What Did Jesus Write?

After the mass for this fifth Sunday of Lent where the Gospel was about the adulterous woman, I was approached by at least three people and asked me about what Jesus wrote on the ground while waiting for the elders to cast a stone at her. I was a bit surprised at how that little detail interested and intrigued some of the people. As far as I know, there had been books by some theologians trying to interpret that act of Jesus. But nothing was conclusive. I believe it was just an attempt of the Lord Jesus to merely while the time while waiting for some actions from the elders. It was a gesture of being disinterested. The key to the Gospel is not in what Jesus wrote but in what He did for the woman and the challenge He put before the elders. The Gospel showed God's mercy to the miserable and His serious quest to save everyone. On the other hand, His statement of challenge to the elders was just to probe and expose their real motivation for bringing the woman before her. In the first place, they could have gone on punishing the woman. But they, instead, used her for their purpose of trapping Jesus. There was no doubt as to the guilt of the woman because she was caught in the act. Jesus had no dispute against the law of Moses nor did He insinuated that the best judgment can only be made by one who is clean. He was questioning the intentions of the elders. The decision o f the elders not to cast a stone at the woman proved that they had evil intentions rather than seek for justice.

We must be thankful that God is God. We must be thankful that He is merciful. The mercy that we doubt and do not want for other sinners, maybe the very mercy we will need for ourselves! Mercy had been God's way from the very beginning. We just had not tried it fully yet. If only we will exercise mercy to each other, justice and peace are not that far away!