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Jesus, as the Son of God, taught the crowd with full of power and authority. This power of God basically touched the inner disposition of the listeners for their transformation. Since the character of faith is free (which requires one's own freedom to believe or not to believe), then there would be some groups of listener formed: first, those who believed in Jesus; second, those who doubted Him as Christ, the Son of God; and the third, those who totally rejected Him. The Pharisees and Scribes were in the third group.
In today's Gospel, the Pharisees and Scribes brought to Jesus a woman who was found guilty of adultery. They planned to trap Him for He had talked a lot about forgiving sin and His equality with the Father, which for them is blasphemy. Jesus knew their intention and gently stated "let the one among you who is guiltless be the first to throw the stone at her." Nobody stood longer after hearing these words. One by one disappeared before him, started from the eldest.
Here, we learn from Jesus not to be so quick judging others, but be merciful and respectful to approach them. Who are we to judge our brothers and sisters? What rulers are we using to measure them? Let us be humble. Perfection only belongs to God alone. We are all just participating in God's perfection. We are all subject to commit sin or wrong doing. It is only God who can necessarily judge us, although God never judges us and puts us down because of His unconditional love.
The Gospel of today encourages us to be good to our brothers and sisters as our God is good; be merciful as our God is merciful; and willing to forgive as our God is forgiving. It is our task as one communion with Christ to assist one another in elevating our faith.
Reflection on John 8: 1-11 by Paul Hadjon, SVD
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