Blog:Separation from God: free will, sin and willful damnation
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, from now on do not sin any more.” (Jn 8:11)
As across Salvation History, here we have the blessing and the correction -- called a "curse" in the Old Testament:
"Go, from now on do not sin any more."
There has been much wonder and academic debate over this passage. Some scholars say it was added to the Gospel of John well after its writing, and is thus inauthentic. Others say it was in the original manuscripts but dropped for a time for fear that the passage legimized adultery. The NAB (Revised), a Catholic Bible, notes that the passage was likely inserted into Latin versions of the Bible, presumably, then, in the Vulgate translation started by St. Jerome in 382 (see footnote on Jn. 8:1). Scholars note that the text is reads more like Luke than John, but was inserted into John Chapter 8 in order to align with Jesus' admonition to the pharisees Jn 8:15, "You judge by appearances but I do not judge anyone." (as well as for the allusion within the story in Jn 8:6 to Jer 17:13).
We'll go here with the end of the 8:1 footnote 's clarification, "The Catholic Church accepts this passage as canonical scripture." Indeed, there is no mistaking that the passage reflects the authentic Christ: repent, and believe (Mk 1:15)
"Sin no more"
The Evangelist John called the miracles of Jesus "signs", as he performed the miracles to instill or affirm belief, not to show off his power. Faith, then, is the salvific act here, and forgiveness of sin is the miracle that instilled it.
Equally miraculous is the power of the Word itself. Her accusers back away from Jesus' impeccable but shocking logic,
"Let the one among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her" (Jn 8:7)
And the woman is left alone, standing before Christ, who was still writing something on the ground -- her life literally saved.
Then Jesus straightened up and said to her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you? (Jn 8:10)
"No one, sir," she replies. What a beautiful expression: factual, yet inquisitive, humble, yet sure. Jesus then invokes the greatest miracle of all: God's redemption of fallen man:
Then Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you. Go, [and] from now on do not sin any more. (Jn. 8:11)
His interactions that build faith without an outright miracle are more powerful for it. Jesus knew his audience, and he knew who needed what and when, as when he told Thomas:
Blessed are those who have not seen yet believe.(Jn 20:29)
A Johannian detail
I don't know the Greek text, nor can I speak for this passage's distinct word choice and style that has convinced scholars of a non-Johnanian origin. But I know John. I know that even an accomplished Lector can easily stumble over John's circular text, such as at our Mass this past Sunday, the Sixth Sunday of Easter (B calendar):
As the Father loves me, so I also love you. Remain in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and remain in his love.(Jn 15:9-10)
(And Lectors worry about genaologies.)
Perhaps the language of John 8:1-11 is less elliptical, more narrative like Luke, but the details are pure John:
Jesus bent down and began to write on the ground with his finger. (Jn 8:6)
Similarly, in the Samaritan Woman at the well, the detail speaks with a quiet intensity:
The woman left her water jar and went into the town and said to the people... (Jn 4:28)
The literal is all we need: she she traded the water jar for the "living water" of Christ. It just strikes me as quite the same manner of telling as that of Jesus writing something on the ground, a detail that has perplexed scholars. The NAB here mentions Jeremiah 17:13, "Those who turn away from thee shall be written in the earth", thus suggesting he was condeming the accusers, or writing accusations of them (see John 8 | Lumina (netbible.org), which suggests that but concludes, "there is no clue as to the actual content of what he wrote").
Jesus elsewhere tells us that he does not judge, we judge ourselves:
By your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned. (Mt 12:35)
So I am dubious of that connection to Jeremiah, at least insofar as to what Jesus was writing down. The accusers were writing their own judgment, not Jesus.
Yet, it's a marvelous detail: the Lord writing. And, yes, he could have been writing out the sins of the accusers, or, as goes my pet theory, he was simply playing Tic-tac-toe, waiting for their next move, then, after they left, drawing a line across "three in a row."
Regardless, if John wanted us to know what he had written, he'd have told us. So let's stick to the literal, which John gave us:
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. (Jn 8:6-8)
He wrote while they threw at him their hypocritical accusations of the woman, and upon discharging them with his logic, he continued to write until they had all left. Such a marvelous defusing of the situation: they go blah blah blah, which he ignores while writing something on the ground, and when they don't let up, he stands, dismisses them, drops the mic, and returns to writing away on the ground. That completed, he stands and gives the woman the most precious words, "Neither do I condemn you. Go, and form now on do not sin any more."
Free will & wilfull damnation
As with other saving encounters with the living Christ, we cannot help but wonder what happened to this woman afterward. Like the Leper, the Woman at the Well, the Tax Collector, we can only hope and pray they sinned no more - which together with withholding judgment is the lesson for us today:
"do not sin any more"
As for the accusers, we can only pray that when they walked away, they, too, sinned no more, for the passage displays a depravity of malice, truly awful. First, they set up the woman, and with two witnesses (who by tradition would have been the first to throw stones), one of whom was probably the woman's partner in the act of adultery. Next, they would have been perfectly fine with stoning her.
Such was the power of the Lord's simple command that each recognized their sinful state, turned and walked away. A mob is not easily calmed, so his words struck each individually, with as John tells us, the older of them shaking off the anger first. The woman had to go back to that same society, we can only assume, so it must have been either doubly hard to be around the resentful and angry -- or inflnitely rewarding if one of the men, or some or all, too, repented and sinned no more.
The temptation to think so is great, but it is not ours to make one way or the other.
But, again, the details of John's story. In the Beatitudes, Jesus commands,
Stop judging, that you may not be judged. (Mt 7:1)
John, though, relates how Jesus puts those words into action.
May 6, 2024 by Michael
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