WHO WILL BE THE FIRST TO THROW THE STONE?

HOMILY FOR THE 5TH SUNDAY OF LENT, YEAR C

Rev. Fr. Ezekoka Peter Onyekachi

The Gospel Reading (John 8:1-11) relates the incident concerning the woman caught in adultery. Here again, there is a notable departure from the Gospel of Luke for year C. The Church is once more making a leap into the Gospel of John to bring out that important lesson we need to take in as the season of Lent gradually wraps up: the need to look more inward and to delete the inclination of the condemnation of others. This is the need to look to our own sins and faults, work on ourselves and in such a spirit can we correct one another sincerely. The setting of this story as related by John is quite interesting. Early in the morning, as Jesus came again to the temple to teach those who had come to listen to him, the scribes and the Pharisees brought this woman caught in adultery for judgment. Here come the initial errors that readers often overlook about this story. Now, notice the first error. The temple was not the place of judgment but the place of teaching and prayer. Yet, these men chose the temple as a place of passing judgment on this woman. Jesus was teaching as they entered with the woman. This was a planned act. The second error is this. That case was meant to be addressed by the assembly of judges, the Sanhedrin. These men knew that Jesus was not one of the judges of the Sanhedrin and he was not even a judge, yet they wanted him to rule over a case. And there is the sense of flattery in the title they gave Jesus: ‘teacher’. Again, is it not ambiguous that this teacher was given the duty of a lord (judge/justice). It all means that there are already many foul plays at the beginning of this very story that even without the writer’s commentary of ‘they said this to test him’ (v. 6), one could easily notice that the whole story was a trap for Jesus.

1. There are three categories these men presented to Jesus: the woman, her sin and the law. ‘This woman was caught in the very act of committing adultery. Now, in the law Moses commanded us to stone such women.’ The first question comes: what of the man? Remember, it takes two to tangle. But they had totally acquitted the other partner (the man) or they may claim as the evil elders of Daniel 13:39 that the man was so swift to run away. We already sense injustice in such a law that is gender discriminative. Her sin was adultery and supposedly the law was that she would be stoned. Jesus at this point faces great dilemma. He has to choose between declaring the woman free (and that would imply a public and total disregard of the law of Moses) or approving of the death of this woman (which would imply a total disregard of his ideals and message as the friends of sinners, and very importantly a possible clash with Rome for approving a capital punishment that they had not sanctioned). He cleverly dodged these two options and was not caught in the web.

2. Jesus was/is the fulfillment of the laws of Moses. His law is love and his gospel is peace. He is a friend to the sinner who runs to him for consolation. He does not despise the sinner. We must be aware that people’s or the law’s condemnation of us does not mean Christ’s condemnation. He loves the sinner who approaches him even in the moment of his/her lawful execution. There is now no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus (cf. Rom. 8:1). If we strive for righteousness, we go through Jesus. The law cannot acquit us; only the grace and mercy of God can. This is why we must continue to deepen our faith in Jesus. The Second Reading (Phil. 3:8-14) was clear about it that the righteousness we strive is that based on the faith in Christ, and no longer on the law.

3. Without uttering any word, Jesus simply bent down and wrote with his finger. And as they kept on questioning, there came out one of those powerful words of Jesus: let anyone among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her. This may have carried a reference to the Law of Moses. Deut 17:7 acknowledges that those who are witnesses to an accused person have responsibility for that person’s death. He bent again and wrote on the ground. Perhaps, the most popular explanation of what Jesus was doing emerged from some translations offered by earlier manuscripts. The Armenian translates that Jesus wrote with his finger to declare their sins. This is most likely to be true. The Greek word used katagraphein implies ‘to write a record against someone’ as opposed to the word graphein (to write). Thus, it may be true that with that method, Jesus brought them face to face with their own sins, reminding them and us that those who live in glass houses need not throw stones.

4. And as we can imagine, they started to wait for the one who would be the first to throw the stone, and when no one could, they left one by one in disgrace. The table was turned around. They came to discover ways to disgrace Jesus but ended up disgracing themselves. When Jesus got up and discovered that they were all gone, he reminded the woman that this is another chance that God had offered her, so she should not sin again. Jesus did something new in her life on that day. This is an individual fulfillment of the collective promise made by God to the people of Israel in the First Reading (Isaiah 43:16-21). The Lord desires our newness and cleanness. So, when we are made clean, we have the duty to strive and maintain the purity. Is this not the kernel of the message? To whom much is given, much is expected. Forgiveness should stir in us more zeal and love for righteousness. It should uproot from us the readiness to throw stones and implant in us the readiness to forgive and help.

5. Who among us would be the first to throw stones on the sinner today? We can indeed be stone-throwers. Consider the sins inherent in the desire to stone this woman. The first was this horrible sin connected with the way these men had treated this woman. They had simply used her. They thought they could use her to entrap Jesus. She would have been just like bait to fishermen. To use people this way is very despicable. This is using people as means to some ends. Their end was to catch and kill Jesus; and thought they could use this woman to achieve their plan. This is bad. And indeed, it is a pity today that some of us repeat this same despicable sin of these men. We use people for our selfish ends, and many times do not even recognize that as being sin at all. We project the goods of others when we know we are actually working towards our selfish interest.

6. The second was the sin connected with the way they treated Christ. They came to Jesus with some flattery (‘teacher’) even when they knew that their sole desire was to kill him. Dostoyevsky once said that there is nothing easier in the whole world than flattery. They thought that flattery would dispose Jesus to answer them. Most probably, Jesus was a threat to their credibility, integrity and honor. So, they wanted to get rid of him. And we too, sometimes act this way. We flatter for ulterior motives when we feel our honor is threatened. Sometimes, we find it hard to tolerate the sinner. Sin tends to stink when committed by another person. But it doesn’t stink when committed by us. We are perfectionist when measuring the faults of others, but become very liberal when confronting and examining ours. It is now time to be ready to give the same compassion, understanding and patience that we expect from people. And if there comes a time when we need to correct ourselves, we must discover the best act for doing so; the act of kindness and compassion.

We must not correct by throwing stones. We must encourage one another in the love of Christ. Do not throw stones. Instead, throw love, throw forgiveness, throw mercy, throw unity, throw understanding, throw humility, etc. Happy new week. God bless you.