The Men Caught in Denial

Last year there was an article in the Broome Advertiser about a girl who had been convicted of lewd behaviour. This had occurred with man in Chinatown, but surprisingly, only she had been charged. The man, who was unnamed in the report, was untouched by the scandal. The woman carried the whole burden of the public humiliation and guilt, while the man was able to hide behind anonymity. Others, who pointed accusingly at the young woman, were able to feign outrage at her and her actions in an effort to deflect attention from their own sins. When I spoke with her after the Court appearance, she tried to shake off the knowledge that she had been used in a game bigger than herself, had been treated as an object, a statistic in a ‘get tough’ campaign, rather than a person.

The woman in depicted in the Gospel of John is the similar.

The Pharisees are looking for opportunities to trap Jesus, and the convenience of the woman caught in flagranti  is an opportunity too good to pass. She is thrown, partially dressed, into the middle of the scene. Under the Jewish law she faces death, but her life is not important to them, her dignity is denied, and her partner ignored. This is not about her, this is about point scoring: “She is being instrumentalized for the purposes of the scribes and Pharisees so that they might have some charge to bring against him.”[i]

Jesus realises that there is a person on front of him, not an exhibit. He changes the parameters so that it becomes personal. We don’t know what he wrote in the ground and it probably does not matter, but it provides the circuit breaker for the story. One commentator suggests that the writing in the dust signifies that judgments cannot be made from above or from outside ourselves: before standing in judgment over one another, they should look at their own behaviour.[ii] He looks up and asks if there is anyone present who has not sinned, which some have interpreted as referring to sexual sin.[iii] 

There is stunned silence.

In the midst of this terrible scene, the Holy Spirit enters.  The accusers notice that there is a human being in front of them, not an object. St Augustine writes: This, unquestionably, is the voice of justice, justice that pierced those men like a javelin. Looking into themselves, they realized their guilt, and one by one they all went out. Two remained behind: the miserable woman, and Mercy.[iv] Unable to confront their sinfulness, the men slink away.

Jesus, the incarnation of mercy, addresses her as a person, not an object, and she reverently addresses him as Kyrie, Lord. Jesus does not ignore her sin, for it is real, just as our sins are real. Christ, who has entered her life, now allows her to see, through gentleness and compassion, that she needs healing for her brokenness.

We too need that same healing for our brokenness and sin. Are we to stand and accept his forgiveness, or walk away like the Pharisees?

Homily for the Fifth Sunday in Lent Year C, 17th March 2013, OLQP Broome.

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[i] Harrington, Daniel, The Gospel of John, Liturgical Press, 1998, 261.

[ii] Fallon, Michael, The Gospel according to St John, Chevalier Press, Kensington, 1998, 170

[iii] Harrington, Daniel, op cit, 261

[iv] Augustine, Homilies on the Gospel of John 33, 4-6. 8: CCL 36, 307-310