Sin no more (John 8:11)

Today, we read the famous story of Jesus and an adulterous woman (John 8:1-11). From this story came the idiom "to cast the first stone", meaning to be the first to attack a sinner. However, many scholars believe that the original gospel did not contain this beautiful story because among reliable ancient New Testament manuscripts, a few of them do not have it. Somehow, a scribe inserted this story in one of the manuscripts and it got copied in latter generations and survives. Of course, this is just a hypothesis and we can also argue otherwise. Perhaps, one scribe found this story unpalatable and removed it from his manuscript! Adultery was too grave a sin to tolerate and this scribe did not want to see Jesus not condemning it. OK, let's stop speculating. The fact that this story survives indicates that it is God's will to remind us not to be self-righteous.
Indeed, this story is totally compatible with Jesus' teaching. True, Jesus objects to divorce and adultery because such actions destroy the sanctity of marriage. However, Jesus is also merciful to sinners. He called public sinners to be his apostles. He accepted the anointment of a woman with dubious background. He died in place of Barabbas, a murderer. He received a thief into the paradise when he was crucified on the cross. Jesus was the walking mercy of God among men. Therefore, his defence for this adulterous woman was compatible with his teachings and attitude.
This morning, it was Brenda's turn to address the morning assembly. She was supposed to talk about the Sunday readings. The reading was taken from John 12.
Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit (John 12:24).
The hour was drawing near for Jesus to be glorified. "Glorified" is a code word for "crucified" in John. In this context, Jesus was explaining the purpose of his death to his apostles: Philip and Andrew. Brenda made use of this beneficial concept of death and advised the congregation that our "old self" should die.
We Christians are not afraid to die because we know that beyond this physical death, an eternal life is beckoning to us. Everyday, our "old self" must die so that we may renew and improve ourselves continuously. Very often, we are selfish and egocentric. In particular, we assert that we are right and the others are wrong. We cannot be wrong. It is not our fault. Not me! Brenda made the point dramatically by openly apologizing to Emily for the heated argument they had over the P6 interview last Saturday. Emily was so moved that she could not hold her tears in front of all the students. However, I am afraid Brenda's effort was a total waste because her intended audience was lecturing the S4 students in the school hall! Let's put down our self-righteousness for the time being and turn to the finger of Jesus.
But Jesus stooped down, and with his finger wrote on the ground, as though he heard them not (John 8:6b).
Throughout the ages, people have been speculating what Jesus wrote on the ground. Some suggest that Jesus was writing the sins of those who tried to trap him with the adulterous woman. Pressed further, Jesus made the famous line of casting the first stone.
He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her (John 8:7b).
Then he returned to his writing on the ground.
And they which heard it, being convicted by their own conscience, went out one by one, beginning at the eldest, even unto the last: and Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst (John 8:9).
In the gospel of John, there are two places where fingers are mentioned. The first one is in this story of the adulterous woman. The other one is about Thomas, the famous empiricist.
The other disciples therefore said unto him (Thomas), We have seen the Lord. But he said unto them, Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe (John 20:25).
When Jesus appeared again to the 11 apostles, he invited Thomas to put his fingers into his wounds to unearth the truth. So, in the gospel of John, fingers are somehow related to the truth. Jesus is God and whatever he wrote on the ground must be the truth, whether it be the sins of the people or the Torah.
I think the former is most unlikely because it is not yet the Judgment Day and the first time Jesus came, he did not come to condemn, to pass judgment (John 3:17). Moses brought down two tables of stone written with the fingers of God. They were the tables of covenant, containing the words of God, the words of life (Deuteronomy 9:9-10).
In the end, only two people remained, Jesus and the adulterous woman. Jesus did not pass judgment on her.
When Jesus had lifted up himself, and saw none but the woman, he said unto her, Woman, where are those thine accusers? hath no man condemned thee?
She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more (John 8:10-11).
When Jesus is not around, we tend to play the "not me" game, pointing our fingers at others. When such finger-pointings abound, there is no Jesus. Self-righteous people, like their ancestors the Pharisees, find no room for Jesus. Maybe we should put down our arrogance, our self-righteousness and invite Jesus to be our Lord. He brings the truth and the truth shall make us free (John 8:32), free from our weaknesses, our sins, our "old-self".

My God, we are approaching the end of the Lent season. Let us work harder to rid ourselves of self-righteousness. Imbue in us Your spirit of humility so that we can love You and our neighbours more freely. Amen.