She was in the back of the crowd, far in the back. She was small and invisible so she wasn’t
afraid of being exposed or called out.
It was easy for her to blend in with the crowd that gathered to hear
Jesus teach. She was curious of
him. Attracted to his presence. He
commanded a presence without prestige or power.
As she moved and shifted and shuffled her way closer to the front she
noticed that he really didn’t stand out physically either. There was nothing about him that commanded
physical attraction. He was no King
Saul, clearly. He was…well, ordinary, but he spoke with such authority. She heard about the miracles, the feeding of
the five thousand with a little boy’s meal, the healing of the invalid in
Bethesda; people are still talking about that one. Some heard that he walked on water . She was wondering, “what would Jesus do
today?”
There was also talk of his claiming to be God, the very
bread of life! She didn’t know what to
make of this man from Nazareth. She heard about the scandals of him talking with
prostitutes and eating with sinners at night.
That both terrified and encouraged her because she found Jesus to be
inviting and welcoming to folks with scars and sins and stains on their lives. But She didn’t want to be mistaken for none of
them. She couldn’t believe that he went
to Samaria of all places. Some say he
was alone with a popular whore at the local well. Who knows what talked about? Whatever it was, she couldn’t keep her mouth
shut about him. This man was causing
quite a stir among the common Jews who didn’t want to cause trouble with the
government nor those righteous ones, the Pharisees.
As she listened to him teach with no scroll or script, she
was amazed by his power and welcoming approach.
He spoke like a king with such authority and yet he was as common as a
shepherd in how he connected with the crowd.
And she secretly wished, because she would never embarrass herself, that
his eyes would fall on hers as he spoke of this kingdom of his. Not romantically, but as a rescue from this
hopeless place she found her life in. If
there was such a place, she wanted to go there.
Everything he spoke was golden until they brought her to him.
The Pharisees led a small of band of angry men dragging some
whore by the hair and threw her down in front of him, naked, shaken,
weeping.
“This…woman was caught in adultery, teacher!” one of the
elders announced “The Law of Moses commands that we stone this whore for her
sins! What do you say?” The crowd stepped back as if she had leprosy!
Some men yelled at her, spitting as they called her names. The women huddled and whispered as they
watched their husbands’ “righteous” anger.
Jesus was silent. And she thought, they got him. There is no escape. If he says don’t stone her, they will accuse
him of breaking the law of Moses. If he
says stone her, he is violation of the Roman law; Jews could not carry out
executions. What would he do about the woman in the fetal position in front
her, in front of him?
The next thing that happened astonished her. Jesus, in the midst of the storm of
accusations and mockings, bent down and
started to write in the sand. This man
wrote in the sand! She mustered the courage and stepped forward to get a closer
look. What she saw him writing made her
cover her mouth because she could not close it automatically. The loud muscular crowd grew silent as Jesus
stood up in front of the woman and gave his reply. She stood there right across from him and
waited anxiously for his next words. He
looked to her as if he was talking about her as well as whore at his feet.
“He without sin, let him cast the first stone.” Jesus
answered them.
He stooped back down and continued to write in the
sand. She looked around. the crowd was
stunned. The crowd shifted their attention
to the Pharisees and the younger men looked toward the oldest of their
group. The old man with his head hanging
down, dropped his stones and shuffled away.
The younger men in shame followed his example. Soon the crowd thinned, each group leaving
slowly. She took a deep breath and
nodded her head at the man from Nazareth and she slipped away as well among the
good women. When she was a safe distance away, she looked back and saw the
naked whore hug Jesus as he covered her with his cloak. And for the first time in her life, she
envied a sinner.
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