Did the story of the adulteress really happen?

[dadofnine]

This week’s Gospel reading tells the story of the adulteress brought before Jesus. However, this story did not appear in Greek manuscripts of John until the 9th century. It is a nice story with a valuable lesson but did it really happen?

 

[Fr.Charles_Grondin]

There is indeed much debate about whether the story of the woman caught in adultery is part of the original Gospel of John. It does not appear in any surviving text of the Gospel of John prior to the 5th century. Some scholars also claim that it seems to fit better into the Gospel of Luke rather than John. However, these are technical arguments that are not of much interest outside of biblical scholars. The bottom line is that the Church tradition, guided by the Holy Spirit, has accepted it.

There is historical evidence that even if the story is not originally part of the Gospel of John it was a fairly well circulated story of the life and ministry of Jesus. It is mentioned in the preaching of Pope Leo the Great and was written about by St. Augustine.

A 3rd century work Didascalia Apostolorum makes what seems to be a passing reference to this passage:

But if thou receive not him who repents, because thou art without mercy, thou shalt sin against the Lord God; for thou obeyest not our Saviour and our God, to do as He also did with her that had sinned, whom the elders set before Him, and leaving the judgement in His hands, departed. But He, the Searcher of hearts, asked her and said to her: Have the elders condemned thee, my daughter. She saith to him: Nay, Lord. And he said unto her: Go thy way neither do I condemn thee.

Didymus the Blind in the 4th century also made mention of it:

We find, therefore, in certain gospels [the following story]. A woman, it says, was condemned by the Jews for a sin and was being sent to be stoned in the place where that was customary to happen. The Saviour, it says, when he saw her and observed that they were ready to stone her, said to those who were about to cast stones, “He who has not sinned, let him take a stone and cast it. If anyone is conscious in himself not to have sinned, let him take up a stone and smite her.” And no one dared. Since they knew in themselves and perceived that they themselves were guilty in some things, they did not dare to strike her

• Michael William Holmes, The Apostolic Fathers: Greek Texts and English Translations (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 1999), 558-59

So while there is plenty of room for debate about whether this passage was originally part of the canonical Gospels, there doesn’t seem to be any reason to debate its historicity. The story appears in the oral tradition of the Church and contains historically realistic and consistent elements. There is no evidence the story was created at some point but rather it appears to have been a fairly well known incident from the life and ministry of Jesus. So, yes, it really happened.