THE ADULTEROUS WOMAN

Once we have discovered the enigma in the Gospel of Saint Matthew, the story of the adulterous woman, which we only find in the Gospel of Saint John (Jn8:1-11), acquires a new meaning. We now see that Jesus had a good reason to defend this woman: she had a lot in common with his mother and may even have been his mother.

When the scribes and Pharisees invoked the laws of Moses to stone her, they hoped that Jesus would contradict this law so that they could accuse him. But just as on the occasion when the Pharisees asked him whether or not it was lawful to pay taxes to Caesar and he responded: “Well, give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God” (Mt22:21), so on this occasion does Jesus find a solution to the dilemma he was facing by saying: “Let the one among you who is guiltless be the first to throw a stone at her.”

This reasoning is consistent with what Jesus said about judgments: “Do not judge, and you will not be judged; because the judgements that you give are the judgements that you will get, and the standard you use will be the standard used for you. Why do you observe the splinter in your brother’s eye and never notice the great log in your own?” (Mt7:1-3).

Although everyone present in the story of the adulteress admits to having sinned, it is not clear what kind of sins they have committed, so it seems quite possible that among the crowd gathered to stone an adulteress to death there would have people who also had had extramarital affairs, but who were simply lucky enough not to have been found out.

Since it is more difficult for a woman to keep extramarital relations secret than it is for a man, because she is the one who gets pregnant, the person who had had relations with that woman might even have been among them, but whereas he could deny the facts, her pregnancy meant that she could not.

Also significant in this story is the fact that the Pharisees were accompanied by scribes when they asked him what to do with that woman. This seems to suggest that this adultery came to light through certain writings. And if this woman was Mary, this may have had to do with the census imposed by Caesar Augustus (Lc2:1-3), in which Mary may have indicated the true identity of Jesus’ father.

If this adulteress was Mary, Jesus as well got into problems. Although he saved his mother from getting stoned, he could no longer preach in the temple. Bastards were not allowed to enter that sacred place. In the Gospel of Saint John we indeed find that the Pharisees said to Jesus: “Are you trying to teach us, and you a sinner through and through ever since you were born!” (Jn9:34)