In Jesus’ time it was important to know when daybreak occurred, since the first
offerings in the Temple could not be made before daybreak. But in an age before
clocks, how could one know when daybreak had come? A rabbi once asked his
students that question. One said this, another that. Finally, the rabbi said “A new day
has arrived when you can look at a human face and see a brother or a sister. If you are
unable to see a brother or a sister in every human face, you are still in the darkness of
night.”
This Sunday, we have the story in John’s gospel of the woman caught in
adultery. Morning has physically dawned, but for her accusers, it is still night. They
cannot see their sister in the face of the sinful woman. They couldn’t care less about
her; they have already decided that according to the Law of Moses, she must die. All
they care about is that she has become useful to them in laying a trap for Jesus, whom
they cannot see as a brother. Their malice is even greater because they are out to
destroy Jesus under the guise of honoring the divine law. If this is not taking the name
of God in vain, then nothing is.
As usual, Jesus out-smarts them, and one by one, they go away. In the end, only
he and the woman remain. St. Augustine puts it beautifully when he says that “Only two
are left: misery and mercy.”
We could be any of the actors in the story. Regrettably, we often play the role of
the woman's accusers. We, like them, take the name of God in vain when we engage in
destructive personal attacks on people who are in some way different from us, even
though they, like we, are created in the image of God.
We can also see ourselves in the woman. All of us have sinned; all of us need
forgiveness. All of us are naked; none of us is safe.
Finally, because we share the gift of his Spirit, we can and should identify with
Jesus in his love and compassion for the woman. In forgiving her, Jesus re-creates her.
He tells her the good news that she is free to walk away from the mess she has made,
and to begin a new and better life.
We all have moments when we ought to see a brother or sister in the other
person’s face; when we ought to forgive and re-create, rather than judge and condemn.
If in these moments, we fail to see our brother or sister, and to treat them as such, then
we, too, are still living in darkness.