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THE WORD

The Accused
Fifth Sunday of Lent, April 5
Readings: Is. 43:16-21; Phil. 3:8-14; Jn. 8:1-11.

'7 have been grasped by Christ" i Phil. 3:12).

H
AD JESUS LIVED in the early They also knew the reputation of Jesus for from the scene. Jesus returned to his judi-
1990s, the person dragged in before consorting with tax-collectors and sinners. cial doodling on the ground, allowing His
him on charges of sexual misconduct They hoped to use this occasion to alienate condition for casting the first stone to sink
mighi well have been a man, preferably a Him from those of us who like to cluek about in. "Then the audience drifted away one by
fatnous or well-connected man. Those of us the disreputable sins of others. one, beginning with the elders." The older
gijilty of less publicized sins take a certain Jesus refused to be drawn into the case. we become, the more realistic we are about
pdrverse interest, even joy, in reading about "Let the man among you who has no sin be our sinfulness, at least when we are con-
or watching on television the ritualized the first to cast a stone at her." Jesus left the fronted with it.
washing of some erstwhile hero's Both judge and lawyer, Jesus then
dirty laundry. The tables have been turned to the solitary woman. "Has
turned on centuries-oid machismo, no one condemned you?" The wit-
and the fallen woman has ceded nesses of her crime having vanished,
pride of place to the fallen man. We the case against the woman col-
are too close to the events to know lapsed. "Nor do 1 condemn you. You
whether justice has been served in may go." The early church, more
the media hoopla surrounding recent strict than Jesus in dealing with
hearings and trials centering on the those accused of adultery, never
alleged sexual crimes of famous made up its mind whether this em-
U.S. males. barrassing Gospel derived from
The woman "caught in the act of Luke or from John. The spiritual de-
adultery" did not commit her sin scendants of the scribes and
alone; in the words of an old song, il Pharisees within the church would
takes two to tango. How did her ac- have preferred this Gospel story to
complice escape?The Gospel writer go away. But it didn't, thanks be to
never asks that question, but that un- God, nor did the final words of Jesus
asked question may well lie behind to the woman, words that should
tlie curious tactic adopted by Jesus as serve as an antidote to any sentimen-
Judge(against His will) in this case. lal picture of Jesus as a moral softie.
The one accused in such a case today "But from now on, avoid this sin."
would probably hire a woman Second Isaiah, the author of the
lawyer, especially if the accused first reading, exults over the return
were male and the judge were from the Babylonian exile as a sec-
fömale. The woman dragged before ond exodus even more glorious than
Jçsus had no lawyer at all, only ac- the first. Speaking on God's behalf,
cusers (ail presumably male "scribes and judgment of the woman to the scribes and the prophet declares: "See, I am doing
Pharisees"). Jesus, as a result, had to act Pharisees, but on one condition: That only something new!" The forgiveness of sins
b|)th the role of lawyer and judge for this sinless scribes and Pharisees should exe- made available to all of us—scribes and
beleaguered client. cute judgment on this woman. We would Pharisees as well as adulterers, caught and
As judge, Jesus took notes on the pro- have to close down al! the courts in the uncaught^by the passage of Jesus through
ceedings, but very curious notes indeed! United States if sinlessness replaced legal death into new life is something very new
".Jesus simply bent down and started trac- experience as a criterion for appointment even after two millennia of Christianity.
ii)g on the ground with His finger." The as a judge. But Jesus is not making so Like St. Paul, we have no justice of our
v/oman's accusers kept up their accusa- sweeping a demand. While taking his notes own "based on observance of the law."
tions, trying to provoke Jesus into a quick on the ground, it probably occurred to From the oldest to the youngest, we with-
decision on the case with which they hoped Jesus turned lawyer that this posse of the draw from our accusations against others
10 entrap Him. John's Gospel informs us self-righteous had conspired with the when confronted with the reality of our
Ujiat the Sanhédrin had no authority to exe- woman's partner in sin to let him go. If they own sinfulness.
cute criminals (Jn. 18:31). In any case, the had caught the two of them "in the act of But Jesus rises from His doodling on the
scribes and Pharisees in this case were acting adultery," they must have given one of ground and bids us go in peace.
more like a lynching party than a Sanhédrin. them the chance to make a clumsy exit PATRICK J.RYAN

AMERICA MARCH 28, 1992 259

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