The adulteress
1 As for Jesus, he went to the Mount of Olives.
2 At daybreak Jesus appeared in the Tem ple again. All the people came to him, and he sat down and began to teach them.
3 Then the teachers of the Law and the Pharisees brought in a woman who had been caught in the act of adultery. They made her stand in front of everyone.
4 “Master,” they said, “this wo man has been caught in the act of adultery.
5 Now the Law of Moses orders that such women be stoned to death; but you, what do you say?”
6 They said this to test Jesus, in order to have some charge against him.
Jesus bent down and started writing on the ground with his finger.
7 And as they continued to ask him, he straightened up and said to them, “Let anyone among you who has no sin be the first to throw a stone at her.”
8 And he bent down again, writing on the ground.
9 As a result of these words, they went away, one by one, starting with the elders, and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him.
10 Then Jesus stood up and said to her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?”
11 She replied, “No one.” And Jesus said, “Neither do I con demn you; go away and don’t sin again.”
I Am the light of the world
12 Jesus spoke to them again, “I am the Light of the world; the one who follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have light and life.”
13 The Pharisees replied, “Now you are speaking on your own be half, your testimony is worthless.”
14 Then Jesus said, “Even though I bear witness to myself, my testimony is true, for I know where I have come from and where I am going. But you do not know where I came from or where I am going.
15 You judge by human standards; as for me, I don’t judge anyone.
16 But if I had to judge, my judgment would be valid for I am not alone: the Father who sent me is with me.
17 In your Law it is written that the testimony of two witnesses is valid;
18 so I am bearing witness to myself, and the Father who sent me bears witness to me.”
19 They asked him, “Where is your Father?” Jesus answered, “You don’t know me or my Father; if you knew me, you would know my Father as well.”
20 Jesus said these things when he was teaching in the Temple area, in the place where they received the offerings. No one arrested him, be cause his hour had not yet come.
21 Again Jesus said to them, “I am going away, and though you look for me, you will die in your sin. Where I am going you cannot come.”
22 The Jews wondered, “Why does he say that we can’t come where he is going? Will he kill him self?”
23 But Jesus said, “You are from below and I am from above; you are of this world and I am not of this world.
24 That is why I told you that you will die in your sins. And you shall die in your sins unless you believe that I am He.”
25 They asked him, “Who are you?”; and Jesus said, “Just what I have told you from the beginning.
26 I have much to say about you and much to condemn; but the One who sent me is truthful and everything I learned from him, I proclaim to the world.”
27 They didn’t understand that Jesus was speaking to them about the Father.
28 So Jesus said, “When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He and that I do nothing of my self, but I say just what the Father taught me.
29 He who sent me is with me and has not left me alone; because I always do what pleases him.”
The children of truth
30 As Jesus spoke like this, many believed in him.
31 Jesus went on to say to the Jews who believed in him: “You will be my true disciples if you keep my word.
32 Then you will know the truth and the truth will make you free.”
33 They answered him, “We are the descendants of Abraham and have never been slaves of anyone. What do you mean by saying: You will be free?”
34 Jesus answered them, “Truly, I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave.
35 But the slave doesn’t stay in the house forever; the son stays forever.
36 So, if the Son makes you free, you will be really free.
37 I know that you are the descendants of Abraham; yet you want to kill me because my word finds no place in you.
38 For my part I speak of what I have seen in the Father’s presence, but you do what you have learned from your father.”
39 They answered him, “Our father is Abraham.” Then Jesus said, “If you were Abraham’s children, you would do as Abraham did.
40 But now you want to kill me, the one who tells you the truth – the truth that I have learned from God. That is not what Abraham did;
41 what you are doing are the works of your father.”
The Jews said to him, “We are not illegitimate children; we have one Father, God.”
42 Jesus replied, “If God were your Father you would love me, for I came forth from God, and I am here. And I didn’t come by my own decision, but it was he himself who sent me.
43 Why do you not understand my teaching? It is because you cannot bear my message.
44 The father you spring from is the devil and you will carry out the evil wishes of your father, who has been a murderer from the beginning. He didn’t uphold the truth for, in him, there is no truth; and now, when he speaks for himself, he lies. He is a liar and the father of lies.
45 Now I speak the truth and you don’t believe me.
46 Which of you could find anything false in me? Then, if I speak the truth, why do you not believe me?
47 He who is of God hears the words of God; you don’t hear because you are not of God.”
48 The Jews retorted, “So we are right in saying that you are a Samaritan and are possessed by a demon.”
49 Jesus said, “I am not possessed, and you try to shame me when I give honor to my Father.
50 I don’t care about my own glory; there is One who cares for me and he will be the judge.
51 Truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps my word, he will never experience death.”
52 The Jews replied, “Now we know that you have a demon. Abraham died and the prophets as well, but you say: ‘Whoever keeps my word will never experience death.’ Who do you claim to be?
53 Do you claim to be greater than our father Abra ham, who died? And the prophets also died.”
54 Then Jesus said, “If I were to praise myself, it would count for nothing. But he who gives glory to me is the Father, the very one you claim as your God,
55 although you don’t know him. I know him and if I were to say that I don’t know him, I would be a liar like you. But I know him and I keep his word.
56 As for Abraham, your ancestor, he looked forward to the day when I would come; and he rejoiced when he saw it.”
57 The Jews then said to him, “You are not yet fifty years old and you have seen Abraham?”
58 And Jesus said “Truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.”
59 They then picked up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself and left the Temple.
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Comments , Chapter 8
• 8.1 The selection 8:1-11 is not found in most ancient manuscripts of John’s Gospel. Many think that this selection is from other sources. Perhaps it did belong to the gospel of Luke (compare 8:2 and Lk 21:38) and was later inserted in John’s text.
If Jesus showed such respect to the sinner and refused to condemn her, as humans would, was it because he did not consider her fault grave? No, it was because God uses different ways than people do to bring sinners to repentance and to purify them through suffering.
There is a big difference between telling a person his ideas or deeds are wrong or sinful, and condemning him. We usually condemn the person; we do not make room for change and mercy. In this Gospel episode Jesus is both de manding and merciful towards the woman.
It seems that certain pages in John’s Gospel have shifted. We already remarked that the selection 7:19-24 is really a continuation of chap ter 5.
Also, the discourse 8:12-29 seems to be a con tinuation of the miracle story related in chapter 9. After healing the blind man and proving the spiritual blindness of the Pharisees, Jesus declares: I am the light. Jesus’ pronouncement: hence I have just told you that you will die in your sins (8:24), reminds us of the saying in 9:41.
• 12. THE LIGHT
Jesus is the light for all people of all times. God guided the Hebrews in the desert by means of a luminous cloud. He guides us through his Son; whoever follows Jesus will not walk in darkness.
Light means many good things: the welcome light of dawn after a night of darkness; the elec tric lights which illumine our homes while darkness reigns outside; the street lights which shine for everyone, poor and rich alike; the light that triumphs over the dark forces of evil and ignorance. Christ is all that and more for whoever follows him. He is the light by which we live with whole ness and integrity, and through whom we learn to attribute to material things and human activities their proper value.
By the light of Christ a person triumphs over all inner darkness. We are conscious of only a small part of our inner self; we often obey impulses not under our con trol that come from our nature. Good intentions animate us, and we have a clean heart (so we think), but we do not realize that actually we often obey the call “of flesh and blood,” as the Bible puts it. If we live in the light, the light will gradually illumine our innermost being.
Part of the human condition aggravated by sin is the absence of light for seeking and discerning what is good. Therefore, in serious matters, it is not wise to simply follow our first impulse. We need to be continuously enlightened through prayer, listening to the word of God, studying the teaching of the Church, and accepting the good advice of our brothers and sisters. By these means Jesus enlightens our conscience.
I AM
In this discourse Jesus gives witness to his own divinity. He makes us understand that in him there is a mysterious secret regarding his origin. On this page we read the expression I am seven times. John wishes us to understand that this is the key word of the discourse. I AM. It was thus God designated himself, speaking to Moses. We know that the Jews called God, Yahweh, that is, He who is. Jesus declares: “I am,” thus claiming for himself the Name that should not be given to any creature, no matter how prominent the person might be. There are Christians (e.g. the Witnesses of Jehovah) who would make Christ less than he is. They argue that since God is only one, how can the fullness of divine life be shared among three persons. While they call Christ the Son of God, they deny that he is God born of God. Yet Jesus IS as much as the Father, and must not be confused with the Father, hence he says: The Father sent me, and also: The testimony of two persons is worthy (in the Jewish Law code).
You will die in your sin (vv. 21 & 24). Sin is not just doing something bad. Sin is, also, to enclose ourselves in our own petty problems and rely only on human wisdom, without opening ourselves to the horizons of God. This eventually leads to death, for a life closed to God is no real life. The Bible divides people into two groups: those from above, who seek God’s ways, and those from below, who seek limited human goals. Sin is to refuse to allow oneself to be born again from above, as Jesus told Nicodemus (3:3). These Jews did not believe in Jesus, because his way of life and his message reflected a world of transcendent values – beyond this world – that did not attract them. Jesus would have wasted his time with them; the wisdom of God would be better re vealed in his death on the cross (v. 28).
• 30. THE TRUTH – FREEDOM – SIN
Jesus spoke to the Jews who believed in him. Those Jews believed in Jesus according to their own view of him, very much like the Jews whom Paul would oppose in Galatians 3-4 did. From Jesus’ discussions with those who claimed to have the true religion, we can surmise how Jesus would con front us were he to pass among us today.
Jesus would not reproach us so much for our sins, as for our continuing to live in sin. Sins are evil deeds that at times may be excusable; often we repent of them as soon as we have committed them. To be in sin, on the other hand, is to live in falsehood; it is to persist stubbornly in a certain pride, an attachment to our own judgments. This attitude prevents us from entering into the ways of God, even though to all appearances we live an upright life and proclaim our faith.
Jesus is not a banner for every social group, whether known as Catholic or by some other name, with which we go to fight other groups. He has come as a king of the kingdom of truth. Those who seek the truth are his, whatever their ideas may be. Rather, those who live in truth are his.
For those Jews the world was divided into two groups: the sons of Abraham, that is themselves, and the rest. They boasted of their ances try and forgot that in God’s eyes, each one is what he is.
Jesus comes to them as a witness to the truth; and his presence alone obliges all to examine themselves. The truth Jesus speaks of is not a doctrine that his followers should impose by force. Propagandists with arguments and biblical quotations are not needed, but witnesses who speak from their experience. Jesus says: The truth will make you free, and: the Son will make you free (vv. 32 & 36). Our truth consists in living in accordance with our vocation as children of God.
The believer who knows he is loved by God and consequently endeavors to be authentic is already in the truth, even if he retains some pre ju dices common to his milieu, or is unconsciously guided by some lies or illusions in his way of living.
Jesus also speaks of freedom. Truth and freedom go together. Many individuals and peoples have not spared themselves in an effort to break their chains. Once liberated they quickly fall into other forms of subjugation, because the root of all slavery lies within everyone.
By doing evil one becomes an accomplice of the Devil and, even without wanting to do so, falls into a trap. He will then be unable to resist the illusions and harmful influences by which the Father of Lies brings the world under his power (v. 44).
As long as we continue to be unconcerned about our true condition and are either agitated or idle, we are no more than slaves, even though we may excel in wealth, knowledge or status. We thus add to the population of the world of below (v. 23), which is unstable. Generations of slaves will fol low like the waves of the sea: slaves are people who are for a time in the house (v. 35). Christ enables us to enter yet another world, the world above in which the sons and daughters stay for ever (v. 35). From the time we become children of God, everything we do bears fruit for eternity.