Maybe you\u2019ve heard the story. The religious leaders of Jesus\u2019 day, in one of their many attempts to entrap Jesus, bring a woman before him. She has \u201cbeen caught in adultery,\u201d and so they use her as an object in their plot to have Jesus arrested. \u201cNow in the law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?\u201d (John 8:1-11). <\/p>\n\n\n\n
It\u2019s a clever trap. Roman law forbade execution for adultery. So, they\u2019ve got Jesus between a rock and hard place: follow Jewish law, or Roman law? Either way, they could have him arrested.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Notice again the way the religious leaders are treating the woman. They have put her in the role of adulter, sinner, pariah. Maybe they didn\u2019t even have to cast her in that role themselves. The gospels contain many examples of people who are labeled \u201csinners\u201d in a way that sets them apart from the rest of society. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
While Jesus dines at a Pharisee\u2019s house, a woman enters and anoints his feet. The Pharisee is aghast that Jesus would let her touch him, because \u201cshe is a sinner\u201d (Luke 7:36ff). When Jesus visits the home of Zaccheaus, a tax collector, the people grumble because \u201che has gone to be the guest of one who is a sinner\u201d (Luke 19:7). Jesus tells the Parable of the Prodigal Son in response to religious leaders complaining that \u201cthis fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them\u201d (Luke 15:2). <\/p>\n\n\n\n
There are certain people who are recognized as The Sinners. Something about them, about who they are or the way they live, sets them apart from everyone else in a way that makes them outcasts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The religious leaders occupy the opposite end of the social spectrum. They are the leaders in righteousness, the ones who interpret God\u2019s will, members of the inner circle of The Good Ones. Even if their sins become public, people probably make excuses for them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So the religious leaders bring this woman before Jesus with total confidence. They are the Good Ones setting out to stop this renegade messiah wannabe. The woman is just another one of The Sinners, an object in their trap. \u201cNow in the law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And Jesus responds: \u201cLet him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jesus is forcing the religious leaders to look at themselves. It\u2019s something they are probably rarely asked to do. Are you willing to publicly declare yourself to be perfectly righteous? Are you so confident in your own righteousness that you will be the one to throw a stone? To commit violence in the name of your own goodness?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s a version of a question that we are asked more often than we realize. <\/p>\n\n\n\n How will we respond to our spouse\u2019s mistake? What will we do with the gossip we hear? How will we talk about \u201cThe Sinners\u201d in our culture? What do we have to say about the violence we see on the news? Do we notice when judgment gets too easy?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n John Bradford (1510-1555) served as chaplain to King Edward VI of England. People called him \u201cHoly Bradford\u201d \u2013 not mockingly, but because of his reputation as a remarkably unselfish and humble man. The story goes that whenever Holy Bradford saw criminals being led to their execution, he would exclaim, \u201cBut for the grace of God there goes John Bradford.\u201d In other words: That could have been my fate; I\u2019m standing here not because I\u2019m a better person by nature than they are, but because of God\u2019s grace \u2013 because of forces beyond my sin or morality.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n This is the attitude Jesus tries to cultivate in those religious leaders. <\/p>\n\n\n\n They have been asking a question about public righteousness. They have been asking a question about obedience to competing powers. They have been asking a question about reputation. And it\u2019s a trick question, a loaded question, that was asked in bad faith.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Jesus turns it into a question of grace. \u201cLet him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.\u201d And one by one, the accusers drop their weapons. They are a living parable. None of us are fit to cast stones. None of us could make it in a world that demands complete perfection. And in that realization, we find grace. Thankfully, it is grace that is given to us by God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What was an attempt to entrap Jesus has become a story of amazing grace handed down through the ages. When we hear it, the machinations of the religious leaders are drowned out by Jesus: by the story of the Son of God stopping a group of people from being overly-judgmental, prideful, and violent; by the story of the Son of God once again giving one of The Sinners mercy and a new beginning: \u201cNeither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2013 Pastor Kate<\/p>\n\n\n\n Rev. Katherine Museu<\/a>s<\/em> and Rev. James A. Wetzstein<\/a> serve as university pastors at the Chapel of the Resurrection at Valparaiso University and take turns writing weekly devotions<\/em>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Maybe you\u2019ve heard the story. The religious leaders of Jesus\u2019 day, in one of their many attempts to entrap Jesus, bring a woman before him. 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