I Wish I Had Been There!Uzorak

Jesus and the woman caught in adultery

"It's a stoning Hadassah. I'm expected to go."

"You don't have to go, Mustapha," I shot back.

"I do if you want us to keep our standing in the synagogue. You know how it is, Hadassah."

I let go of his arm as he turned and walked out of the door. I hated these stonings. I know that he hated them, too, but his standing in the temple meant so much to him. I wish we could just leave here and leave all of this behind.

As I watched him walk to meet the crowd gathering at the temple, he looked tired and defeated, like the weight of the world was on his shoulders. I felt sorry for him. As the head of our family, he carried so much. Too much. I decided that I would go with him just to show him that I was there for him. I ran and caught up to him and put my arm around his. He gave me a half-smile and kissed my forehead. We walked arm-in-arm until we reached the temple court.

"You know you can't come, Hadassah."

"I know. I will hang back and wait for you out here."

I hugged him, and he went in. I went just close enough to see what was going on. The usual temple gossipers were narrating the scene, "That's Judith. They caught her committing adultery with Levi. It will be death for sure."

I knew her. Levi had been chasing her for months. Her mother had died when she was young. She had no one to help her navigate the challenges of coming into adulthood as a young Jewish woman. I felt sorry for her. A wave of hopelessness and despair washed over me as I watched the bloodlust in the eyes of the crowd.

They had brought her to the Messiah. I had heard much about Him but never heard Him speak before. His face seemed pained as he watched the crowd assemble, dragging Judith and placing her in front of Him. Disheveled, she fell to her knees, sobbing before Him.

“Rabbi,” they said to Jesus, “This woman was caught in the act of adultery. The law of Moses says to stone her. What do You say?” You could hear the venom in their question.

Jesus' eyes scanned the crowd. Intense. Fiery. Like a gathering storm. Then He looked down at Judith, and a deep sadness washed over His countenance. He stooped down in front of her. Judith just kept looking at the ground, sobbing. Jesus began to write in the dust with her tears.

"What is He writing?" The question echoed through the crowd of onlookers. The Pharisees broke the silence like a discordant note, "We demand an answer!" After what seemed an eternity of tense silence, Jesus stood up and said wearily, "All right, but let the one who has never sinned throw the first stone!" Then He stooped back down again as though they had interrupted Him from a very important task and continued writing in the dust.

Mustapha looked at me sheepishly, and I signaled for him to come with a slight nod of my head. He seemed both relieved and ashamed as he shuffled back to me, dropping his stone like a weight off his shoulders. The older men all followed suit. Then the younger ones, until there was no one left. Then Jesus took Judith's chin in His hand and turned her face upwards to Him. He held her arm with His other hand, and they stood up together, face to face. “Where are your accusers? Didn’t even one of them condemn you?”

“No, Lord,” she said.

Then Jesus said, “Neither do I. Go and sin no more.”

As Judith's tears of shame turned to tears of joy, something broke in my heart like the breaking of a dam. Tears held back for years ran freely down my cheeks. I cried for Judith and all who had gone before her. I cried for me. His words echoed in my heart, "Neither do I. Go and sin no more. Neither do I. Go and sin no more.”