The Woman Taken in Adultery - Week 10

John 8:1-11


Note: The study related to these questions may be found at Catholic Exchange. Please go to their site for the complete material concerning this study. Unless otherwise noted, on scriptural references are from the Revised Standard Version (RSV). Below are my thoughts on the questions presented for the given study (Please see disclaimer at bottom).

Read John 8:1-11

1. In verse 2, we are told Jesus went to the temple early in the morning, and "all the people came to him, and he sat down and taught them." What is the significance of John's pointing out that "all the people came to him" and that Jesus taught them?
(a) It signifies that everyone was accepting Jesus' authority to teach.

2. Read Matthew 19:1-4. How do these verses relate to verses 3 and 4 of today's reading? What do the scribes and Pharisees mean to do when they bring before Jesus a woman caught in adultery?
(a) From the Gospel of Matthew:

1: Now when Jesus had finished these sayings, he went away from Galilee and entered the region of Judea beyond the Jordan; 2: and large crowds followed him, and he healed them there. 3: And Pharisees came up to him and tested him by asking, "Is it lawful to divorce one's wife for any cause?" 4: He answered, "Have you not read that he who made them from the beginning made them male and female, (Matt 19:1-4)
These passages both show how Jesus' teaching was being heard by many people and also how this incited conflict with the Pharisees. (b) The scribes and Pharisees hope to trap Jesus in order to give them a reason to hand him over to the authorities. The Points to Ponder section has an excellent insight to this trap:
Jesus reply is a masterstroke: Let him who is without sin among you be the rst to throw a stone at her. This appears, at rst glance, to be a grant to exact the extreme penalty (with the consequent hope for the Pharisees that they can now charge him with insurrection). But on closer examination the trap has caught only them. The words Let him who is without sin would meet with the con dent response, That s me! in the heart of the Pharisaic accuser. But then, there is the second realization: Jesus has made abundantly clear that he does not believe them to be without sin. They believe themselves to be without sin. If they assert their sinlessness and stone her, it is they who will bear the extreme penalty from Caesar, not Jesus. And so they are forced to tacitly admit their sin by leaving. Notably, it is the Elders--the ones who see the implications of Jesus reply rst, rather than the young hotheads, who go away rst. It is a brilliant example of Jesus own teaching that we be wise as serpents and innocent as doves.


3. Read Deuteronomy 22:23-24. How do these verses relate to verse 5 of today's reading?
(a) From the Book of Deuteronomy:
23: "If there is a betrothed virgin, and a man meets her in the city and lies with her, 24: then you shall bring them both out to the gate of that city, and you shall stone them to death with stones, the young woman because she did not cry for help though she was in the city, and the man because he violated his neighbor's wife; so you shall purge the evil from the midst of you. (Deut 22:23-24)
It shows the verses being referenced by the Pharisees.

4. Read verse 6. Why do the scribes and Pharisees test Jesus?
(a) In order to "have some charge to bring against him".

5. Read Exodus 8:15 and Exodus 31:18 in conjunction with verses 6 and 8 in today's reading. What do the verses from Exodus tell us about why Jesus wrote on the ground with His finger?
(a) From the Book of Exodus:
But when Pharaoh saw that there was a respite, he hardened his heart, and would not listen to them; as the LORD had said. (Ex 8:15)

And he gave to Moses, when he had made an end of speaking with him upon Mount Sinai, the two tables of the testimony, tables of stone, written with the finger of God. (Ex 31:18)
It is an indication of God having given His Word once again. Just as God wrote the Ten Commandments with His own finger, so does Jesus now punctuate His command by writing with His finger.

6. Read Philippians 3:4-7 and John 9:40-41. What do these verses teach us the Pharisees thought of themselves? What insight does this give us to Jesus' statement to them in verse 7: "let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her"?
(a) From St. Paul's Letter to the Philippians:
4: Though I myself have reason for confidence in the flesh also. If any other man thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more: 5: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew born of Hebrews; as to the law a Pharisee, 6: as to zeal a persecutor of the church, as to righteousness under the law blameless. 7: But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. (Phil 3:4-7)
From the Gospel of John:
40: Some of the Pharisees near him heard this, and they said to him, "Are we also blind?" 41: Jesus said to them, "If you were blind, you would have no guilt; but now that you say, `We see,' your guilt remains. (John 9:40-41)
The Pharisee's viewed themselves as "blameless" and "righteous" under the law. (b) This illustrates that even though the Pharisee's view themselves in this manner, Christ does not.

7. Read Matthew 5:48, John 17:22-23 and Colossians 4:12-14. How do these verses relate to Jesus' command "not to sin again" in verse 11 of today's reading?
(a) From the Gospel of Matthew:
You, therefore, must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect. (Matt 5:48)
From St. Paul's Letter to the Colossians:
22: The glory which thou hast given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, 23: I in them and thou in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that thou hast sent me and hast loved them even as thou hast loved me. (John 17:22-23)
From the Gospel of John:
12: Ep'aphras, who is one of yourselves, a servant of Christ Jesus, greets you, always remembering you earnestly in his prayers, that you may stand mature and fully assured in all the will of God. 13: For I bear him witness that he has worked hard for you and for those in La-odice'a and in Hi-erap'olis. 14: Luke the beloved physician and Demas greet you. (Col 4:12-14)
This give the reason why we are not to sin anymore. Our goal as Christians is to become like Christ. Therefore, as Christ was sinless, we should strive to live a sinless life. However, by the grace of God, since we are sinners, and will continue to sin, God has given us the Sacrament of Reconciliation as a means to once again be in union with Him. St. Paul expands on this point in his letter to the Romans:
19: For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by one man's obedience many will be made righteous. 20: Law came in, to increase the trespass; but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, 21: so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. 1: What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? 2: By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? 3: Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4: We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. 5: For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. (Rom 5:19-6:5)


8. Read in the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) no. 1431 and no. 1451. What do these verses of the Catechism have to do with Jesus' telling the woman caught in adultery to "go, and do not sin again" after He telling her she is forgiven?
(a) From the Catechism of the Catholic Church:
1431 Interior repentance is a radical reorientation of our whole life, a return, a conversion to God with all our heart, an end of sin, a turning away from evil, with repugnance toward the evil actions we have committed. At the same time it entails the desire and resolution to change one's life, with hope in God's mercy and trust in the help of his grace. This conversion of heart is accompanied by a salutary pain and sadness which the Fathers called animi cruciatus (affliction of spirit) and compunctio cordis (repentance of heart). (CCC, 1431)

1451 Among the penitent's acts contrition occupies first place. Contrition is "sorrow of the soul and detestation for the sin committed, together with the resolution not to sin again. (CCC, 1451)
Being forgiven entails having contrition for the sin and also experiencing conversion to God. Conversion is not simply turning away from our sins. It also entails turning towards, and coming closer to God.

9. Read Catechism nos. 1452 and 1453. How many kinds of contrition are there? What are they? What is the difference between the two?
(a) From the Catechism of the Catholic Church:
1452 When it arises from a love by which God is loved above all else, contrition is called "perfect" (contrition of charity). Such contrition remits venial sins; it also obtains forgiveness of mortal sins if it includes the firm resolution to have recourse to sacramental confession as soon as possible.
1453 The contrition called "imperfect" (or "attrition") is also a gift of God, a prompting of the Holy Spirit. It is born of the consideration of sin's ugliness or the fear of eternal damnation and the other penalties threatening the sinner (contrition of fear). Such a stirring of conscience can initiate an interior process which, under the prompting of grace, will be brought to completion by sacramental absolution. By itself however, imperfect contrition cannot obtain the forgiveness of grave sins, but it disposes one to obtain forgiveness in the sacrament of Penance. (CCC, 1452-1453)
There are two types of contrition. (b) Perfect and imperfect contrition. (c) Perfect contrition stems from a love of God above all else. Imperfect contrition stems from a fear of punishment or a realization of the ugliness of the sin.

10. Read Catechism no. 2015. What do we learn from this passage about our struggle to fight off sin and become "perfect as our heavenly Father is perfect" (cf. Matthew 5:48)?
(a) From the Catechism of the Catholic Church:
2015 The way of perfection passes by way of the Cross. There is no holiness without renunciation and spiritual battle.68 Spiritual progress entails the ascesis and mortification that gradually lead to living in the peace and joy of the Beatitudes:

He who climbs never stops going from beginning to beginning, through beginnings that have no end. He never stops desiring what he already knows. (St. Gregory of Nyssa, Hom. in Cant. 8:PG 44,941C.)
(CCC, 2015)
What we learn is that perfection is not something attained in this world. However it is something for which to strive. Christianity for us not a destination but a journey.

Disclaimer: I do not wish to present myself as an expert in either theology, history, or scriptural interpretation. I am merely someone who is attempting to answer the call of Christ. The ultimate authority and interpreter of scripture is our Holy Catholic Church. If at any point I deviate from the teachings of the Church, please correct me, alfredo@nevarez.net, as this is my shortcoming and in no way meant to be an expression of my views superceding those of the Church founded by Jesus Christ.

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 Alfredo Nevarez
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