gently set them
straight. He bent down and wrote with his finger in the dirt. One by one he
looked into their eyes and wrote down each person’s private sins — their acts
of meanness and selfishness. He showed them how far away from God they really were.
And one by one they dropped their stones and slipped away with shame. Then
Jesus lifted the frightened woman from the ground. He showed her unconditional
love and she experienced the presence of God. She went away both forgiven and
healed.
Are there times when we are tempted to
look down on others; to feel that we are morally superior or closer to God; to
think that another person is unworthy to be in church, to receive Communion;
times when our hands are raised to cast the stones of self-righteousness?
Whenever we are so tempted, let us pause and feel Jesus’ finger writing gently on
our hearts; reminding us of our own humanness; calling us to stop judging
others; calling us to drop our stones; calling us to love and forgive others
the way God loves and forgives us.
……………………………………………………………………………………..
Readers
of this blog might enjoy these books by Deacon Lex. Both are available on
Amazon.com:
Just
to Follow My Friend: Experiencing God’s Presence in Everyday Life
Synchronicity
as the Work of the Holy Spirit: Jungian Insights for Spiritual Direction and
Pastoral Ministry
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