Do not sin anymore

John 8:11

On the right side of our parish church inside our housing subdivision, there is a Stations of the Cross forming a circle beneath towering trees that provide more than adequate shade even in the middle of a sunny day. Every Friday starting at 5 p.m. during this season of Lent, the Family Rosary Crusade and the Legion of Mary lead a group of residents to pray the Stations of the Cross. Last Friday, Jean led the prayers and our two grandchildren, James, 18, and Jenny, 15, and I joined the prayers. We recall that during the COVID-19 pandemic, Jean placed images of the Stations of the Cross on the walls of the first floor of our residence and the whole family prayed the Stations of the Cross twice weekly during the entire Lenten season.

History of the Stations of the Cross

The Stations of the Cross originated from pilgrims walking the Via Dolorosa in Jerusalem when, in the 1300s, the Franciscan friars were given custody of the Holy Places in the Holy Land. But because pilgrimages to Jerusalem were difficult in the 17th century, Catholics in Europe replicated the pilgrimage by placing stations commemorating Jesus Christ’s passion and death inside their own churches. Then in 1686, Pope Innocent XI granted the Franciscans the right to erect stations in all their churches and attached plenary indulgences to the practice.

In 1726, Pope Benedict XIII extended the privilege of these indulgences to all the faithful. In 1731, Pope Clement XII formally fixed the number of stations at fourteen and allowed them to be erected in all churches. The devotion has become deeply tied to Christian themes of repentance and forgiveness of sins through the physical acts of standing, genuflecting, and praying.

The Woman Caught in Adultery

The Gospel on the Monday of the Fifth Week of Lent (John 8:1-11), about a woman caught in adultery by the scribes and the Pharisees, echoes the same theme. Jesus was in the temple area and people were coming to listen to his teaching. The scribes and the Pharisees dragged along the woman and asked Jesus if he agreed with the law of Moses that the woman should be stoned for her transgression. These supposed experts in the law seemed to have forgotten that the law (Deuteronomy 22 or Leviticus 20) requires that both parties – man and woman – should suffer the punishment.

The whole scene strains credulity. Did the scribes and the Pharisees, while on their way to the temple, just happen to come across the man and the woman in the act of adultery? Where? In the middle of the road? But where is the man?

More likely, this was a set-up for the purpose of challenging and embarrassing Jesus. Perhaps the woman’s adultery was widely known, the subject of Jerusalem gossip, but only now did the scribes and Pharisees act, using her as a prop in their confrontation with Jesus. Whatever was the exact circumstances, it evidently was a set-up—and the woman became a mere tool used in the Pharisees’ devious scheme.

The question posed to Jesus by the scribes and Pharisees is a wily one. A simple yes or a simple no will indict him either way.

Jesus’ Response to the Scribes and Pharisees’ Trap

If Jesus answers yes to the stoning of the woman, he would be going against Roman law, which forbids Jews from carrying out the death penalty: a sentence handed down only by the Roman authorities. If he answers no, he is implicitly recognizing Roman authority over Moses’ authority.

Either way, he loses. He can be cast by his opponents as either a dangerous anti-Roman zealot, or as someone who has no respect for Moses and the Torah.

Jesus’ response “Let the one among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her,” was masterful and brilliant. He avoided the trap set by the scribes and Pharisees and turned the spotlight of judgment back on them, exposing their hypocrisy without directly condemning them. In front of a large crowd, the scribes and the Pharisees could not claim to be without sin, and ‘they went away one by one, beginning with the elders.’

During all this, Jesus twice wrote on the ground with his finger. And for two thousand years, saints and scholars have speculated about what he wrote.

Interpretations of Jesus Writing on the Ground

St. Augustine and St. Ambrose associated Jesus’ action to the prophecy of Jeremiah: Those who turn away from thee shall be written in the earth, for they have forsaken the Lord, the fountain of living water (Jer 17:13, RSV). By writing in the earth, Jesus performed a ‘sign’ of judgment against those rejecting him, the source of ‘living water.’ But why did Jesus write a second time? St. Jerome and St. Bede suggested that Jesus wrote for a second time in order to give the scribes and Pharisees a chance to withdraw creditably without being further embarrassed. St. Bede further added that Jesus must have seen that the scribes and

Pharisees were stunned by his response and he gave them an opportunity to quietly leave at once without asking any more questions.

St. Jerome supported one of the most popular theories, which suggests that Jesus wrote the specific secret sins of the scribes and Pharisees. When they saw that Jesus knew their sins and was listing them on the ground, they felt ashamed and were convicted by their consciences. Thus, they quietly departed one by one.

On the other hand, St. Thomas Aquinas saw the act as a parallel to God writing the Ten Commandments with his finger on stone (Exodus 31:18). By writing on the ground, Jesus showed he was the same divine lawgiver but now delivering a “new law of mercy and compassion.”

Unlike the Law of Moses, which is permanently carved in stone, writing in the dust implies that sins can be ‘blown away’ or erased by divine mercy. Writing in the ‘dust’ from which humans were created serves as a reminder that we are all ‘dirty’ and sinful. By stooping to write twice, Jesus created a pause that allowed the scribes and Pharisees to examine their own lives and depart without being publicly shamed.

The elders must have recognized this immediately and thus they were the first to leave.

A Message of Mercy and Conversion

The scribes and the Pharisees used the woman as a tool to trap Jesus. In response, Jesus exposed their hypocrisy, inducing them to walk away. Jesus’ words “Let the one among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her,” reveal that everyone is sinful and in need of grace. These words urge us to look at our own faults before judging others.

The Gospel’s primary message is that mercy and forgiveness are more powerful than legalistic condemnation. Grace is not an excuse for continued sin, but an invitation to change and a new life. God’s desire is restoration, not destruction. Jesus did not condemn the woman. He told her to ‘go and do not sin anymore’.

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