while Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. But early in the morning he arrived again in the temple area, and all the people started coming to him, and he sat down and taught them. Then the scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery and made her stand in the middle. They said to him, "Teacher, this woman was caught in the very act of committing adultery. Now in the law, Moses commanded us to stone such women. So what do you say?" They said this to test him, so that they could have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and began to write on the ground with his finger. But when they continued asking him, he straightened up and said to them, "Let the one among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her." Again he bent down and wrote on the ground. And in response, they went away one by one, beginning with the elders. So he was left alone with the woman before him. Then Jesus straightened up and said to her, "Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?" She replied, "No one, sir." Then Jesus said, "Neither do I condemn you. Go, (and) from now on do not sin any more." (Jn 8:1-11)
Pharisees and the Scribes brought a woman caught in the act of committing sin. They were justified in condemning her to death. Moses had commanded to stone such women. But Jesus never argued about Moses and his statements. Jesus knew the writings of Moses. The writing of Moses was the word of God for Jesus. What Moses had written were in the book.
Jesus bent down to the earth and wrote something on the ground. What he wrote was anyone’s guess. He could have written the names of those who were standing and who were also sinners. He could have written the list of sins that they had committed to remind them of their own situation. Because when he starts to write, the author says, ‘and in response, they went away one by one’. Their movement was in response to his writing on the ground.
Jesus is left alone with the woman. (Jesus the sinless and the woman, caught in the act of sin). Since Jesus was sinless, could we say that he did not see the sin in the woman but rather the woman in a context of sin. Sin did not stand out against the woman (it was so for Pharisees and Scribes) but a woman in need of healing (cleansing). That is why Jesus says “from now on do not sin any more."
