It was early morning when Jesus returns to the temple. The early time didn’t keep the people from gathering. Crowds form and as the people keep coming, Jesus sits on the stairs and starts to teach. He is well into it when the pharisees and scribes come pushing through the crowd, dragging a woman with them. Interrupting Jesus, they shove her in front of him explaining that she was caught in adultery. With that proclamation the scribes and Pharisees start telling Jesus that according to the laws of Moses, this woman should be stoned to death for her actions.
But something about all of this feels off.
Why did they only bring the woman? According to Moses’ law both the man and the woman in the adulterous relationship were to be stoned. Yet only the woman stood in front of Jesus. I supposed we could take a moment to guess why they only brought the woman to Jesus but that would miss the point. The missing man tells us something important: this moment really isn’t about the woman, or the adultery.
This is a trap… er a test.
Wait, no, it’s a trap… the scribes and the Pharisees want to trip Jesus up so that they could finally have some reason to bring Jesus to trial. If Jesus says to stone her, he risks breaking Roman law and revealing a lack of mercy. If Jesus says to let her go, he’s breaking Moses’ law and revealing a lack of faith. Either way, they think they finally have Jesus where they want him.
So, with bated breath, the crowd waits to see what happens.
And Jesus… well, he crouches down and starts doodling in the dirt.
Jesus’ behavior is mystifying. We never find out what he’s writing or drawing in the dirt. Maybe he’s drawing caricatures of the scribes, maybe he is writing a passage from the Torah. Maybe he’s just buying time. But the act itself speaks volumes.
In the midst of accusations, fear and anger, Jesus doodles to avoid rushing into judgment. He refuses to play the game. At least, until the leaders poke him enough for an answer that he stands up and looks right at them, saying: “let anyone among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone.” And then he resumes his dirt doodles.
And the trap collapses.
As the words sink in, stones start falling to the ground, and one by one the accusers leave the temple grounds. Eventually only two people remain – Jesus and the woman. Looking at her, he asks “where’d they go? Has no one condemned you?”
“No one, sir”
“Well, I don’t either. Go your way, and from now on do not sin again.”
So often the sermon preached on this passage revolves around forgiveness. And you can’t ignore that forgiveness is definitely an aspect of the story but there’s something else. It’s a story that contains forgiveness but is really about the weight of the law and what is important to focus on.
We heard the verse from Matthew 23 where Jesus accuses the religious leaders of paying attention to the tiniest religious laws while ignoring what he calls weightier matters of the law: justice, mercy, faithfulness. The leaders were meticulous about tithing the herbs from their gardens or straining their water so that they don’t accidently become ritually unclean by swallowing a bug. But their obsession with tiny details means they have missed the heart of God – justice, mercy, faithfulness.
And in the temple courtyard we witness exactly what he means… the scribes and the pharisees are focused on the legal technicalities of the act, while Jesus is focused on the human being standing in the middle of the circle. This is about transformation not punishment. They want to throw stones, while Jesus wants them to examine their own hearts.
Barbara Brown Taylor points out that Jesus dismantles the stones of self-righteousness, causing the people to confront their own brokenness. Once they do that the group mentality disappears and the angry crowd becomes a collection of individuals, each suddenly and deeply aware of their own humanity, and within that humanity, their need for grace.
Maybe they needed to hear that, and more than likely the world needs to hear that today… for it has become easy to find reasons to throw stones – and not always literal ones. Judgment, intolerance, blame… easy rocks to pick up. And when everyone else is throwing stones isn’t just easier to start throwing with them? Jesus interrupts this.
Calmly, compassionately, Jesus reminds us that the law of God is not about winning arguments or acting on judgements. The heart of God is about treating each other with justice, mercy, faithfulness…. And leaving room for grace. Rev. Lizzie McManus Dail puts it this way…”the inconvenience of mercy is that it’s hardly ever merited.”
Mercy, grace… they don’t always make logical sense and they don’t always feel fair, but they are the way God changes lives. You’ll notice how the story ends… Jesus neither condemns the woman, nor does he leave her unchanged. “Go, live your life but make good choices.” No threats, just invitation. Invitation into a new life shaped by the gift of freely given grace. It’s in these grace- filled moments that lives are transformed.
You know, the scribes and pharisees went to the temple that morning with a specific goal, but instead they received a mirror. Maybe we can see ourselves in the same mirror… so that whenever we find ourselves gripping a stone, when we are certain someone else deserves judgment, when we are tempted to focus on the smallest detail while ignoring the deeper call of the gospel – Jesus invites us to pause and to remember the weightier matters of the law – justice, mercy, faithfulness. Compassion, grace and love. Throw those around like confetti.
Amen.
