Photon’s (Almost)
Forgotten Story
John’s story of
the woman caught in adultery is a “puzzlement” as Winnie the Pooh would say—not
the story itself but the question of its inclusion in the Gospel of John. Some
of the oldest manuscripts don't contain the account, or, if they do include it,
append it at the end of the book. Recent translations put the story in
brackets, relegate it to a footnote, print it at the end of the Gospel of John,
or omit it altogether.
The Church Fathers, however, attest to the
authenticity of the event and it has all the marks of an authentic, first–hand
account. It may have been inserted by one of John’s followers after the Gospel
was written, perhaps one who stood in the gallery that day. I like to think
that Photon—her traditional name—asked John to include her story lest it be
forgotten
You know the story: Certain men caught
this woman in the act of adultery, dragged her into the temple where Jesus was
teaching and deposited her, rumpled and humiliated at his feet. “She was caught
in the act,” the men said. “The Law says stone her. What do you say?” Jesus
knelt and scribbled in the dust, perhaps waiting on an answer from His Father.
Then looking up he said, “He who is without sin among you cast the first
stone.” The crowd melted away one by one. George MacDonald muses: “The sinners
went out and the woman followed Jesus—to sin no more.”
As far as I’m concerned, it doesn't
matter how the story got into John's book or where it belongs. Indeed, I think
it best that it flits about here and there and floats above the Gospel, for it
is perennially like the one who whose kindness calls all of us to repentance
(Romans 2:4).
It must be true, for it is so like Jesus
through and though.
David
Roper
