Daily Office Readings for Wednesday of the 2nd Week of Advent: Year 1
Morning, Psalm 38; Evening, Psalm 119:25 to 48:
Isaiah 6:1 to 13; 2nd Thessalonians 1:1 to 12; John 7:53 to 8:11
“The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery; and making her stand before all of them, they said to him, ‘Teacher, this woman was caught in the very act of committing adultery.” (John 8:3 and 4)
She was not caught alone, she, (and someone else with her), was caught in adultery. It might have even been one of the men standing in the crowd of scribes and Pharisees with a stone in his hand. But then our Lord Jesus says to them, “Let anyone among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” (John 8: 3 and 4) They all, one by one, had to deal with their own shortfalls, and walk away. None of us today are without sin.
Twice during this scene Jesus stoops to the ground and writes something. I wish we had what he wrote, if he was writing. Maybe with his hand touching the ground, his Spirit moved through the ground and touched the conscience of the scribes and Pharisees and elders who were accusing the woman. Therefore, maybe he didn’t even write at all. I ponder these kinds of things. Something shook the men into knowing that they were not innocent of various sins.
Look at what’s going on here. Jesus reaches down to touch the ground, to write or whatever. The accusing men reach down to pick up a stone. What do we reach down for, when something or someone we don’t like comes before us? Maybe such a time is the time to take notes, with pen and paper, or just a mental note about what is going on in our hearts and minds, and about our own spotted history. We too are still “works in progress.” Even with our flaws, in Christ Jesus, we are the saints of God. Saints pardon and forgive. Reach down, but be careful about what you pick up.
Please keep up your thoughts and prayers for Ukraine, Iran and China.
As we listen to what the Spirit is saying to us, let us live to love, and to serve, and to teach others to love and serve, while pondering anew what the Almighty can do. John
onewhoponders 