Those vile rulers and Pharisees were ever, in their malice, on the watch against the Lord Jesus, and anxiously took counsel together how they might overcome Him by stratagem and conceit, and render Him odious to the people. But their arrows were hurled back upon themselves. When, then, a certain woman was taken in adultery, and ought, according to the law, to be stoned, they brought her to Him in the Temple, and asked Him what should be done with her, desirous of placing Him in a difficulty. For had He decided that the law should be observed, they would have charged Him with cruelty and mercilessness; and if, on the other hand, he had decided that the law should not be observed, they would have charged Him with lawlessness. But the wise Lord saw their snares, and knew how to avoid them ; and thus He humbly stooped down, and wrote with His finger on the ground. The old commentary says, He wrote down their sins. That writing was of such power that each of them recognized their sins thereby. Then our Lord, raising Himself up, said, “He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her .”1 And again He stooped down — this gracious Lord, considerate even towards those who envied and hated Him, lest they should be too much abashed. But they went out from His presence, and so their deceitfulness was frustrated. The Lord Jesus then warned the woman not to sin any more, and let her go. Behold Him, then, attentively in all these deeds and words.
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Footnotes
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S. John viii. 7. ↩