Week 6 - God’s love rejected

John 8, 2 -11

Preparation:

Take time to find calm and silence.

Adopt a suitable posture—balanced between tension and relaxation. You don't pray only with your heart, but also with your body: your head, your facial expression, your hands, your torso...

 Try to place yourself in the presence of God, and ask for the grace to listen, to speak, and to let your life and being be illuminated by His presence.

Bibletext

At daybreak Jesus entered the temple courts, and all the people gathered around him. He sat down and began to teach them.

3 The scribes and the Pharisees brought in a woman who had been caught in adultery. Forcing her to stand in their midst, 4 they said to him, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the very act of adultery.[b] 5 Now in the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women.[c] What do you have to say?”

6 They asked him this question as a test so that they could bring a charge against him. Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. 7 When they continued to persist in their question, he straightened up and said to them, “Let anyone among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.”[d] 8 Then he again bent down and wrote on the ground.

9 When they heard his response, they went away one by one, beginning with the elders, until Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him. 10 Then Jesus straightened up and said to her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” 11 She replied, “No one, sir.” “Neither do I condemn you,” Jesus said. “Go on your way, and sin no more.”]

Guided meditation

I immerse myself in the story. I hear, see, smell, and feel what is happening. I see the temple square, the people, Jesus teaching.

I see a woman brought before Jesus. She is caught in adultery and publicly accused. For this crime, the death penalty by stoning applies.

I listen to what is said:

-              The question: “Teacher, this woman was caught in the very act of adultery. Now in the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. What do you have to say?”

-              Jesus silence, Jesus writing in the sand.

-              Jesus responds: “Let anyone among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.”

Then the accusators leave, one after the other. Jesus remains there with the woman. I listen to their conversation:

-              Jesus: Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” 

-              “No one, sir.”  Says she.

-              “Neither do I condemn you,” Jesus said. “Go on your way, and sin no more.”

Points

-              Jesus is teaching. Where in my life do I hear Jesus teaching?

A group brings before Jesus a woman accused of adultry.

-              Jesus writes in the sand. What do I hope Jesus writes about? What would Jesus write about me?

-              Jesus offers a second change. Not only to the woman caught in adultry, but also to the accusers. The accusers are confronted with the challenge: are you without sin

I look and listen to the gestures and the words of Jesus. What moves Him? What does He feel? How does His way of acting affect me?

I see how the scribes and Pharisees respond to the words of Jesus. I place myself again in the situation of the woman. What is she experiencing? How is Jesus looking at her now? And how is she looking at Jesus?