The women in the gospel is alone.

Gospel John 8:1-11

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.”

So, the women in the gospel is alone.

In many ways

She was caught in adultery,.

Men who was with her is not there to support her, he left her. She is alone again.

She is left out. Not understood, rejected and lonely

and now if her suffering wasn’t enough, she is caught up and may be stoned to death

She is Alone again. Left to be killed. Only she. Nobody will die here for her.

Her partner might be even one of those who have stone in hand.

She is alone.

Like many of us. Living on surface.

Maybe living in sin. We don’t want people know about our sins.

 

What changes everything here is the presence of Jesus and he is not welcomed there.

 

Looking on this scene I’m thinking

How many times something similar happens to us too.

We live day by day in our loneliness, missing the life, isolated in sin, not understood by closest to us people…

And what… And time to time tragedy happens.. sickness, illness, lose of job, betrayal..

 

As you see it wasn’t Jesus who made the women to be caught and stoned.

It was his enemies trying to prove that he is wrong

And it is not Jesus who makes us suffer, lonely, desperate, experiencing death of somebody very close. It is not Jesus who makes our lives miserable

It is not Jesus who is doing all this evil nasty things to us. It’s our enemy.

Sin and consequences of it and Evil in this world

 

And as in the Gospel Jesus won’t go back to change what happens.

What he does is he offers his mercy and Forgiveness.

He destroys death sentence put on us by sin and evil of this world.

And he takes away isolation, loneliness, despair,

And offer us new life

 

It is sad it takes sometimes tragedy to wake us up

Here we are invited to enter into paschal mystery

Jesus meets us in our nothingness, our sin,

our condemnation, our pain, rejection and isolation

And offer us him himself. His forgiveness. Acceptance. hope, strength.

It may not sound like a lot .

But what he did saved life of that women, and can saves ours, if we let him do it.