Exodus 34.1-10, Psalm 103, Ephesians 4.25-32, John 8.1-11

They said to him, "Teacher, this woman was caught in the very act of adultery. Now in the law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?" They said this to test him, so that they might have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground. When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, "Let anyone among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her." And once again he bent down and wrote on the ground. I remember a scene in a movie that I watched sometime ago. In the movie, one of the character said: “If you cannot say anything good about anybody, you just come right over here and sit next to me.” Do you know what a lot of people do when it comes to someone else’s sins? The way it works is actually very simple. I know of something wrong that you have done in the past, even in the very distant past. Now, whenever I look at you, I will see you through the lens of that particular mistake. I will forever hold you in your sin, because your sin is now the filter through I will forever relate to you. You are the young lady who once had an abortion when you were sixteen years of age, although you may be thirty years of age, however, that is what I will always remember you by. You are the man who was caught cheating on your examinations some forty years ago; you are the man who was caught cheating on your wife some three years ago. You are the person who once had a drinking problem. I just cannot let go of your past, your sin, your indiscretion, or your weakness. As a result of not forgetting your past, your sin, your indiscretion or your weakness I will hold you in your sin forever. Many people in public office do not always declare everything that has ever happened to them, this is not because they are trying to be dishonest. They simply know that what some people in this world or society of ours will do with some things. Even though debts may have already been paid in full. Even though mistakes have already been corrected a long time ago, to some people, it does not matter. What really matters to them is that once some people know something of your past mistakes, they will never let go of it. We often had to keep our sins hidden because we know that if they are not well hidden they will be held against us. We keep our sins well hidden because we know that if they are not well hidden they will be used against us someday or other. Skeletons are often kept in the closet because we know that some people will hang them up on the porch for us. People who hold public office don't always declare everything that has ever happened to them not necessarily because they are trying to be dishonest. They simply know what some people will do with some things. Even debts that have been paid. Even mistakes that have been corrected. It doesn't matter. What matters is that once some people know something about you they will never let go of it. We hide our sins because we know that if they are not hidden they will be held. Skeletons are kept in the closet because we know that some people will hang them on the porch. Then the only access to who we are will be through the dead bones of our mistakes. It is why many people move away from where they are known. People who do not know them cannot hold them in their sins. Negative gossip. It is hard to resist. "I heard that Jack once . . ." "Apparently, Marg used to . . ." It passes the time. It is flattering to the ego. At least you're better than that pathetic mess you've just put under the microscope of public scrutiny. Holding people in sin is the perfect accompaniment to lunch. Until it is you who are held. I'm not sure why the story contained in John 8.1-11 is not proscribed even once in the three year Lectionary cycle. I do know it is a mistake not to include it; for it is a story about all of us and a story for all of us. It is a portrait of Jesus at his best, the teacher with a difference, the man who puts words and actions together in a way that encounters people and invites them to change. It is also a highly symbolic, literary invention with layer upon layer of meaning. The scribes and Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught committing adultery; and making her stand before all of them . . . The scribes and Pharisees are doing what they do best: catching, surrounding, staring at, holding - the special gift of the self-righteous; and they are good at it. Sin sticks. Ask anybody who has been made to stand there. However, there are some people who hold people in their sin for a living. They think of nothing else; and they are single-minded about it. "How can I use this about her in order to get something on him. " Now in the law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say? They said this to test him. They have nothing on Jesus; but they are after something so that they can hold it against him. Jesus says nothing about Moses and the law. Instead, he performs a symbolic act. Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground. When they kept questioning him, he straightened up and said to them. "Let anyone among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her." And once again he bent down and wrote on the ground. It is not important what he wrote. What is important is that he wrote with his finger, that he wrote it on the earth and that he wrote twice. In the book of Exodus we are told that the ten commandments were written on stone tablets with the finger of God (Exodus 31.18) and that when Moses found the Israelites committing infidelity (adultery) with another god, he threw the stone tablets at them in fierce judgment. So God had to write the commandments a second time and told Moses to hide himself in a rock while he passed by so that Moses would see something he had missed the first time (34.6). "The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness for the thousandth generation, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, yet by no means clearing the guilty, but visiting the iniquity of the parents upon the children's children, to the third and fourth generation." It is this revelation the scribes and Pharisees have forgotten: that God's glory is steadfast love and endless forgiveness. There is no judgment in God. There are no sinless ones, and, therefore, no one who can cast the first stone. Holding others in their sin while holding yourself innocent is delusionary and only perpetuates the cycle of sin for everyone. There is an alternative to the holding stare of the self-righteous and Jesus is trying to demonstrate it. He bends down and stands up, then bends down again. He does not stare. He refuses to hold the Pharisees in their sin. He is inviting them into a new way of being: the land of mercy. When they heard it, they went away, one by one, beginning with the elders . . . "Heard" does not mean Jesus spoke loud enough. It means they got it. Jesus' answer was so well-aimed that they had nothing left to say. The revelation to Moses was an invitation which they had forgotten - an invitation to be as God is: merciful and gracious. But they refused it and walked away, beginning with the oldest. How hard it is see yourself in a way that contradicts that well-polished image! How hard it is to let go of someone you have enjoyed holding in their sin! The longer we live in the land of judgment, the harder it gets to embrace the alternative. . . . and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him. Jesus straightened up and said to her, "Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?" She said, "No one, sir." And so the one who was caught-brought and made-to-stand-there is left only with one who honours her by calling her "Woman". The one who refuses to hold people in their sins reminds her of her dignity and life-giving power. Although this woman, known as "the woman caught in adultery" has only one line in the story, it is an important one. The circle of accusers has left; and it is to be hoped her "no one" includes herself. Judgment is nowhere to be found. Only mercy. "Neither do I condemn you. Go your way, and from now on do not sin again." In this season of spirit, we would do well to ask ourselves: what does it mean to live in Jesus' spirit? When we have his spirit what do we do that is distinctively him? In one of the Easter texts, Jesus tells us when he says to his disciples, "Receive the Holy Spirit. If you hold people's sins, then they are held. If you let let them go, then they are released." (John 20.23) This is not a formula for ecclesiastical power. This is the condition that characterizes our communal life. We can hold each other in our mistakes or we can let each other go. We can be a prison to one another or a source of release. Any bets on which option Jesus prefers? The next time you come upon someone's failure and are tempted to bend over and pick up a stone, remember that you also have the power to let them go. And when you come upon someone else's failure and are again tempted to bend over and pick up another stone, remember that you also have the power to release them. And when you come upon someone else's failure . . . and feel like picking up another stone . . . Living in the land of mercy is not easy, is it? We gravitate easily to holding in sin. We have to work at letting go. Joining the human race is not as easy as it looks. Most of us do it only under duress. Thank God for the memory of the man who bent down and wrote twice.