5th Sunday of Lent - Gospel - John 8:1–11 - The woman caught in adultery. “Let the one without sin cast the first stone.”

1. Copyrighted material that appears in this article is included under the provisions of the Fair Use Clause of the National Copyright Act, which allows limited reproduction of copyrighted materials for educational and
religious use when no financial charge is made for viewing. Catholic Lectionary. (2009). Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software.

2. 1 . . . . Jesus went to the Mount
of Olives.
2 But early in the morning he
arrived again in the temple
area, and all the people started
coming to him, and he sat down
and taught them.
3 Then the scribes and the
Pharisees brought a woman
who had been caught in
adultery and made her stand in
the middle.
4 They said to him, “Teacher, this
woman was caught in the very
act of committing adultery.
5 Now in the law, Moses
commanded us to stone such
women. So what do you say?”

3. 6 They said this to test him, so
that they could have some
charge to bring against him.
Jesus bent down and began
to write on the ground with
his finger.
7 But when they continued asking him,
he straightened up and said to them,
“Let the one among you who is
without sin be the first to throw a
stone at her.”
8 Again he bent down and wrote on the
ground.
9 And in response, they went away one
by one, beginning with the elders. So
he was left alone with the woman
before him.
10 Then Jesus straightened up and said
to her, “Woman, where are they?
Has no one condemned you?”

4. 11 She replied, “No one, sir.” Then Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you.
Go, (and) from now on do not sin any more.”

5. The Pharisees and the Scribes
intention was to trap Jesus
“between a rock and a hard
place.”
There is an old saying which
says, “When you seek revenge
you need to dig two graves,
one for your enemy and one
for yourself.
In more modern terms, “What
goes comes around.”
The Romans had taken away
capitol punishment from the
Jews when the only
justification for its use was the
violation of Mosaic Law.
If the Jews imposed a death
sentence for violation of
Mosaic Law it would have been
considered by the Romans as
a rebellion.
Instigators of a rebellion, by
Roman law were put to death.

6. If Jesus agreed to the stoning
then the Pharisees could
accuse him of starting a
rebellion, which would have
been a capital offense.
If he said the Romans have taken
away the right to stone her
because she only broke Mosaic
Law then the Pharisees would
say, he was a hypocrite because
he would be relaxing the law of
Moses which he had accused
them of doing in the previous
chapter.
John 7:19 - Did not Moses give
you the law? Yet none of you
keeps the law.”

7. If Jesus says, don't stone her,
wouldn't he be selectively
enforcing the law?
The Pharisees don’t view
themselves as blind but as
righteous, not as sinners but as
perfect (Jn. 9:40-41).
“Let him who is without sin among
you be the first to throw a stone
at her.”
Wow, the Pharisee’s have him,
he is authorizing stoning her in
violation of the Roman law.
BUT the Roman’s wouldn’t
consider the Pharisees as
sinless therefore Jesus
wouldn’t have committed a
crime.
If Jesus didn't authorized the
stoning and if the Pharisees
stoned her anyway they would
have committed the act of
rebellion and earned capitol
punishment for themselves.

8. If they don’t stone her then they
are admitting that they are
sinners.
Jesus forced them into a corner; if
they insist on their “sinlessness”
by stoning her, then they will die
under Roman law.
If they walk away they admit they
are sinners without making that
confession.
The Pharisees and Scribes sought
vengeance, they had laid a trap,
dug a grave for their enemy, but
like the old saying goes, they
found themselves standing in
the grave they had prepared for
Jesus.

9. Copyrighted material that appears in this article is included under the provisions of the Fair Use Clause of the National Copyright Act, which allows limited reproduction of copyrighted materials for educational and
religious use when no financial charge is made for viewing. Catholic Lectionary. (2009). Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software.