John 8:1-11 NRSVue
1while Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. 2Early in the morning he came again to the temple. All the people came to him, and he sat down and began to teach them. 3The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery, and, making her stand before all of them, 4they said to him, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the very act of committing adultery. 5Now in the law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?” 6They said this to test him, so that they might have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground. 7When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “Let anyone among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” 8And once again he bent down and wrote on the ground. 9When they heard it, they went away, one by one, beginning with the elders, and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him. 10Jesus straightened up and said to her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” 11She said, “No one, sir.” And Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you. Go your way, and from now on do not sin again.”]],
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Reflection on John 8:1-11
Inspiration from 2025-04-06 Daily Prayer
During this last week of his life, when his hearers went home to their houses, Jesus spent his nights at the foot of the Mount of Olives in the garden of Gethsemane, praying and sleeping. Early each morning he set out for the temple for his day’s work of preaching and teaching, at daily risk of arrest. In our meeting with him now in prayer we can dialogue with him about what this last week was like.
Jesus always loved the sinner and not the sin. ‘Neither do I condemn you. Go your way, and from now on do not sin again.’ Jesus said elsewhere, ‘I came not to condemn the world but to save it.’ Let us pray to imitate him in his great mercy.
Further reflection
Jesus prayed for his own sake and that others might believe through his prayer and his example. Prayer is never a solitary exercise, even when we pray alone. It brings us in touch with the body of Christ, of Jesus who is risen from death, and of Jesus present in all his people. Prayer affects the lives of others; in that sense prayer is political, affecting how we live together, asking to be unbound and live in freedom like Lazarus. Knowing that others pray with Sacred Space can help my life of prayer.
These words of Jesus are spoken all the time: ‘I do not condemn you’. In prayer we often feel condemned for our past, or just for whatever in ourselves makes us feel shame. We condemn ourselves for meanness in the past, for our use of people for our own ends. We may also condemn ourselves for feelings we have or aspects of our personalities of which we feel ashamed. We can do nothing better than come before the Lord in shame and sin, and allow the words of mercy, ‘I do not condemn you’ fill the shame, the guilt which makes our hearts and souls so empty.
Jesus is the one who never condemns, even when we are most condemnatory of ourselves. The look of Jesus to this condemned woman saved her - the look of divine and everlasting love. In prayer we can bring all the shame and guilt of our lives to this story of forgiveness and hear words spoken to each of us - ‘I do not condemn you.'
As the people reflected on their lives and realized their need for forgiveness, they turned and went away. As I reflect on my life and consider my need for forgiveness I realise that I need to draw closer to Jesus, who loves me.
I hear the words of Jesus speaking to me - not condemning me, but giving me a new mission and anew vision of myself.