Finger of God

Today’s Gospel Text:  but Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. 2 Early in the morning he came again to the temple; all the people came to him, and he sat down and taught them. 3 The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery, and placing her in the midst 4 they said to him, "Teacher, this woman has been caught in the act of adultery. 5 Now in the law Moses commanded us to stone such. What do you say about her?" 6 This they said to test him, that they might have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground. 7 And as they continued to ask him, he stood up and said to them, "Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her." 8 And once more he bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground. 9 But when they heard it, they went away, one by one, beginning with the eldest, and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him. 10 Jesus looked up and said to her, "Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?" 11 She said, "No one, Lord." And Jesus said, "Neither do I condemn you; go, and do not sin again." John 8:1-11

Reflection: What may have preceded this plot of setting this woman, who was caught in the act of committing adultery, before Jesus?

I am sure they may have been culprits themselves who may have not got their pound of flesh. 

How can a woman alone commit an act of adultery? If she was caught in the act then where is the accomplice in such an act?

Jesus must have picked-up the wicked trap of these extra-smart Scribes and Pharisees?

What then did he write on the ground that spoke so loud and clear to their conscience?

The scripture tell us that Jesus wrote twice on the ground with his finger? Did not God write the Ten Commandments with his finger on two different tablets? Which means in two sittings at one time! 

  

"And he gave to Moses, when he had made an end of speaking with him upon Mount Sinai, the two tables of the testimony, tables of stone, written with the finger of God." Ex 31:18 (Dt. 9:10)  

When God’s finger is at work, there is no room for hardening of hearts (cfr. Ex. 8:19)

Jesus action of bending down to write for the first time suggests that they had notoriously broken the first  part of the commandments and it was their blindness and  hardened hearts that persistently kept on prodding him for an answer to their loaded query.

When he bent down the second time, they knew that the second half of the 10 commandments spoke to them loud and clear, they heard what was being written; “And once more he bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground. But when they heard it … (vss. 8-9a)

God’s finger spoke in the Old Testament and it can speak again too, it speaks to our hearts to set us free from the yoke of the evil one, who keeps oppressing us towards slavery to sin and wrongdoing. (cfr. Luke 11:20)

Prayer: All powerful God, raise thy finger against every power of evil that may be at work in this thy servant so that I may serve you in the freedom of heart.

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