NOTES for Jn 8:1-11

The Pharisees and scribes brought to Jesus a woman caught in adultery in order once again to test His reliability. If He proposes stoning her, He will violate Roman law; if He proposes postponing the matter until a trial, He will go against the law of Moses. For them this is simply a legal problem that has some logical solution.

But Christ moves this problem from the realm of abstract reasoning into concrete reality. He invites those who brought this woman to stop being faceless witnesses and to remember that they themselves are ordinary people of flesh and blood, with their own virtues and shortcomings. The Lord invites each one to look into his own heart, and only if he finds no sin there, to condemn her or not condemn her.

And as soon as the problem ceases to be abstract and becomes personal, the need to resolve it falls away. When a person meets the abyss of his own sin, he has no time for the vices of his neighbors, and he leaves. But it is precisely in this solitude that the meeting with God becomes real. It is precisely then that one can hear: "Neither do I condemn you. Go, and sin no more."