Jesus bent down and began to write on the ground with his finger

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El_PAso

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It struck me at Mass during John 8:1-11 regarding “Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground.” The act that is generally portrayed as mysterious and what did he write….

It comes after being challenged about Law Of Moses basically written by the finger of God on stone tablets (at least 10 Commandments). Jesus being God, the author of the tablets, in a sort of mocking gesture “re-writes” the “law” in sand. “You want something written…here ya go” . Since the people did not even seem to be living the law making all but gibberish in the sand to be blown away. Even those against Jesus and prepared to execute and struck to the heart and forced to judge with their hearts and not their minds, not rely upon some strict code of conducts especially when they can’t adhere to it…

I think it indicates the time of 613 “laws” the Jews had not grasped the law of Love and were consumed with legalities. By turning the Law not so much against them but as a mirror he shows how little they learned and actually follow it.

Author of Old and New law Jesus invites us to look in our hearts and not to wonder what it written per se. Recall nowhere does he command the Word be written which was common and could have been a command. He did not provide in stone tablets heralding his Kingship. Perhaps the fanaticism with written law and the fact they didn’t “get it” still was why Jesus taught with actions and encourages us to spread the Word by our lives and actions…

The writing on the ground was the only thing Christ wrote we’re told of. He doesn’t point to it and nowhere is it revealed what it was because it doesn’t matter if you can’t interpret with your hearts!

I’m not so good with words sometimes but odd how this Gospel which used to be so mysterious to me was all of a sudden very clear…

EP
 
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As long as you bear in mind that your understanding of it may not be the understanding of it. It has helped you - great! It may have thus occurred to you simply because that is what you needed at the moment for the sake of clarity.
 
OP, those are interesting thoughts. I myself was wondering what Jesus wrote with his finger as I heard that this morning.
 
I like to imagine he was listing the names of the sinners present in order of their ages, elders first. As they were leaving he was adding more until they were all gone.
 
During the Mass I went to today, the priest in his homily said that this is one of the theories:

At that time, people would bring other people to the temple to accuse them of sins. The priests would write two things in the ground at the temple: the sin and the name of the accused person. Because this was the custom, some speculate that Jesus did the same thing, but turned it on the scribes and Pharisees. Rather than writing about the woman, he wrote about the scribes and Pharisees: the first time he bent he wrote their sin, and the second time he wrote their names.

Something to ponder…
 
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That’s an intriguing image Wampa and s.cono
🤔

The names of the sinners in their all their hypocrisy judging the woman.

Reminds me of the song about the Harper Valley PTA
Are you without sin Bobby Taylor? Shirley Thompson?
And Mr. Baker can you tell us why your secretary had to leave this town?

"Well this is just a little Peyton Place, and you’re all Harper Valley hypocrites…" 🎼
 
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Yes, I had that thought too at mass. Why were just the women stoned? Men were involved too…:confused:
 
St Jerome thought Jesus wrote ‘terra terram accusat’ (‘earth accuses earth’) on the ground. Who knows really.
 
s.cono said:
I like to imagine he was listing the names of the sinners present in order of their ages, elders first. As they were leaving he was adding more until they were all gone.
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That’s kind of a cool speculation… and it makes sense in a merciful way, even unto the accusers… the dust would eventually blow away and erase the writing… so their names would have been untraceable…

The reason I say this is, one could ask “Why DON’T we know what He was writing?”, which is actually the case.

It seems confusing to suggest He was writing in the sand without saying what He was writing. Why even mention it, if they weren’t going to tell us what He wrote? In a way, it’s even just as tempting to ask what He was writing, but apparently God didnt want us to know.
 
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Irishmom2 said:
Why were just the women stoned? Men were involved too…:confused:
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Yep! That’s one of the points that is often brought up in discussions of this story. In fact, if you look at Leviticus and Deuteronomy, there are some cases (depending on the woman’s marital status) where the woman does not get punished, but the man always does (either by losing his life or paying a penalty).

Interestingly, the Pharisees implicate themselves in their own injustice; they say “the law of Moses commanded us to stone such (women)”. (They don’t actually use the word ‘women’, but the pronoun here is feminine plural.) So… if they’re talking about a case in which the woman must be stoned, then by implication, it’s also a case in which the man must be stoned. And, if they were caught “in the very act”… where’s the guy who’s life is forfeit, as well?

Some have speculated that the guy was one of the “witnesses” upon whose “testimony” the Pharisees would have made their case. If true – and I’m not saying it is! – that would make Jesus’ reply all the more poignant. After all, it is the witnesses who are prescribed to throw the first stone, and then the community joins in. So, knowing that the ‘witness’ shares in the same sin, Jesus invites him to cast the stone… if he is without sin.

If there are no witnesses who are sinless… then there’s no case, and no punishment. Jesus has been challenged to abide by Mosaic law, and in a way that the Pharisees don’t expect, he does. Cool stuff…! 👍
 
Exactly. This is why they feel convicted by Jesus’ “He who is without sin,” because they are all, in bringing forth this selective prosecution, sinning.
 
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Aspidistraflyer said:
This is why they feel convicted by Jesus’ “He who is without sin,” because they are all, in bringing forth this selective prosecution, sinning.
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Well, I don’t know that I’d go that far. They’re not sinning per se; they’re just not bringing to justice both adulterers. (There’s nothing to say that they hadn’t been planning to bring forth the guy later, and just not in Jesus’ presence.)
 
I don’t know. That interpretation of this pericope seems to demand we assume additional details about the story. I could be wrong though.
 
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I dont think that the Pharisees felt convicted, per se. They were tricked because even though they did feel they were without sin (hypocrites) they would have brought the Romans down on their heads if they had stoned the woman. That’s the same thing they had been trying to trap Jesus into doing, so Jesus handled it perfectly of course.

I do think the theory that he wrote their names and sins is the most likely, although I suppose we will never know. Maybe this is something that 1st century jews would have known without it being spelled out, based on the context, and that’s why it wasn’t detailed.
 
There’s a joke about this that Mary was there and she threw a stone at the woman and it missed. Jesus saw her and complained "Mom! I’m trying to make a point here!’
 
The thread reminds me of a story our Pastor told as part of a Penance service. I found it here:

http://jenningscenter.org/news/spirituality-and-you-two-friends

and it goes like this:

“ Two friends were walking along the beach and got into an argument. One of them slapped the other. The man felt hurt, but saying nothing he wrote on the sand: Today my best friend slapped me.

They continued walking and decided to swim in the ocean. The one who had been slapped started to sink, but his friend saved him. When he regained consciousness he wrote on a large stone: Today my best friend saved my life. His friend asked him “When I hurt you, you wrote on the sand and now you are writing on the stone. Why?”

His friend answered, “When someone hurts us, we should write it on the sand, so the wind can erase it. But when someone does something good for us, we must engrave it on stone, so that it lasts forever.”

Friendship is a beautiful gift—a gift that we are blessed to receive and to give. Life would be barren without this precious experience. Today let us celebrate the joy of friendship. May we always let the wind carry away the moments of any pain or slight we might feel. And may we always have the joys we share written on our hearts and engraved in our minds, etched as if in stone!”
 
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Aspidistraflyer said:
I don’t know. That interpretation of this pericope seems to demand we assume additional details about the story.
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I guess it depends on which ‘details’ you’re “exegeting” and which you’re “exegesing”, right?

To my mind, the context here is the Mosaic law, and what it prescribes. That’s the “stick” that the Pharisees are attempting to beat Jesus with, wouldn’t you say? And, although we’d say that their attempt wasn’t fair, it was according to the Mosaic law, wouldn’t you agree?

There can be correspondences drawn between this story and the OT story of Daniel and Susanna, but in that story, Daniel actually uncovers the deception of the elders and sees to their punishment. That doesn’t happen here. But, if you did want to draw out that allusion, then you’d have to conclude that Jesus is showing mercy both to the adulteress and the Pharisees, who are both testing God’s mercy through their actions…
 
El_PAso said:
It struck me at Mass during John 8:1-11 regarding “Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground.” The act that is generally portrayed as mysterious and what did he write….

It comes after being challenged about Law Of Moses …
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Certainly he brought the New Covenant. Yet, compare to Matthew 5 – perhaps he was illustrating the jot and tittle in the sand.

Matthew 5
17 Do not think that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets. I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. 18 For amen I say unto you, till heaven and earth pass, one jot, or one tittle shall not pass of the law, till all be fulfilled. 19 He therefore that shall break one of these least commandments, and shall so teach men shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven. But he that shall do and teach, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.

20 For I tell you, that unless your justice abound more than that of the scribes and Pharisees, you shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.
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