19
March
The problem with fool-proof traps
In the Gospel from the Mass for the 5th Sunday in Lent (John 8:1-11), Jesus demonstrates His Divine Genius:
[1] but Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. [2] Early in the morning he came again to the temple; all the people came to him, and he sat down and taught them. [3] The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery, and placing her in the midst [4] they said to him, “Teacher, this woman has been caught in the act of adultery. [5] Now in the law Moses commanded us to stone such. What do you say about her?” [6] This they said to test him, that they might have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground. [7] And as they continued to ask him, he stood up and said to them, “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.” [8] And once more he bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground. [9] But when they heard it, they went away, one by one, beginning with the eldest, and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him. [10] Jesus looked up and said to her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” [11] She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you; go, and do not sin again.”
The Pharisees think that they have come up with a fool-proof plan to trap Jesus. They should have thought twice. Consider:
- On the previous day, the Pharisees have just tried to have Jesus arrested, and were thwarted.
- They perhaps scheme all night, trying to come up with a plan to trap Jesus.
- They come up with devious scheme to trap Jesus; they caught a women in the act of adultery and then publically confront Jesus to trap Him.
- If Jesus says the woman should be stoned, the Pharisees will turn Him into the Romans (Jews didn’t have the authority to put people to death; if Jesus says the woman shouldn’t be stoned, the Pharisees would denounce Jesus as not being faithful to the Law of Moses.
- They Pharisees, in their best evil scheming, think that they have come up with a fool-proof plan. They haven’t.
- When Jesus says, “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her”, they realize that have failed. One by one, they drop their stones and retreat to plan again.
Many today lay their little traps, trying to outsmart Jesus and the Divine Plan.
Like the Pharisees, their fool-proof plans have one fatal error: fool-proof plans are not fool-proof, for they are made by fools.
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