Holding the space, drawing the lines

John 8:2-11

Early in the morning he came again to the temple. All the people came to him and he sat down and began to teach them. The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery; and making her stand before all of them, they said to him, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the very act of committing adultery. Now in the law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?” They said this to test him, so that they might have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground. When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “Let anyone among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” And once again he bent down and wrote on the ground. When they heard it, they went away, one by one, beginning with the elders; and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him. Jesus straightened up and said to her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” She said, “No one, sir.” And Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you. Go your way, and from now on do not sin again.”]]

Thrust into his space

with no formal contract

but with clear expectations:

Condemnation - the only conceivable outcome

in the eyes of the Scribes and Pharisees

But not in the alternative kingdom 

which Jesus modelled

In the space where he taught

and held folk to account

to live out Scripture

He freed the woman caught in adultery

and freed the Scribes and Pharisees

from their self righteousness.

He drew a line in the sand

and then straightened up,

looked the women in the eye

and set her free

from condemnation

from vulnerability

From the powerful

whose power diminished

in the face of truth

and integrity

and compassion.

In the face of such subversion

we are called

to lay down our stones

and to open our hearts

to be vulnerable

with the other,

holding the space

where power and vulnerability 

can be exchanged

as one ministers to the other,

as we give ourselves

and in the giving

find healing

and forgiveness

and newness of life.