The Incarnation of Mercy

Just as is evident here in John 8, the using and abusing of women continues today.  It is both inside the church as well as outside the church. I subscribe to the BBC news. I want to know what is going on not just in America, but what stories are going on in the world. The past few months, two have jumped out at me. The first was yet another headline about India’s continued revolt to the 23 year old woman who was gang raped on a moving bus, beaten, and thrown out of the moving bus, left for dead. India is trying to figure out how to fight back against outrageously out of control sexual abuse by men and how to curb it. The BBC reported that this was not just a problem in India, but that most countries are ignoring this worldwide epidemic of abuse against women. This leads me to the second story – and one that happened right here in America. The BBC wrote a series of stories about America’s mixed reaction to the conviction of two teenage boys who raped an inebriated girl in Ohio. The BBC reporter was shocked that so many Americans sided with the two boys and thought the girl took the case too far – it was just a case of boys being boys. But what does that make the girl? A toy? Or worse, worthless?

This is not an isolated incident. 90% of rape victims are female. Someone is assaulted every two minutes in the US. 1 in 4 women will be sexually assaulted in her lifetime. Almost 60% of attacks are never reported to the police. By the sheer number of these statistics, these women are volunteering at our churches. They are in our youth groups. They sit in our pews week in and week out. They come to us for advice and counseling. But they may or may not ever reveal to another living soul the anguish they have lived through.  Like Christ, we must stand up against those who would use women for their own purposes, with no thought to the woman herself.

         We must be aware and actively fighting a systemic issue that is both within our churches and without. We must shine a flashlight in these dark and neglected shadowy corners in order to bring the light of new life to the trapped women around us. Large portions of the population are dealing with issues rarely spoken about aloud in churches – examples include rape, sexual harassment, sex slavery, child abuse and domestic abuse. Church don't support these horrific problems, but they are rarely spoken about directly. Rape and abuse exist in our own churches (even by church leaders!) and victims are still too scared to report these violations of their bodies or to talk about them with anyone else. It is as if the victims have done something wrong! Many perpetrators rely on their victims’ silence in order to continue their abuses.

Let’s work to raise awareness of this into our churches and elsewhere!  Like Jesus in the story of the abused woman, we must break the snares that trap so many people. We must create safe spaces to share, we must raise awareness of the issue, we must insist that the victim has nothing to be ashamed of, and we must work to stop this type of behavior in our community. Furthermore, we must respond to the victim in a way like Jesus did – no condemnation and the chance of new life (which is an idea that lies at the very heart of Christianity!).  My favorite comment about this story in John 8 is by St. Augustine –

After everyone had left, the wretched woman was left there with the Incarnation of Mercy. My plea to you is this: to go and do likewise – be this person to a woman who has suffered dearly at the hands of others. 

Bringing Light to a Woman's Dark World

John does not include what it is that Jesus writes in the dirt, but it does not play a major role in this story.  The act itself is more important.  Jesus ignoring their question is a creative act of resistance that robs the scribes and Pharisees of both their power and prey.  Jesus refuses to engage in their arguments over the law when a woman’s life is at stake. The religious authorities continue to badger Jesus to answer them, while the woman wonders how long until the stoning begins.  Finally, Jesus stands up and answers the scribes and Pharisees.

His response is, “Let anyone among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her” (v. 7b).  The law of Moses must be followed - the woman should be stoned for adultery!  Jesus’ prerequisite, however, is that only a person who is sinless may throw the first stone at the woman. None of her accusers or anyone in the crowd can fulfill this stipulation that Jesus adds.  This statement leaves all present speechless.

The roles are reversed between Jesus and his opponents.  Jesus takes their question and turns it in on the religious authorities instead of the abused woman.  He calls the religious authorities to accountability for twisting the law to their own ends and for the exploitation of this woman. Jesus bends down a second time and continues to write on the ground.  This time it is not to avoid anyone’s questions.  Jesus’ action gives time for the scribes and Pharisees to reflect on whether they stand up to the same code that they are using against the exploited woman.  Their silence and slipping away answer Jesus’ question quite clearly – they are all guilty of sin perhaps even sexual sin.

After all the opponents leave, Jesus addresses the woman for the first time.  For the entire scene, she has been a victim of her surroundings, but she becomes an active character when Jesus begins to question her. This is the first time she is addressed by anyone in the story!  He rhetorically asks, “Where are they?  Has no one condemned you?”  She replies, “No one, sir.”  Jesus answers her with one of the most memorable lines in all of Scripture: “Neither do I condemn you. Go and sin no more.” Jesus is the only one who has the right to judge or withhold judgment. In his only statement to the woman, he recognizes her sin but refuses to condemn her.  Many see Jesus’ words on par with the paralytic in John 5.  Jesus gives her not only her physical life but also a chance for a new life lived in right relationship with God.  Jesus brings light into the dark world of this oppressed woman.  

The Abused Woman in John 8

The abuse of the young woman captured in this poem I shared in my last post speaks to the experience of the woman who is commonly referred to as the adulterous woman in John 8. However, interpreters have already labeled this woman, they have already given her a name. But, she could just as easily be described as the abused woman. The wretched woman. The used woman. The story of the abused woman begins while Jesus is teaching and a group of religious leaders burst onto the scene, bringing the woman and force her to stand, shamed and disgraced, in front of the entire crowd.

There is no explanation of who caught this woman, how she was seized, or where the other guilty party is.  Since the authorities are vague on how they came by this woman, bring forth no witnesses, and only arrested one of the guilty party, it is clear that they are not interested in justice.  In fact, they are violating their own laws by failing to bring forth witnesses and the other partner.  They have already passed judgment; they are clearly interested in something other justice and Jesus’ opinion on the matter.  The narrator makes it explicit when he explains that their interest is in trapping Jesus so that they may bring a charge against him.  The surrounding narrative makes clear that the ones who are supposed to be the experts in understanding the law of Moses are the ones who actually fail.  For the abusers, the law is a weapon to be used to gain power over opponents, and the woman who is used for bait is of no consequence to them.

          The Greek in this passage suggests she was snatched while in the very act of engaging in sex.  The witnesses must have seen the act itself.  This is the only way their testimony is valid.  However, no one in the scene ever specifies the identity of the witnesses.  Furthermore, no man is not brought before Jesus and accused of adultery.  Readers have been creative and constructed scenarios of why the woman’s lover is not present as well as try to attempt to answer the question of how the religious authorities got their hands on the woman. None of them are legal and none of them are fair.  

Maybe a man is asked to seduce a woman by the Pharisees and then is allowed to sneak away.  In this case, the authorities would also be guilty of sexual abuse. No background on the woman is given on how she was caught, but it is clear that the scribes and Pharisees are using her as nothing more than an instrument to arrest Jesus.  The woman is the victim of a trap. The authorities are not seeking justice; they are abusing the law and bending it to their desires.  They do not seek a trial, but a mob lynching.  A nameless woman is caught in the crossfire as the scribes and Pharisees attack Jesus.

          Before the narrator tells his audience this is a trap, the reader suspects the authorities’ of ulterior motives when they cite the law of Moses, but still ask what Jesus thinks of the matter.  Why would they ask Jesus his opinion if the law is clear on the issue?  Their minds are made up; the question is how Jesus will answer.  The religious authorities believe that Jesus will speak out against stoning this woman.  They desire to draw out an explicit statement from Jesus that values mercy over the letter of the law.  If Jesus sides against stoning her, he is guilty of breaking the law of Moses. This would cost him his credibility and many followers. Instead of answering, Jesus does something unexpected - he bends down and begins writing in the dirt.