Recently I attended our Focus group meeting on ministry to sex workers. We were struggling to decipher the shape of the ministry to our sisters here in Geylang and to provide a rationale for our engagement. In ministering to the sex-workers, we are not condoning nor promoting prostitution? We are not sanctifying prostitution nor demonizing it. There are saints and sinners in every profession even in this oldest one. How do we walk alongside them as a friend to render help that they need and within our capacity to offer? In the Prison Ministry where the Churches in Singapore are involved, my friends even reach out to convicted murderers on Death Row. Are they more worthy than our sisters plying their trade along the Lorongs nearby? What about those who are suffering from Aids which is preventable too and a result of wrong choices they made? As we observe the 20th anniversary of World Aids Day, how do we deal with the situation when there now 33.2 million people in the world infected with HIV/Aids and 5 million in Asia, 16 million orphans, 3 million die each year and the rise of infections in Singapore. Do we cast them aside and leave them by the wayside to die a lonely death?

These observations led me to search the Scriptures to seek for understanding and guidance from God our Creator who has left us with a challenge to minister to the least of these our brothers and sisters. Yes, WWJD - what would Jesus do? The story of Jesus and the woman taken into adultery surfaced for me and I read the text carefully and as contextually as I could. I want to share some insights with you this morning. It will be lesson as to ready, study and interpret Biblical narratives. You can identify yourself with one of the major players in the story – woman, Pharisees, Jesus - and reflect from that perspective.

The common perception in this story is that Jesus was forgiving and gave the adulterous woman a second chance – repent and sin no more!

We have named the outreach programme to the sex workers - Sista Magdalene. Why? This led me to read a new biography of Mary Magdalene published in 2005. It was written by Bruce Chilton, a renowned Professor of Religion who has written many scholarly articles books including the widely acclaimed Rabbi Jesus and Rabbi Paul reminding us of our Jewish heritage. Mary Madgalene is both revered and reviled in the history of Christianity. She has taken many forms in history – witch, whore, feminist follower of Jesus and even Saint. The male-dominated Church has marginalized her significance. She exposed misogyny and male chauvinism in the early Christian Church.

Chilton regards Mary Magdalene to be the woman with seven evil spirits as recorded in Luke. Tradition says that she was also the sinful woman who brought an alabaster flask of ointment and anointed the feet of Jesus. Pope Gregory the Great in a sermon in 591 BCE confirmed this legendary account. He said: "She (Mary Magdalene) whom Luke calls the sinful woman, whom John calls Mary [of Bethany], we believe to be the Mary from whom seven devils were ejected according to Mark." The story of the anointing is also found in the three other gospels but John identified Mary to be the sister of Martha. Mary Magdalene subsequently was portrayed in the medieval tradition to be a prostitute at the time when she appeared before Jesus for healing. Finally she was in the group of women at the Crucifixion and Resurrection scenes. Pope Gregory reflected the views of the Church Fathers in the 3rd & 4th centuries.

John's gospel story of the Woman taken into Adultery was however nameless but the sinful woman is generally regarded to be an adulterous or a prostitute.

How does one interpret this story can be problematic. What is the essential message? One common interpretation is that there is no forgiveness unless we first repent. The current Methodist bishop in his homophobic piece on homosexuality brought in the story and interprets it this way: "When asked to judge and throw stones at a woman caught in adultery He told her, "Neither do I condemn you. Go now and leave your life of sin." (Jn. 8:11) A clear judgment is made on the sin but grace is offered to the one caught in that sin. Like our Lord, we must clearly condemn the sin but also, with the grace of God, set aside and discard the stones. For it is in Him and by the Spirit of God that all sinners, whatever their sin, are washed, justified, and sanctified (1 Cor.6:11). There are no exceptions, and no other way. Repent and sin more.
Repentance precedes forgiveness. This may lead one to believe that God is always merciful; God will forgive many times. Meanwhile, we can do as we please and ask for forgiveness each time and hope that at the very end we will have the opportunity to make the final repentance and receive forgiveness and step into heaven. The adulterous woman escaped death by stoning but now she must sin no more. Is forgiveness conditional. Must we always honour the justice of God. Is forgiveness always available?
John in Chapter 4 tells another story of the woman at the well. He said to her: "You are right in saying, 'I have no husband'; for you have had five husbands, and he whom you now have is not your husband; this you said truly." The issue here was not really adultery but relationship with a Samaritan who has no dealing with the Jews and yet Jesus gave her living water. She forgot all about the water and left her water jar and maybe even thoughts about her adultery and ran to her people proclaiming that she has met Christ. She must have said "Here's a man who knows everything about me, and yet He still loves me." Does that sound like Jesus to you? It sounds like the Jesus of John 8, doesn't it? This gracious, compassionate Man. Jesus love was unconditional and never-ending.
Take the case of Aisha Ibrahim Duhulow of Mogadishu, Somalia. On 27th October 2008, 13-year old Aisha was killed. She was killed when 1,000 people stoned her to death. And she was stoned to death because three men had raped her. She was raped, so they accused her of adultery. Imagine a 13-year old girl killed in a most brutal manner because she was raped by three men. Should it not be the three men who should have instead been stoned to death? Is justice served here? Human beings are so judgmental Condemnation is so swift.
Did you notice the plight of the young girl which was interviewed in the Channel News Asia Get Real programme recently. With only a few years of primary school education she became a sex worker at the age of 13 and now has two children to maintain. She lamented that she could not find another job and it is an issue of plain survival for her and her children. She hopes that her children will not share her agony in life.
There is a modern day story of compassion more than condemnation. A girl from a poor rural community was attracted by the bright lights of the city. Her mother went into the bedroom in the morning to waken her for school, but she was gone. The girl packed her bags and escaped from her poverty in the countryside to find her future in the city. Like a good mother she went in search for her lost daughter. She went to a photo kiosk took pictures of herself and pasted them in the public places where she suspected her daughter would frequent and hoped that her daughter would see it. Meanwhile the girl's money had run out. Unable to get other employment she resorted to join the ranks of the oldest profession. Walking down one of those sleazy hotels she noticed her mom's photo. Her eyes began to fill with tears as she walked up, plucked it down, turned it round, and on the back were these words: "Christina, whatever you've done, whatever you've been, whatever you've become, come home. Come home." This describes not only the love of a mother but reminds us of the love of God, never-ceasing love.
This can be a typical story in our time and true to life. But we lack that compassion and we tend to be very unforgiving to others. You are all too familiar as victims of people who are quick in condemnation but slow in compassion.
The true story is told of a soldier coming home from the war in Vietnam. He has lost touch with her family and now decided to call home. Over the phone he told his parents that he is bringing a buddy home. Innocently the mother said, "Yes, of course he is welcome too." The soldier said to her "But there is something about him that you need to know. He's only got one leg. He's only got one arm and one eye. He's disfigured', and she says, "That's alright, he can come and stay for a few days." The son said: "No, you don't understand, I want him to come for good."
Then all the excuses started: 'Oh No, we will be embarrassed. You know the type of friends we have. What would they think?' Then the phone clicked and there was dead silence. A few days later the message came to the parents. We have found the body of a boy with one arm, one leg, one eye, badly disfigured. He killed himself, and he answers to the description of your son.
Let us examine more closely the Biblical story of the Woman taken in Adultery and make a critical analysis as one must do in studying the Bible. The story itself is not part of the original Gospel but a floating tradition inserted in some late manuscripts. It may appear in your Bibles as a footnote and not in the main text. The message is important enough that it had to be included as part of our Biblical tradition.
Let us now give the context of the story. First, the traditional Biblical teaching on adultery as we find in the following verses.
Exodus 20:14 states: "You shall not commit adultery." This is the seventh commandment of the Ten Commandments.
Then we have Jesus teaching in Mathew 5:27-28 "You have heard that it was said, 'You shall not commit adultery.' But I say to you that every one who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart."
Leviticus 20:10 describes "If a man commits adultery with the wife of his neighbor, both the adulterer and the adulteress shall be put to death."
Specifically there is the injunction about prostitution or harlotry. Leviticus 19:29 "Do not profane your daughter by making her a harlot, lest the land fall into harlotry and the land become full of wickedness."
Leviticus Chapters 17-26 comprised what is called the Holiness Code. It stands on its own as a separate code or part of a code that Leviticus has incorporated. It begins with these words "And the Lord spake unto Moses." And ends "These are the statutes and judgments and laws, which the Lord made between him and the children of Israel in mount Sinai by the hand of Moses." The code of conduct for unlawful marriages and sexual sins is recorded in Chapter 18 & 20.
The code was composed in the early days of the Exile in Babylon between 600 B.C. and 570 B.C. Professor Pfeiffer my Old Testament teacher of Harvard dated it to be in the middle of the sixth century B.C. It is to conceive of a holy people in a holy land, the servants of the holy God. Leviticus 20:7 "Consecrate yourselves therefore, and be holy, for I am the Lord your God."
In ordinary language we describe holiness in terms of a Saint, a very devout, otherworldly person, deep religious feeling and unblemished moral life. The common meaning is person or things which are removed from common uses of the world and set apart for the service or honor of God.

Now let us come to this text of the Woman taken into Adultery in John 7:53-8:11.
They went each to his own house, but Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. Early in the morning he came again to the temple; all the people came to him, and he sat down and taught them. The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery, and placing her in the midst they said to him, "Teacher, this woman has been caught in the act of adultery. Now in the law, Moses commanded us to stone such. What do you say about her?" 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. 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." And once more he bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground. 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. Jesus looked up and said to her, "Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you? She said, "No one, Lord." And Jesus said, "Neither do I condemn you; go, and do not sin again."
Turn now to the background to the story.
As was narrated in John 7 - The Jews were looking for Jesus whom they accused of leading the people astray. Jesus appeared in Jerusalem during the Feast of the Tabernacles or Booths. It is a major religious festival around this time of the year when they remembered they lived in booths or huts during the wanderings in the desert after the Exodus. Jesus, as one of the pilgrims, went privately to the Temple and taught. The people who heard him were amazed that He who never studied has such learning. Is He the Messiah? John 8 comes at a critical moment when people begin to talk about Jesus as the Christ in John 7:41. The Jewish leaders threatened Him with arrest.
When the Scribes and the Pharisees found out that Jesus was in the temple teaching the people, they led the woman caught in the act of adultery to Jesus and asked for his judgment. She had clearly violated Law of Moses as represented in the Holiness Code. Will Jesus join them in condemnation and subsequently stone her to death? If Jesus refused then He did not show respect of the Mosaic Law and condoning the sin of adultery. Furthermore they tried to trap Jesus in relation to Roman Law. The power of the Sanhedrin to levy a death sentence was removed by Roman decree in 30 B.C.E. You will recall that when Pilate was trying to turn Jesus over to the Jews to judge according to their own law, they replied: "It is not lawful for us to put any man to death" John 18:31. If Jesus joined in the condemnation he would have been charged in accordance with Roman law for inciting the killing of the woman. It was double jeopardy for Jesus. It was a sting operation by the Jewish authorities. It was their attempt to kill two birds with one stone.
Jesus response was that of silence. Notice the body language. He bent down and wrote with his fingers on the ground or what we say doodling in the dirt.
He did not want to be part of what was going on and doing his own thing. He refused to stand with the accusers to confront the adulterous woman. He lowered Himself down and dissociated Himself from the crowd and their evil intentions. By bending down to the ground he identified Himself with common humanity for we were all created from the dust of the earth and to that we will return in the end. But they continued to ask him the second time. Then he stood up and said: "Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her." After he said that, he bent down again and wrote on the dirt. The people were stunned and looked at themselves for the first time instead of at Jesus or pointing the accusing finger at the woman. Each enacted in silence self-judgment before the others. Beginning with the elders they all went away, one by one. Each person including Mary Magdalene was answerable for himself or herself.
The difference between the righteous and the guilty disappeared. The so-called righteous and the apparent guilty share the sin of humanity. Why is the sin of others so visible and one's own so hidden? Why is the other person's sin so much greater than my sin? We all stand before the judgment of God finally.
Jesus did not participate in the crowd's fascination with sexual transgression while ignoring other forms of transgressions they themselves have committed. Any form of sin is sin and each one of us is as sinful as the woman caught in adultery. Jesus had awakened the people to that fact.
They all left leaving Jesus alone with the adulterous woman. Jesus looked up and asked where are they? Has no one remained to condemn you? She answered "No one." And Jesus said lovingly: "Neither do I condemn you. Go, and sin no more." She too is answerable to her own self.
Jesus and Paul as faithful Jews were familiar with the Holiness Code that spoke out against the sexual sins of divorce, marriage of divorcees and lust itself. Yet in this case he did not condemn the adulterous woman.
Most people today will regard prostitution as a sin. There are various reasons why one enters the profession. It is particularly interesting to me that when I was serving the people in Vietnam during the Communist Revolution. I was representing the global church in a programme of relief and rehabilitation. In one of my travels to war-torn Saigon the government leaders took me to visit a rehabilitation centre for prostitutes. It had a programme of counseling and skill-training equipping them for another profession. What is happening now? Prostitution is flourishing again in the free market in a capitalistic society. Our sisters are walking the streets there and here in Singapore.
It seems to me that the economy that involves selling human bodies to satisfy sexual lusts cannot be morally sustained. We have a problem with selling human organs and now the living body is being marketed. Meanwhile, especially young innocent victims have succumbed to the trade which does not offer a hopeful future. The least we can do to the least of these our brothers and sisters is to stand alongside and meet some of their human needs. They too like us are persons of sacred worth. We need not condemn them personally but with compassion come to relieve some of their misery. We often so quick in calling condemnation and so slow in expressing compassion, so swift in showing stigmatization and so reluctant in offering ministry.
From my interpretation of the story of the adulterous woman I wonder what Jesus would say to us. I think I hear him saying: "Let him who is without sin among you be the first to cast a stone." I hear his quiet voice: "Truly, I say to you. As you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me."