Today’s Reflection
Gospel: Jn 8:1-11 “A Woman Caught in Adultery“
April 7, 2019 | Sunday

Today’s Gospel

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.”

Today’s Reflection

It is easy for us to see the fault of others. It is easy to correct other people maybe because we see the weaknesses on them that actually reflect our own weaknesses. And most of the time, we correct others according to our own standards and not the standard of God which is Love. When we do this, we are no longer observer of the law of God; we now become its judge. In our Gospel for today, we have heard that a woman was brought by the Scribes and Pharisees to Jesus. These are the experts of the Law that Moses handed over to them. For the Jews, everything in that law must be followed because they come from God. Anyone who committed against this law must suffer the consequences that this law dictates. In the case of the woman brought by the Pharisees and Scribes to Jesus, she must be condemned and suffer death by stoning according to the dictate of the Law of Moses. But here we see Jesus did not condemn the woman or even judged the people who brought the woman to them. Rather, he let the people decide whether it is the Law of Moses that they follow or the Law of God which is Love. They began to look on themselves