23 mars 2026 -- Monday of the 5th week of Lent
Dan 13:1-9:15-17:19-30:33-62; John 8:1-1
Homily of the adulteress
‘If your heart condemns you, God is greater than your heart, and He knows everything’ - when John wrote this in one of his Letters, he was probably thinking of the scene he recounts in today's Gospel.
The climax of the story is when Jesus and the woman are alone, both standing, looking each other in the face, after everyone else has left. No one can be in the presence of sin without being disturbed, probably because the other person's sin reminds them of their own. Only God can look at the sinner with complete serenity; and it is only before God that the sinner can stand tall and retain his or her dignity, despite his or her sin.
Jesus was not interested in sin, but in the sinner. His mercy towards sinners, His compassion and the serenity He showed when they were in His presence surprised and scandalised the Pharisees. It was something they could not understand. And why was that? -- It was because they were concerned with the sin and not with the sinner. They had categorised people and treated them accordingly. The law of Moses had ordered them to stone ‘these women’, they said to Jesus. The woman they brought to Jesus was not, for them, a person with a name and a story. She is quite simply ‘one of these women’. Don't we often do the same thing, both in our personal and collective lives? – This brother is ‘the kind of person you can't talk to’; this country belongs to a type of country that must be invaded and punished; this head of state belongs to the type of criminal who must be overthrown. For Jesus, no one belongs to a category. Each person is unique and must be welcomed, accepted and loved as a unique person.
The Pharisees invite Jesus to act as a judge in the case they present to him. Jesus then bends down and begins to draw signs on the ground, probably just to show them that He is not interested in their trial. When they insist, He merely mentions a passage from the Law, but modifies it - a seemingly minor change, but significant and far-reaching. According to the Law, the witness of a crime must throw the first stone when a criminal is stoned to death. Jesus says: ‘Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her. With this change, Jesus raises the question to a whole new level. He brings the accusers back to their conscience. They all leave, one after the other, recognising that they too are sinners. Jesus is also full of kindness towards them. He does not enjoy his victory over them. On the contrary, he bends down to the ground to give them the opportunity to leave without losing face or being humiliated.
And when everyone has left, He stands up, looks the woman in the face and speaks to her. His words are simple: ‘Has no one condemned you? -- Neither do I condemn you. Go, and from now on do not sin.’
There are many lessons to be learnt from this story. The first is not to judge and above all not to condemn anyone. And then there is a lesson in lucidity. Everyone in this story is lucid: even the Pharisees are aware of their sins and leave. The woman does not try to deny or justify her sin. Jesus knows all hearts. And the third and perhaps most important lesson is a lesson about God's attitude towards us sinners.
- It is not a humiliating and contemptuous attitude.
- It is not the attitude of a judge (Jesus neither judges nor condemns).
- He is not interested in sin. Jesus does not explicitly forgive the woman's sin. He does not even mention it. He is only interested in her future. ‘Go and sin no more.’ He does not give her a long list of recommendations and warnings. He leaves her with full responsibility for organising her own life. He does not warn her of a particular sin; he is more demanding: he reminds her of the importance of not sinning at all.
Such an attitude on the part of Jesus was not only scandalous in the eyes of the Pharisees; it also disturbed the early Church. Therefore, although this account has all the signs of authenticity, it has been excluded from the canonical gospels. It does not appear in the three synoptic gospels, and is only found in certain manuscripts of the Gospel of John. It is easy to understand that this scene was disturbing, because mercy and compassion are neither natural nor easy for men. Fortunately, the Holy Spirit has ensured that this story has been preserved for us.
This story also reminds us that during this season of Lent, God wants us to look forward to the joy of the Resurrection, and to take a decisive step towards a new life without sin, instead of brooding over our past sins.
Armand Veilleux