Justice and mercy

Psalms 23(22):1-3a.3b-4.5.6. 

The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. 

In verdant pastures he gives me repose; 

beside restful waters he leads me; 

he refreshes my soul. 

He guides me in right paths

Even though I walk in the dark valley 

I fear no evil; for you are at my side 

with your rod and your staff 

that give me courage. 

You spread the table before me 

in the sight of my foes; 

You anoint my head with oil; 

my cup overflows. 

Only goodness and kindness follow me 

all the days of my life; 

and I shall dwell in the house of the LORD 

for years to come. 

Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint John 8:1-11. 

Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. 

But early in the morning he arrived again in the temple area, and all the people started coming to him, and he sat down and taught them. 

Then the scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery and made her stand in the middle. 

They said to him, "Teacher, this woman was caught in the very act of committing adultery. 

Now in the law, Moses commanded us to stone such women. So what do you say?"

They said this to test him, so that they could have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and began to write on the ground with his finger.

But when they continued asking him, he straightened up and said to them, "Let the one among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her."

Again he bent down and wrote on the ground. 

And in response, they went away one by one, beginning with the elders. So he was left alone with the woman before him. 

Then Jesus straightened up and said to her, "Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?" 

She replied, "No one, sir." Then Jesus said, "Neither do I condemn you. Go, (and) from now on do not sin any more." 

Justice and mercy

The Pharisees said amongst themselves regarding Jesus : “He has a reputation for being true and has an air of gentleness; we’ll have to attack him on a matter of justice. Let us take a woman to him who has been caught openly in the crime of adultery and say to him what the Law demands on the subject”… What does the Lord Jesus reply? What does Truth answer? (Jn 14:6). What does Wisdom have to say?” (1Cor 1:24). How does Justice itself respond when thus put to the test? Jesus does not say: “Let her not be stoned”, since he does not wish to seem to speak against the Law. However, he takes good care not to say: “Let her be stoned”, since he has come not to lose what he has found but to “seek out what is lost” (Lk 19:10). So what does he reply? Note how justice, gentleness and truth are fulfilled at the same time: “Let the one among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her,” he says. 

Wisdom’s answer! How he makes them return to themselves! Their manoeuvers were external but they did not look into the depths of their own hearts. They saw the adulteress but did not observe themselves… O Pharisees, doctors of the Law, you have heard the Law’s guardians but have not understood the One who gives the Law. Indeed, the Law has been written by the finger of God but, because of the hardness of people’s hearts, it has been written in stone (Ex 31:18; 34:1). Now the Lord writes in the dust because he is looking for the Law’s fruit… “Let each one examine himself, return to himself, place himself before the judgement seat of his soul… Anyone who looks at himself attentively inevitably finds himself a sinner. So let this woman go or submit yourself to the punishment of the Law along with her”… 

This is the voice of justice: “Let the guilty be punished but not by the guilty. Let the Law be executed but not by those who break the Law”… Struck by the justice as by the point of a lance they return to themselves and find themselves to be sinners, “they went away, one by one.”