March 17, 2013 Cycle C
Isaiah 43:16—21 Philippians 3:8—14 John 8:1—11
What was Jesus writing in the dirt that day in the Temple area, when he met the woman accused of adultery? Bible scholars have often speculated on this point. Was he just doodling? Was he writing down the names of the accusers? Or was he listing the sins and offenses of these self-righteous men who claimed to have caught this woman “in the very act of committing adultery” (John 8:4)?
Any of these answers is plausible. But I want to suggest my own theory, which, though lacking in any objective proof, may be closer to the message of the Gospel. Jesus scratched out in the dirt these three words: God… man... sin. And he did it in that order, with God in the center, man next, and then sin. He did it to underscore this important truth: The three realities, God, humanity, and sin, must be kept in their proper order if we are to live grace-filled lives.
Those who roughly dragged the woman before Jesus had disgarded this harmony. Notice that they thrust the accused woman, who for them represented sin, into the center, while Jesus remained on the margin. It is as though the order of the universe were being disrupted. Suddenly, it is no longer the moon that revolved around the Earth but, vice versa, the moon was at the center, with both the Earth and the sun in orbit around it. When sin is seen as the central reality in life, then a distortion occurs. The truth is obscured and sin becomes the reference point from which humankind and God are judged. This is a fundamental disharmony in thinking, which impedes the gracious mercy of God. It is only when God is seen as the center of reality, with humanity and sin in their proper order, that grace is felt and the miracle of compassion can occur.
God is at the center of reality. God is mercy. That truth cannot he missed in this story. The accusers come to Jesus with self-serving motives and unclean hands. They are intent upon trapping Jesus by posing a question that will either place him in opposition to Jewish law or to the law imposed by the Romans. They have apparently been spying on this woman or have set her up. And, most strikingly, they have ignored the other culpable party—her consort.
This is not uncommon behavior, neither at the time of Jesus nor during our time. In one way or another we have all done what these men have done: We have disrupted the order of God, humanity, and sin. Our unhappiness is often the fruit of this distorted view of reality.
What is it that restores the harmony missing from this scene?
Mercy.
Jesus embodies the reality of God that we call mercy.
Jesus does not attack the men publicly. He does not try to embarrass them. He writes something discretely in the dirt. He even gives them an opportunity to speak in their own defense. Mercy abounds: sin is relegated to its proper place in the order of reality.
The woman, representing our own weak human nature, is also restored to her proper place in the order of things—next to God. The woman is left alone with Jesus. And that is where we are, when sin is placed where it belongs. Jesus does not condemn the woman nor does he disregard her sin. He simply tells her to avoid it and to go forward into the future filled with the divine energy that comes from forgiveness and compassion.
Jesus wrote words of mercy on the ground that day. But Jesus also wants to inspire others to write about mercy. How might he do this? Imagine, if you will, what others might have written had they been given the chance to stand next to Jesus that day.
Imagine a Muslim, inspired by the Qur’an, crouching beside Jesus and etching these words in the dirt:
If all the water in the sea were ink;
And if all the sand in the deserts were parchment,
It would not be sufficient to express
The mercy of Allah.
Mercy is one of the chief names of Allah, or God, in the Muslim tradition. What a beautiful metaphor for God’s mercy for our troubled times.
Had Shakespeare been transported through time from England to the Temple area, he might have bent over and traced these words from The Merchant o] Venice:
The quality of mercy is not strained;
It droppeth as a gentle rain from heaven
Upon the place beneath; it is twice blessed;
It blesseth him that gives and him that takes.
The list of writers in the dirt who speak of God’s mercy could go on and on. Thomas Merton from our own time might have scribbled: “God is mercy within mercy within mercy.”
But it is not so important what those who have gone before us might have written in the dirt. What matters is what we write there. When you leave here today, ask yourself: If I had been there looking over the shoulder of Jesus, and he had asked for my contribution, what words of mercy would I have scratched in the dust? What words today? The answer we give affects reality. Choose words of mercy in your life that will restore harmony where it is disturbed and preserve it where it now exists.
Amen. Amen. Msgr. Tom Adrians, Pastor Christ the King