Quote:
|
Then each went to his own house, while 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. John 8:1-11 |
I am particularly interested in what it is that Jesus writes in the sand. Whatever it is obviously scared the daylights out of them, as not only did they run away, they didn't even mentioned it during the Passion when Jesus was on trial!
The common theories are that Jesus wrote the sins of each of them in the sand, or wrote all their names according their ages, starting with the oldest, and ending with the youngest. I don't place much faith in the latter, but the former piques my curiosity, and in my experience is the one most people believe to be true as well.
Personally I believe that while Jesus did write their sins, he did not write all of them: only the ones that were, shall we say, appropriate for the situation.
If you all permit, I would like to tell the rest as a story.