Caput LI. De Muliere in adulterio deprehensa.
Christ and the Woman Caught in Adultery
The writer recalls how Jesus, writing on the earth, shielded the adulterous woman from her earthly accusers and then gently spoke his sentence of forgiveness to her.
The memory of that woman caught in adultery comes to mind now, and recall what Jesus, when asked for his judgment, did or said.✦ For when, writing in the earth, he had betrayed those earthly ones, not the heavenly, let him among you who is without sin, he says, cast the first stone at her.✦1 But when he had examined everyone's opinion and driven them out from the temple, imagine how gently he raised his eyes toward her, how sweetly he spoke his sentence of forgiveness with his own voice.✦2 Think how he must have sighed, how he must have wept, when he said, 'Has no one condemned you, woman?'✦ Neither will I condemn you.✦
Blessed Forgiveness and No Condemnation
The forgiven woman is declared blessed, secure in both past and future, and the writer exclaims that with Christ's absolution no one can condemn, echoing Romans 8:33–34.
Blessed, so to speak, is this woman who, though caught in adultery, is also forgiven for her past and made secure about the future.3 Good Jesus, with you saying, 'I will not condemn you,' who will condemn?✦ God, who justifies, who is there to condemn?✦
Go and Sin No More
The chapter closes with Christ's command to the forgiven woman to go and sin no more.
Let your voice be heard from now on: Go, and sin no more (John 8:7).✦ 8:7).
Read the original Latin
Occurrit jam nunc memoriae mulier illa deprehensa in adulterio, et Jesus rogatus sententiam, quid egerit, quidve dixerit recordare. Cum enim scribens in terra terrenos eos, non coelestes, prodidisset; Qui sine peccato est, inquit, vestrum, primum lapidem in illam mittat. Cum vero omnes sententia tenuisset et expulisset de templo, imaginare quam pios oculos in illam levaverit, quam dulcem sua voce sententiam absolutionis ejus protulerit. Puta quod suspiraverit, quod lacrymatus sit, cum diceret, Nemo te condemnavit, mulier? Nec ego te condemnabo. Felix, ut ita dicam, haec, quae in adulterio deprehensa mulier, quae etiam de praeteritis absolvitur, secura efficitur de futuris. Jesu bone, te dicente, non condemnabo, quis condemnabit? Deus qui justificat, quis est qui condemnet?
Audiatur de caetero vox tua: Vade, et jam amplius noli peccare (Joan. VIII, 7).
Scripture echoes
- ↩John.8.1-John.8.11 — Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. John.8.2 — Early in the morning he came again to the temple, and all the people came to him, and he sat down and began to teach them. John.8.3 — And the scribes and the Pharisees bring a woman caught in adultery, and having set her in the midst, John.8.4 — They said to him, "Teacher, this woman was caught in the very act of committing adultery. John.8.5 — In the Law, Moses commanded us to stone such women. What do you say? John.8.6 — They said this, testing him, so that they might have grounds to accuse him. But Jesus bent down and with his finger wrote on the ground. John.8.7 — As they kept on questioning 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.' John.8.8 — And again he stooped down and wrote on the ground. John.8.9 — But when they heard it, they went out one by one, beginning with the older ones, and Jesus was left alone, and the woman was there in the middle. John.8.10 — Jesus straightened up and said to her, "Woman, where are they? Did no one condemn you?" John.8.11 — She said, "No one, Lord." Then Jesus said, "Neither do I condemn you. Go, and from now on, sin no more."
- ↩John.8.7 — As they kept on questioning 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.'
- ↩John.8.9-John.8.10 — But when they heard it, they went out one by one, beginning with the older ones, and Jesus was left alone, and the woman was there in the middle. John.8.10 — Jesus straightened up and said to her, "Woman, where are they? Did no one condemn you?"
- ↩John.8.10 — Jesus straightened up and said to her, "Woman, where are they? Did no one condemn you?"
- ↩John.8.11 — She said, "No one, Lord." Then Jesus said, "Neither do I condemn you. Go, and from now on, sin no more."
- ↩John.8.11 — She said, "No one, Lord." Then Jesus said, "Neither do I condemn you. Go, and from now on, sin no more."
- ↩Rom.8.33-Rom.8.34 — Who will bring a charge against God's elect? God is the one who justifies. Rom.8.34 — Who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus—the one who died, and more than that, was raised—who is also at the right hand of God, and who also intercedes for us.
- ↩John.8.7 — As they kept on questioning 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.'
Notes
- 1 ↩prodidisset carries a sense of exposure or giving over; the earthly ones are exposed as unlike the heavenly.
- 2 ↩sententia can mean judgment or opinion; here it is first the crowd’s verdict, then Christ’s pronouncement of absolution.
- 3 ↩secura efficitur de futuris conveys a sense of being made safe or untroubled regarding what lies ahead.
De institutione inclusarum (A Rule of Life for a Recluse) companion
A rule only lives if you keep it daily
Chosen Portion gives your new rule its anchor: one free devotional portion every day.
Aelred built his sister's day around fixed times of prayer and meditation; Chosen Portion supplies the fixed daily portion that makes a modern rule of life keepable.
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