30 March 2020
Monday of the Fifth Week of Lent
The Pharisees betray their own hypocrisy as they attempt to punish the woman caught in adultery. When they come to Jesus to ask His opinion as to whether or not the woman caught should be stoned to death, “they said this […] so that they could have some charge to bring against Him” (Jn. 8:6). They do not care about the Mosaic Law, or about justice, but about being able to incriminate Jesus. The charge they bring is not false, but it is brought under false pretenses.
The behavior of the Pharisees may serve as a way for us to examine our consciences. When I bring a charge against my brother, am I concerned for maintaining justice, or am I delighted in the opportunity to have caught him in some wrongdoing? To the degree that my desire to accuse my brother is not borne of a desire for justice, it shows that my love of justice and right is not all-encompassing as it should be, and my sins are revealed. I stand before Jesus as one of the accusing Pharisees, when I ought to stand before Him as the accused woman.