What About the Adulterer?

"They made her stand before the group and said to Jesus: Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery." (John, 8:4)

The case of the sinner taken by the multitude to Jesus involves significant consideration regarding the impulsiveness of man to perceive evil in others, without observing it in himself.

Amidst the reflections that the narrative suggests we can identify the erroneous concept of unilateral adultery.

If the distressed woman had been surprised in the middle of the crime, then where was the adulterer that was not brought for judgment before the populace? Would she be the only one responsible? If there was a wound in the collective group requiring intervention in order to eradicate it, in what cave was the one who had accompanied her, hiding?

The attitude of the Master, in that hour, was characterized by infinite wisdom and inexhaustible love. Jesus could not place the weight of the blame on the unfortunate woman and allowing the perception of an overall error inquired, which of those present were without sin.

The great spontaneous silence that occurred constituted the answer more eloquently expressed than any possible verbal declaration.

Close to the adulteress also stood the perverted men who retreated in shame.

Man and woman come into the world with specific duties, which become integrated, in an essentially unique task, in the universal evolutionary plan. In the chapter regarding inferior experiences, one does not fall without the other, because both were given the same opportunity for sanctification.

If women have deviated from the elevated mission that corresponds to them and continue this sad path, it is because the adulterers continue to be absent in the hour of judgment, just as they had been at the time when Jesus stated His well known suggestion.

XAVIER, Francisco Cândido. Our Daily Bread. By the Spirit Emmanuel. Spititist Alliance for Books, 2003. Chapter 85.