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."
The Gospel of the Lord.
Jesus challenges us to examine our own hearts before self-righteously judging others.
Jesus, "It is mercy I seek and not sacrifice." I desire mercy and not sacrifice.
From Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice, 1596:
Portia: The quality of mercy is not strain'd.
It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven
upon the place beneath: it is twice blest;
it blesseth him that gives and him that takes.
'Tis mightiest in the mightiest.
It becomes the throned monarch better than his crown;
The sceptre shows the force of temporal power,
the attribute to awe and majesty,
Wherein doth sit the dread and fear of kings.
but mercy is above this sceptred sway,
It is enthroned in the heart of kings,
it is an attribute to God himself.
And earthly power doth then show likest God's
when mercy seasons justice.
Only the Romans had the authority to execute persons. That is why Jesus went from the Sanhedrin to Herod and to Pontius Pilate. Thus, the Jews asking Jesus to authorize the stoning of the woman were asking Jesus to choose between the law of Moses [stoning] and the law of the Roman occupiers [no execution without their approval]. The answer of Jesus balanced between the two.
Legend has it that when Jesus was writing on the ground, he was cataloguing the sins of those who had brought the woman before him, starting with the elders. Jesus also said in the Sermon on the Mount: Judge not lest ye be judged.
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