Daily Mass Gospel Reflection-Living for Another's sin

Friends, today’s Gospel presents the story of the woman caught in adultery,
which is one of the clearest demonstrations of what René Girard called the scapegoat mechanism.

The scribes and Pharisees bring to Jesus a woman they had caught in adultery.
Where must they have been standing and how long must they have been waiting in order to catch her?
Their eagerness to find a victim is testimony to the insatiable human need for scapegoats.

The novelty of the Gospel is revealed in Jesus’ refusal to contribute to the energy of the gathering storm:
"Let the one among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her." Jesus directs the energy of scapegoating violence back toward the accusers.
He unveils the dangerous secret that the unstable order of the society has been predicated upon scapegoating. The Church Fathers emphasized this point with a neat interpretive move:
they imagined that Jesus was writing in the sand none other than the sins of those who were threatening the woman.

Then we see, at least in seminal form, the new order:
"Go, and from now on do not sin anymore."
The connection between Jesus and the woman is not the consequence of condemnation
but rather the fruit of forgiveness offered and accepted.

+++Jesus went to the Mount of Olives.
again in the temple area,
and all the people started coming to him,
and he sat down and taught them.
Then the scribes and the Pharisees
brought a woman
who had been caught in adultery
and made her stand in the middle.
They said to him,
“Teacher, this woman was caught
in the very act of committing
adultery.
Now in the law, Moses commanded us
to stone such women.
So what do you say?”
They said this to test him,
so that they could have some charge
to bring against him.
Jesus bent down and began to write
on the ground with his finger.
But when they continued asking him,
he straightened up and said to them,
“Let the one among you who is
without sin
be the first to throw a stone at her.”
Again he bent down and wrote on the ground.
And in response, they went away one
by one,
beginning with the elders.
So he was left alone with the woman
before him.
Then Jesus straightened up and said
to her,
“Woman, where are they?
Has no one condemned you?”
She replied, “No one, sir.”
Then Jesus said, “Neither do I
condemn you.
Go, and from now on do not sin any
more.”+++

Here's some background.
And I would stop reading those "Christian" books that espouse misogyny...
as they clearly do not understand what is written in the Bible with regard to equal treatment of men and women when found violating the laws of those days.

Deuteronmy 22
22 If a man is found sleeping with another man’s wife, BOTH the man who slept with her and the woman must die. You must purge the evil from Israel.

23 If a man happens to meet in a town a virgin pledged to be married and he sleeps with her,
24 you shall take BOTH of them to the gate of that town and stone them to death—the young woman because she was in a town and did not scream for help, and the man because he violated another man’s wife. You must purge the evil from among you.

25 But if out in the country a man happens to meet a young woman pledged to be married and rapes her, ONLY THE MAN who has done this SHALL DIE.
26 Do nothing to the woman; she has committed no sin deserving death.

This story of Jesus NOT CONDEMNING the woman- (we don't know what happened to the man in this story) was a Turning Point for this Jewish punishment.
Although it's not easy to understand the ancient, primitive nature of these people- and women were certainly treated as second class people in the times of these Jewish scriptures of the Bible-
It was CHRIST who changed the course of history for Women- forever.

Christ changed all of this second class nature of women- that's the real Truth of "Christianity."

Muslim women, Oriental women are still subjugated to this day. The Chinese one-child policy murdered millions of girls, as a male child was preferred. Even Jewish women still take some what of a back seat to the males.
And look a the state of non-religious secular society. Rap music denigrates women, Now...ANY MAN can become a woman, it's regressed to a point where society despises woman so much- they can't even define "what a woman is" anymore. That is disgraceful.

Christianity - less those books you see- Thankfully, will be the only place where you find reverence FOR WOMEN, and motherhood.

True about Jesus but look how far we’ve fallen away from that. America has been taken over by the prosperity gospel and the pornified church. With the likes of Mark Driscoll from Mars Hill and Ravi Zacharias, they’ve done so much damage and have lead many away. The influence of Mark Driscoll is still found in many Christian marriage self help books. By far, women read those books compared to men and the damage it does is catastrophic, not only to the relationship of man and wife but to society as well. What was intended to lure men into the church by stroking their ego and sexuality has destroyed many marriages and has fueled the exodus of many young adults from becoming members because of the painful memories associated to the church. The message of what Jesus has done for women gets drowned out by members of the church and their sex scandals or their abuse of women.

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