Year C Advent 2 WED, 11 December 2024
St. James the Less Episcopal, Ashland, VA
“A Hard Story To Tell”
Collect
Merciful God, who sent your messengers the prophets to preach repentance and prepare the way for our salvation: Give us grace to heed their warnings and forsake our sins, that we may greet with joy the coming of Jesus Christ our Redeemer; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
John 7:53-8:11
Then each of them went home, while Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. Early in the morning he came again to the temple. All the people came to him and he sat down and began to teach them. The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery; and making her stand before all of them, 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. Now what do you say?’ They 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. When 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.’ And once again he bent down and wrote on the ground.* When they heard it, they went away, one by one, beginning with the elders; and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him. Jesus straightened up and said to her, ‘Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?’ She said, ‘No one, sir.’* And Jesus said, ‘Neither do I condemn you. Go your way, and from now on do not sin again.’
This is one of the hardest stories of Jesus to tell. Not because of the outcome, but because this type of beauty is so rarely seen in the world.
We like to tell the story of the Feeding of the 5,000, because it takes Jesus to do it. None of us facing the catering of that many people could rise to the occasion with that list of ingredients.
We like to tell the story of the raising of Lazarus, or the healing of the paralytic, or the healing of Blind Bartimaeus. They are easy stories to tell because there are no expectations to change our ways or to be different.
This story, however, is not miraculous. Any one could do it. We could do it. And therein lies the rub.
Someone is caught in the act. This woman had to be or she could not be condemned. Stones in hand and arms raised, the righteous were waiting for Jesus to say the word. And here is where the miraculous UN-miracle takes place.
Jesus doodles. Everyone was waiting for him to give the affirmative. The woman was anticipating the first blow. Maybe she was wondering why it was just her who was there in the dirt in the dirt when it takes two to tango.
And Jesus says the unexpected. “Sure, go ahead, but just make sure you are without sin before you throw that stone.”
We so readily want to jump to the righteous side, or what we think is the righteous side. We so readily want to join in the condemnation.
No one argues that she was guilty. She was.
However, what Jesus brought to their attention was that she, and every single one of his listeners, too, were in need of Grace. That is what makes this story so amazing. That is what makes this story, as a preacher, so hard to tell.
When have I condemned someone instead of reaching out to them in love and working to make them whole?
When have I been searching for stones to join in with the crowd before they looked too closely at me?
When have I been the woman, not being able to look anyone in the eye in shame and fear? Resigned to a fate out of my control?
This is a miracle we all can live. I cannot feed thousands out of my lunchbox, or raise the dead, or make the blind to see. But I, and we, can choose to be like Jesus and care for those who need it most, the pariahs, the outcasts, the least of these. The Guilty. The supposed Innocent. The everyone-everywhere humans. Each of us.
And when I find myself with a stone in my hand, maybe I can drop it, take off my cloak, and cover the one standing naked in front of me instead of adding to the shame and mockery. And that is where the miracle takes place. In our hearts we are raised to new life in Christ, instead of being condemned for being so hard. Remember, that was Pharaoh's sin when he took on Moses, hardness of heart.
I find this story hard to tell because of how many times I have failed to live it. May God be forgiving of that, too.
God forgive us, like Jesus forgave her. And that is a story that will be told over and over and over again. Amen
