However Jesus answered, “Who among you, who is without sin, may throw the first stone.” In silence Jesus started writing on the sand, the sins of many of the people there and one by me the accusers left. Finally Jesus looked at the woman and said, “Go and sin no more.”
In a simplistic manner my humble interpretation of the story tells me that Jesus acknowledges that it was a sin to commit adultery, hence, He admonished her to sin no more. To us it seems her sentence for the deed was light. She wasn’t stoned to death. However, it must have been so embarrassing and humiliating for her to face a good man, the Messiah, to face her conscience and to be pardoned with compassion.
Actually, I would have been happier with the Gospel of today if it were a man who had been dragged before Jesus. In these present times, there is a rising majority of men who flaunt their “second wives” in public; accompanying them to public functions, to casinos, to parties, to malls to wherever else, even if the real wife is still very much alive.
We are given the lame excuse of: “Why must I suffer? My wife has cancer, or Alzeihmers or Parkinsons. Must I lose my life, too?” This is often said, with wide-eyed seeming innocence, often with a plea for understanding! Sometimes I really wonder whether the people who say this have brains or hearts.
One can always find an excuse for almost anything including the act of “two-timing.” What bothers me though is the rising majority of children being raised by only one parent.
I know of a man who fathered a daughter, left his wife and fathered a son with another woman. He left the second woman to father two other sons with a third woman, before leaving for abroad. So how many fatherless children did he leave? Have many wives now are rearing a child or her children without financial support?
Why am I not focusing on philandering women? Perhaps it’s because our society is still hard (praise God) on women who turn their backs on their marriage vows. Our men, however, believe that a bulging pocketbook is their passport to pleasure and a compensation for being an absentee father. I wonder what makes these guys think it is that simple!
I’ve watched a nice, good-looking teen-age boy destroy himself in anger and bitterness when he discovered that his father already had an affair with the nurse of his mom. He dropped out from school, went after his father with a knife but failed in his mission to eliminate his father. He left home, stayed with his friends, fell into the drug habit and died of an overdose of the drug.
Actually, there is something more to this story. The mom died soon after her son died. Today the father is penniless. The wise nurse was able to deplete him of his wealth. Do I hear a chorus—”Gaba”? Sorry, dear readers. Our Bible mentor has explained over and over to us why there is no such as gaba (God’s anger). There is, however, always a result of man’s actions. (To be continued next week)
