what did Jesus write? 5th Sunday of Lent C 2013

What did Jesus write?  While the Pharisees and scribes waited for his answer, he bent down and wrote something on the ground.  Then when they persisted in forcing him to answer their question he bent down the second time and wrote something on the ground.  So what did Jesus write?

We really do not know.  And we will have no way of knowing definitely what he wrote.  But through these years there were speculations and I would like to rediscover these speculations.  The first speculation comes from the retort where Jesus said, let him who is without sin cast the first stone.  They said that Jesus wrote the names of the persons on the ground and the corresponding sins they committed.  That is why one by one they left beginning with the oldest among them.  This speculation is greatly affirmed by the Book of the Prophet Jeremiah when he wrote that the Lord said, “they that depart from me shall be written in the earth,” their names shall be written on the ground.  This is further affirmed by new studies which showed that the Greek word used to describe Jesus writing on the ground katagrapho means to write an accusation.  So Jesus was writing his accusation, he was writing down their sins and when they saw these they left, one by one.

The second speculation on the question what did Jesus write, is this: Jesus wrote the commandments or probably the words of the prophets, the words of the prophet Hosea for example, “It is mercy I desire not sacrifice” or "the Lord is kind and merciful, rich in kindness and abounding in love" or something similar to these.  In effect, Jesus reminded them who God is, what the prophets taught about God, how these holy men and women came to know and experienced God in their lives.  Jesus wanted to remind them who God really is that is why he wrote descriptions of God found in scriptures.

From these two speculations as to what Jesus wrote on the ground, we can glean two very important lessons for Lent.  What are these two important lessons?  Familiarity with the self and familiarity with God.

Familiarity with the self – do you know yourself enough?  Do you know where your anger comes from?  Are you aware of your soft spots or the passions that control you?  Can you distinguish your presenting problems from your real problems or issues?  Are you familiar with who you are?  Are you familiar with the sources of these issues about yourself?

It is speculated that Jesus wrote the katagrapho, the accusations, Jesus wrote on the ground the reality of the woman’s accusers and in seeing their reality they left – not because they were insulted, not because they we shamed.  Remember Jesus did not even look at them.  Jesus bent as if he was afraid to embarrass them.  The accuser’s left because now they knew themselves better.  Now they were in a better position to understand the woman and the real content of their accusation. They did not push through with their accusation because now they knew themselves better.  Familiarity with the self is important.

The second is familiarity with God.  Jesus wrote on the ground about the person of God.  Who is God – “It is mercy I desire, not sacrifice.  Who is God?  You O Lord are full of mercy and gentleness, slow to anger and abiding in compassion and love.”  This is God.  It is important to be familiar with God because after all we are supposedly made in the image and likeness of God.  How we see things, how we deal with things, how we do things should in a way reflect this image, it should reflect a similarity with the ways of God coming from our familiarity with God.  It was thus that people became disturb and left, while Jesus wrote on the ground.  Now they understand, now they found out that they could not accuse the woman as they did just a while ago.

Familiarity with the self and familiarity with God go together.  One cannot be without the other.  We meet God in the reality of the self, in the truth about ourselves. 

That is why when Jesus straightened out no one was there left except for the two of them, the woman and Jesus, or what St. Augustine aptly described in Latin, - misera et misericordia – the miserable and the merciful; misery and mercy, standing alone facing each other.  The woman was now conscious of her state – she was wretched, she was miserable – she was misera, but it was only in this consciousness that God in the person of Jesus appeared to her as Mercy, as misericordia:  Thus only two are left standing – misera et misericordia.

This season of Lent is an invitation to go deeper into solitude, to go deeper into prayer and silence so that we can meet God.  Familiarity with self equals familiarity with God.