My Dear People,

We know that on several occasions our Lord withdrew to the Mount of Olives to pray.  This place was on the east of Jerusalem, across from Kidron Valley. It had from ancient times been a place of prayer:  David went there to adore God during the difficult period when Absalom was in revolt (2 Sam 15:32), and there the prophet Ezekiel contemplated the glory of Yahweh entering the temple (Ezek 43:1-5).  At the foot of the hill there was a garden, called Gethsemane or “the place of the oil press,” an enclosed plot containing a plantation of olive trees.  Christian tradition has treated this place with great respect and has maintained it as a place of prayer.  Towards the end of the fourth century a church was built there, on whose remains the present church was built.  There are still some ancient olive trees growing there which could well derive from those of our Lord’s time. 

The question put by the scribes and Pharisees has a catch: our Lord had often shown understanding to people whom they considered sinners; they come to him now with this case to see if he will be equally indulgent—which will allow them to accuse him of infringing a very clear precept of the Law. (cf. Lev. 20:10).

The question put to Jesus was couched in legal terms; he raised it to the moral plane, appealing to the people’s conscience.  He does not violate the law, St. Augustine said, and at the same time he does not want to lose what he is seeking—for he has come to save which was lost: “His answer is so full of justice, gentleness and truth.” 

The two of them were left on their own, the wretched woman and Mercy. But the Lord, having smitten them with the dart of justice, does not even deign watch them go but turns his gaze away from them and once more writes on the ground with his finger.

After they had all gone, he lifted his eyes to the woman. We have already heard the voice of justice; let us now hear the voice of gentleness. He who had driven away her adversaries with the tongue of justice, now looking at her with the eyes of gentleness asks her, ‘Has no one condemned you?” She replies, ‘No one, Lord.’  And he says, ‘Neither do I condemn you; I who perhaps you feared would punish you, because in me you have found no sin.’ This does not mean that the Lord favors the sinners. What follows, Jesus tells this woman: ‘go and sin no more.’ Therefore, the Lord also condemned sin, but not the woman. We are asked to do the same: condemn sin but love the sinner.  This allows the sinner a chance for repentance and turning his or her life around, as must have happened to this woman.

 Yours in Christ,

Fr. Vincent Clemente