Here and Now with Francis: 4/7/19 (adulterous woman, Christ, mercy)
From the Angelus address
“Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her” (v. 7). So Jesus appeals to the conscience of those men: they felt themselves “champions of justice,” but He recalls them to the awareness of their condition of sinful men so that they cannot arrogate to themselves the right of life or death over one of their fellow beings. At that point, one after the other, beginning with the eldest — namely those more expert in their miseries — went away, giving up stoning the woman. This scene also invites each one of us to become conscious that we are sinners and to let the stone fall from our hands of denigration and condemnation, of gossip, which we sometimes want to fling against others. When we speak badly of others, we throw stones; we are like these men. [link]
Jesus is left alone with the woman, there, in the midst: “misery and mercy,” says Saint Augustine (In Joh 33:5). Jesus is the only one without fault, the only one who could throw a stone against her, but He doesn’t do it, because God has “no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live” (Cf. 33:11).
“Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her” (v. 7). So Jesus appeals to the conscience of those men: they felt themselves “champions of justice,” but He recalls them to the awareness of their condition of sinful men so that they cannot arrogate to themselves the right of life or death over one of their fellow beings. At that point, one after the other, beginning with the eldest — namely those more expert in their miseries — went away, giving up stoning the woman. This scene also invites each one of us to become conscious that we are sinners and to let the stone fall from our hands of denigration and condemnation, of gossip, which we sometimes want to fling against others. When we speak badly of others, we throw stones; we are like these men. [link]
