Adulterous Shenanigans

But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger.When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, "If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her."Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground.

At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there. Jesus straightened up and asked her, "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.” – John 8: 6-11

Today’s Reading: 1 Chronicles 19-21; John 8:1-27

This is the famous scene where some folks catch a woman in the act of adultery and they ask Jesus if they should stone her. Then Jesus starts to write on the ground with his finger and the events above transpire.

I’ve always had a few interesting thoughts about this scene… some more serious than others.

First thought

What in the world was Jesus writing on the ground? My new twitter friend @HomeEverAfter heard that some folks say he was writing the names of the accusers who also committed adultery.

That would be pretty funny, and effective, and I do think that Jesus does have that kind of sense of humor (funny of course with 2000 years of hindsight…). I used to think something along those lines as well. But what if it was something totally random? My current vote is that he was writing a miracle grocery list. His thought process was something like this:

Thought bubble above his head as he is writing: “Hmm… ok I gotta feed 5000 people this coming Friday. So I’m gonna need five loaves of bread, and I think two fish will do it. Hmm but what to drink? Will two barrels of water suffice? Should it be white wine this time? Naww… The Cabernet is always the best way to go. Dry baby… keep it dry…”

Second Thought

They found her in the act of adultery right? That begs the question… where’s the dude???

I mean seriously… that’s so problematic. He must have been well versed on the Shaggy Doctrine.

Third Thought

After all of the accusers bounce he turns to her and says "Go now and leave your life of sin.”

Drats… that’s the hard part.

I sure am glad that forgiveness isn’t a one time deal… but the point is clear. The whole idea of becoming a better person isn’t asking for forgiveness after each chronic screw up… the idea is being progressively better until we become brand new.

One step at a time…

One…step…at…a…time…