John 8 – Dignity Instead of Shame

Lectionary Readings for Aug. 29, 2021                    14th Sunday After Pentecost, Year B
Song of Solomon 2:8-13      v9 My lover is like a swift gazelle or a young stag.
Psalm 45:1-2, 6-9        v6 Your throne, O God, endures forever and ever. You rule with a scepter of justice.
James 1:17-27 v27 Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you.
Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23      Jesus Teaches about Inner Purity 

But this week we continue our series exploring the book of John, now with Chapter 8.

Peace through Leadership Quotes

“A hero is somebody who is selfless, who is generous in spirit, who just tries to give back as much as possible and help people.”  ~ Debi Mazar

“One isn’t necessarily born with courage, but one is born with potential. Without courage, we cannot practice any other virtue with consistency. [We all have the potential to be courageously] kind, true, merciful, generous, and honest.”  ~ Maya Angelou

Creating peace – or even the potential for peace – requires courageousness and generosity. During the past week and throughout the past month, we have seen individuals and communities act with great courageousness and generosity as we strive to give people evacuating wildfires moments of peace. Remember that people often experience traumas you will never know about, but in our daily conversations and actions, we have the potential to share peace with everyone we meet.

Any time I preach or lead a group, regardless of age, I start the same way. I’m going to say three short sentences. Please repeat each sentence, with enthusiasm.
God made me.           God loves me.            God has plans for me.

Preface to Today’s Scripture Reading

Today’s Scripture reading from John 8 is the famous story of a woman caught in adultery. As you may recall, chapter 7 ends with the Jewish leaders failing to arrest Jesus. Even worse – from their perspective – the crowd’s admiration is steadily shifting toward Jesus and away from the Jewish leaders. Even worse, Jesus has taken a front-and-center spotlight position – in the Temple and in society – on the last and grandest day of the week-long Festival of Shelters. The Jewish leaders are beside themselves with anger and go to bed that night trying to figure out how they can trap Jesus.

Chapter 8 picks up the next morning. Those crafty church leaders have figured it out! They’ll publicly test Jesus’ knowledge of and allegiance to the sacred Laws of Moses from the Torah. There’s no way Jesus can win. NOW they’ll finally be able to arrest Him and rid their comfortable, respectable lives of this homeless, traveling troublemaker! 

Not unlike many people today, they have no problem sacrificing someone for their own gain – especially a woman. Was it a setup? Was she framed? She had no voice, no power, and nobody cared about her. She was... disposable.

This famous story was a later addition to John’s gospel. We don’t know who added it or why. But this is a story that speaks powerfully to all of humanity – to those of us who have used others for our own gain, to those of us who let ourselves be consumed with envy and anger, to those of us who have failed to become the people we had hoped to be, and to those of us who have been publicly humiliated. That covers a LOT of people.

But Jesus turns the situation into a story of de-escalation, of forgiveness, of humility, of God’s mercy and grace put into action. I invite you to find yourself in each of today’s characters, and most of all, in front of God’s welcoming, healing, loving arms.

Let’s open our ears, minds, and hearts as we read today’s Scripture.

Read Deuteronomy 22:23-24, Deuteronomy 17:7, and John 8:1-12... and the rest of chapter 8 this week.

See also Leviticus 20:10.

There’s a great deal that’s simply wrong about this story – and anyone of Jesus’ time would have recognized the “errors” which leave us with plenty of questions to ponder.

First of all, we have a woman who was caught in adultery. But where is the man? It takes two to tango! There is no mention of a man here.

Second, we have no witnesses. Jewish tradition consistently required two witnesses to any accusation. There is no mention of witnesses here.

Third, despite the fact that Jesus is teaching IN the Temple – sacred ground if there ever was some – the Pharisees and Scribes drag an unclean woman into the Temple! Their willingness to contaminate the Temple is indicative of how much they hated Jesus and wanted to trap Him.

Which brings us to the trap. “Hey Jesus, what do we do with her? You tell us. We’re letting YOU take responsibility for what happens next.”
Option #1 – Jesus says she can go free. Well, that’s bad because that would demonstrate Jesus’ disrespect for the sacred laws God gave the Israelites through Moses. The Jewish leaders could use this to discredit Jesus and hopefully turn the public’s opinion against Him.
Option #2 – Jesus says stone her. Well, that’s bad because the occupying Roman government had a monopoly on executions. No other group was authorized to kill someone. The Jewish leaders could turn Jesus in for inciting criminal behavior.

Jesus’ response is odd. He bends down and starts writing on the dusty ground. (By the way, despite 2,000 years of speculation, we have no idea what He wrote – which is an interesting omission from our story.) Rather than answering their question, Jesus ignores them, which is terribly offensive and riles His accusers. They badger Him for an answer.

Jesus shocks them with His answer, “Let anyone among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” And then He goes back to writing in the dirt. With His response, Jesus has just put all of humanity on the same level – we are ALL sinners. No matter how much Torah or Bible we may have memorized, no matter how accomplished or respected we are, no matter what... we are ALL sinners. All equals in that sense – a concept most unappealing to Pharisees who enjoyed and protected their economic and social status.

Putting the weight of responsibility back on His accusers, they all walk away, publicly acknowledging their spiritual imperfection. Jesus has publicly humiliated them again in front of a large crowd.

Jesus’ next move is unexpected – He talks with, not to, the woman; that alone is scandalous. He acknowledges her as a person, as someone who might have something to say about all of this! And when He does, He asks her a simple, obvious question; she finally gets to speak; and Jesus sends her off with a blessing. Compared to His accusers, Jesus is a very strange faith leader.

When this woman, who never denies the accusation, is confronted with God in the flesh, notice what Jesus does NOT do. He never mentions her crime. He never asks her to give her side of a story that many onlookers might salivate to hear. He never burdens her with condemnation, nor does He confer any type of punishment upon her. He does not do or say anything to shame her. Instead, He offers her words of forgiveness and perhaps an encouraging smile. “Don’t do that again. Now on your way!” 

For me, that brief moment is the most powerful part of today’s story. The theology of the moment is monumentally profound.

Contrast Jesus’ behavior and comments to what far too many people hear in many modern Christian churches and on radio stations; it’s common to hear messages that convey the concept that God is constantly surveilling you so that God can take notes of every little and big thing you do wrong so that after you die, you’ll be held accountable for all your sins and punished accordingly. Nothing about that punitive theology is reflected in today’s story.

Without naming the crime, Jesus acknowledges the woman’s transgression and immediately offers her God’s love, grace, mercy, and compassion. When I read verses that talk about God judging us, I think about this brief exchange between Jesus and the woman. Today’s story is a powerful reminder of God’s ceaseless, tireless efforts to deliver us out of shame and into dignity, out of despair and into renewal, out of judgement and into blessing. Surely this is how the redemptive Kingdom of God operates. Surely this is the theology, the philosophy... the way of living into which God invites us.

The only question for us today is how can each of us offer the people we meet God’s love, grace, mercy, and compassion? IF each of us sincerely makes an effort to share those aspects of God’s nature with others, we will become better and better at loving God, loving ourselves, and loving others.
Amen? Amen!