“Neither Do I Condemn You – Go, and Sin No More” (John 8:1–11)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, Peace and Love of Christ be with you!!!

In today’s Gospel we witness one of the most tender and powerful encounters in Scripture, an encounter between divine mercy and human fragility, between condemnation and compassion, between law and grace.

Jesus had gone to the Mount of Olives, a place of prayer and solitude, and early in the morning, He returns to the temple. A crowd gathers, hungry for His words. And suddenly, the calm is shattered.

The scribes and Pharisees, dragging a woman caught in adultery, thrust her into the center. No name is given to her. She is simply “the woman.” She becomes the symbol of every sinner, every person ashamed, broken, exposed, condemned, even sentenced to death.

They ask Jesus:

“Teacher, this woman has been caught in the very act of committing adultery. Now in the law, Moses commanded us to stone such women. What do you say?”

The question is a trap. If He agrees, He violates His own message of mercy. If He disagrees, He is accused of breaking the Law of Moses.

But Jesus doesn’t speak, He stoops down and writes on the ground. He teaches us here that there are moments when we should observe silence, not necessarily response to a question which may be polemical. He challenges us to find the ideal moment to talk.

Why does He write on the ground? The Gospel doesn’t tell us the reason. But many Fathers of the Church saw a parallel with Jeremiah 17:13: “Those who turn away from you shall be written in the earth, for they have forsaken the Lord, the fountain of living water.”

Could Jesus be writing the sins of the accusers? Or simply reminding us that God sees all, even what is hidden? Maybe Jesus  wrote on the ground and  not on stone because stone keeps record. But dust is blown away by the wind.

Perhaps, Jesus wrote the sins of humanity on sand, so that the wind of divine mercy could wipe them clean. As Psalm 103:12 reminds us: “As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us.”

The finger that wrote on the ground is the same divine finger that wrote the Law on tablets of stone (Ex 31:18), but now Jesus writes not in stone, but in flesh, in the soil of human hearts. As foretold by the prophet Jeremiah:

“I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts” (Jer 31:33). The Law of Love is now the measure of all laws.

 

Jesus stoops. The Greek word here is katakýptō, to bend low. He, the sinless Son of God, lowers Himself before the sinner. This is our God, the one who stoops.

When they persist in questioning Him, Jesus stands and speaks those unforgettable words:
“Let the one among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.”
In Greek, the word for “without sin” is anamártētos, not just someone who hasn’t sinned, but someone who has no tendency toward sin at all. In other words: only the perfectly holy may judge perfectly.

And one by one, they walk away, beginning with the elders, the ones most aware of their failures. Then, only two are left: Jesus and the woman. The crowd is gone. The accusers are gone. And the law is silent.

Jesus speaks: “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?”.  Jesus calls her “Woman.” Not “sinner.” Not “adulteress.” But “Woman”, a title of dignity and mystery. The same word He uses to address His Mother Mary at Cana (John 2:4) and from the Cross (John 19:26). He is restoring her identity as a daughter of the Most High God. 

This is not coincidence. In calling her “Woman,” Jesus reawakens the image of Eve, the mother of all the living, but now redeemed, renewed, and restored to life. He gives her not just forgiveness, but a new name, a new beginning.

She answers:
“No one, Lord.”

And then comes the Gospel within the Gospel:

“Neither do I condemn you. Go, and from now on, sin no more.”

Jesus doesn’t excuse her sin. But He refuses to reduce her to her past. In Greek, “I do not condemn you” is oudè egṓ se katakrinō, not only does He not judge her now, but He chooses not to define her by her worst mistake.

He gives her a future. He offers truth with tenderness. He commands repentance, “Go and sin no more”, but only after He offers grace. This reminds us of what we can experience when we go to confess our sins before a Catholic priest.

What Does This  text Mean for Us Today?

We are all, at times, like the woman, ashamed, exposed, aware of our sin. And we are also sometimes like the crowd, quick to point fingers, slow to look inward.

But Jesus invites us today to drop our stones, to let go of the harsh judgments, especially the ones we inflict on ourselves.

We live in a world hungry for mercy. And yet, we often find more stones than compassion. But the Church is not called to be a courtroom. It is called to be a field hospital, as Pope Francis says, where the wounded find healing, not more wounds.

Jesus looks at each one of us today, especially those who feel unworthy, dirty, discarded, or hopeless, and He whispers the same words:

“Neither do I condemn you. Go, and sin no more.”

If we ever doubt the mercy of God, let us return to this Gospel. Let it soak into our hearts. Jesus does not come to shame us, but to save us. Not to push us down, but to lift us up.

So today, let bring our hearts to Jesus, just as it is, wounded, tired, sinful, and let Him stoop once again beside us. Let Him write a new story, one of forgiveness, healing, and new life.

Amen.