The Unauthorized Homily

By Bill Dunn

A commentary on the Scripture readings from the Sunday Lectionary

(Scripture readings for Sunday, March 25th: Isaiah 43:16-21; Philippians 3:8-14; John 8:1-11)

LET THE ONE WITHOUT SIN CAST THE FIRST STONE

In this week’s gospel reading, one of Jesus’ most important messages reached a crescendo. Jesus spent a great deal of His time teaching the profound Biblical concept known as: the pot calling the kettle black.

Nothing upset the Lord more than hypocrisy. And nothing is more hypocritical than sinful people accusing other sinful people of being—gasp!—sinners.

Jesus’ philosophy of “Judge not, that ye be not judged” (King James Version), and “Get the stupid plank outta yer own eye before whining about the speck of dust in someone else’s eye!” (Peasant William Version) was never more clear (unlike this sentence) than in this week’s gospel reading.

This Sunday we read the famous story of the woman caught in adultery. The scribes and Pharisees wanted to trap Jesus—get him in a no-win situation. They paraded an adulterous woman before him and demanded his opinion on the case.

The CEOs of the Religious-Industrial Complex and their staff of lawyers (for that is what the Pharisees and scribes really were in modern terms) figured they had Jesus boxed into a corner. If He said let her go, then they could accuse Him of ignoring the Law of Moses. If He said stone her, then they could accuse Him of being insincere about His whole forgiveness message.

By the way, where was the adulterous guy? The Law of Moses said that both parties to the illicit union should be stoned (not to be confused with that often tried but never believed excuse about adultery, “Please honey! You gotta believe me, it’s not my fault! I was stoned!”). As far as I can figure, adultery is one of those things that’s kind of difficult to accomplish in solitude. Scripture says the woman was caught “in the very act.” Seems like the Pharisees were forgetting an important co-defendant at their kangaroo court.

At first, Jesus ignored them and started writing on the ground with his finger. This is the only time the Bible mentions Jesus writing anything, but it doesn’t say what He wrote. Maybe He wrote the name of the man who was with the woman (a man who may have been standing there at that very moment, clutching a rock, ready to let it fly). Or maybe Jesus wrote the names of some of the Pharisees’ mistresses. Or maybe He wrote something like, “Last year’s Annual Pharisee Convention… Jerusalem Hilton… The ‘Boom Boom’ Lounge… 2 a.m.—Want me to keep writing, fellas?”

Then Jesus looked them square in the eye and proclaimed that awesome line, “Let the one among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.”

Suddenly a rock came whistling in from the side, striking the woman in the head and dropping her to the ground. Jesus turned and yelled, “Mother, please! I’m trying to make a point!”

No, no. I’m kidding! Sorry, I couldn’t help it. Just a little Catholic humor. (All together now: “VERY little!”) That’s not what really happened. The men were so stunned by Jesus’ words—so stunned by the realization that they, too, were sinners—that they dropped the rocks and drifted away one by one until only the woman was left there in front of Jesus.

Now here’s the other important and often overlooked message from this event, so all my fellow “vast right-wing conspiracy” friends (a phrase Madame Hillary recently employed once again) do not think I’ve suddenly gone all mushy about law and order: Jesus never condoned the woman’s behavior. He was not preaching a message of “anything goes.” He was not telling us that we can sin to our heart’s content with impunity (which I believe summarizes the mission statement of the ACLU).

After telling the woman that He did not condemn her, He emphatically said, “Go, and from now on do not sin anymore.”

One of the awesome things about Christianity is that it comforts the afflicted and afflicts the comfortable. This week’s gospel has a similar double message for a double audience. Those who sin a lot can be forgiven, but they must change their sinful ways. And those who make a career out of accusing sinners and gossiping about other people’s shortcomings should realize that they are not perfect themselves, and should stop being so darn judgmental.

Jesus takes the middle road between bleeding-heart silliness that claims there is no sin (“If it feels good, do it!”) and cold-hearted vengeance (“String’em up, it’ll teach’em a lesson!”). Jesus hates the sin but loves the sinner. We must make sure we neither love the sin nor hate the sinner.

Jesus came into this world to offer forgiveness to sinners. The list of those who qualify is rather lengthy (at this moment in time over six billion and counting). The earth-shattering message of the Cross is that Jesus paid the ultimate price so the sins of all mankind could be forgiven. He did His part—now we have to do our part: repent, put our faith in Him, and sincerely try to avoid sin.

Jesus offers forgiveness to everyone, no matter how sinful. We accept His offer and receive forgiveness by having a conversion experience, a change of heart. And if we focus more on getting our own act together, rather than flinging rocks at everyone else, then a lot more people will be drawn to the faith by the obvious love Christians have for one another, instead of being repulsed by the judgmental attitude of so many Christians.

If you think this essay was especially odd this week, well, it’s not my fault. I was stoned. And boy, those rocks really hurt.

©2007