(John 8:1-11. This is how I imagined it)
It was dawn and there was a chill in the air as Jesus sat down in the temple courtyard to teach those who had gathered. They were drawn to the God he taught them to know, One who is kind and compassionate. There is no need to fear Him; in fact he is reaching out to them so that they can have fellowship with them. “The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!”
There was a commotion and a group of harsh looking faces came in, brash and rude, as if they had every right to do what they were doing. They pushed forward a woman, barely clothed, and she stumbled and fell to the ground. They made her stand before everyone, even though she was desperately trying to cover herself with the scraps of clothing she was still wearing.
“Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. In the Law, Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?”
The faces were cold, almost clinical, years of practice allowing them to feign neutrality. There was no doubting that they despised the woman. They wanted to shame her, exposing her to everyone. There was no doubting that they were there to expose the hypocrisy of Jesus, that all his teaching of love and compassion fail in the face of the righteous demands of God’s Law. But they hid their emotions and motives behind their robes of religious superiority. The despicable woman deserved death, and you sir have no other choice but to stand with us on this, or be exposed as a false teacher.
Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger.
They had him. He was stalling for time. They pressed him for his answer.
Jesus sat up and looked directly at them. It was as if he could see right into their hearts, right at the fact that even as they despised her, they lusted after her now, standing almost naked before their eyes; she was, after all, an attractive woman. Right at the fact that they had done nothing previously even though they already knew of the affair; they had caught her only now because they wanted to set this trap for Jesus. Right at the fact that they had let the man who seduced her go. Right at the fact that such sexual indiscretions were common knowledge and either some of their people were involved, or have tolerated such behaviour.
“Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her,” he said and bent down again to continue writing.
The silence was deafening but after a long and uncomfortable while, with everyone staring at the ground, one by one they slowly left the courtyard, until only the woman remained, still weeping in her shame.
Finally she became aware of the silence and looked up.
Jesus straightened up and asked her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?”
She looked around her, almost shyly. “No one, sir,” she said quietly.
“Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus said, his eyes soft and gentle. “Go now and leave your life of sin.”
Someone among those who were there to listen to Jesus teach gave her a cloak to cover herself.
As she left to walk home, and to try to pick up the shattered pieces of her life, his words bounced about in her head: “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you? Then neither do I condemn you.” Tears streamed down her face and her body shook with all the emotions she was holding back.