On the Fifth Sunday of Lent in Cycle C of the new Sunday Lectionary, we were confronted with Jesus' very interesting and somewhat startling account of the woman caught by a group of scribes and Pharisees, "…in the very act of adultery" (John 8: 1-11).

For the modern reader, several questions immediately leap to mind:

---How come only the woman is brought forward and threatened with death? Obviously, the woman couldn't have been "in the very act of adultery" by herself.

---Where exactly were the scribes and Pharisees hiding in order to catch others "in the very act"? Wouldn't such spying be wrong also?

The obvious questions about the lack of any mention of the male adulterer's involvement are not easily answered. Deuteronomy 22:23-24 clearly prescribes death for both the man and the woman who commit adultery together. His absence from the incident as recorded seems to suggest that the issue of adultery is not the primary moral focus of Jesus' attention. As a society we can be so focused on sex, that the issue of adultery and the almost salacious addition of the woman being caught in the very act might actually distract us from Jesus' intended central teaching if we are not careful.

For, the intent of Jesus' most essential message is clearly about God and about how Jesus intends authentic disciples to understand God. That is apparently why this story was kept and treasured by the early Christian community and eventually made its way into the Canon of Scripture. This story and its message cannot be divorced from all of Jesus' other teachings about God.

Primarily, Jesus' teaching in the Scriptures moves God from a purely transcendent, distant and disembodied God to a God who desires a very personal relationship with His people. Jesus Himself comes to earth as the incarnate Word of God (one like us in all things but sin) and teaches us to regard his Father as Abba (father, daddy) and ourselves as God's children. This new relationship with and understanding of God that comes with Jesus is clearly Jesus' main focus in this story.

The narrative makes Jesus' message clear when he shifts the focus away from both the woman and from the trap that the scribes and Pharisees were laying for Jesus. Here, like in the story about the coin and the paying of taxes, the scribes and Pharisees were trying to put Jesus between a rock and a hard place. The Romans had specifically forbidden the Jews from carrying out the death penalty, so the antagonists in this story (the scribes and Pharisees) believe that they are cleverly putting Jesus in a lose-lose situation. If Jesus approves of the stoning, he will incur the wrath of the Romans and if he disapproves he may be seen as dismissive of the law of God, setting Himself against the orthodox Jewish community.

Instead, Jesus uses the opportunity to shift the focus from sins of the flesh to sins of hypocrisy and pride. From a perspective of moral theology, two powerful teachings arise:

1. Every child of God is a sinner. "Let the one among you without sin throw the first stone." Most interestingly, the accusers silently melt away, "…beginning with the elders."

2. God wants to be the great forgiver. Probably the most important statement of Jesus' in the entire story, but so easily forgotten by disciples riddled with guilt is, "Woman, has no one condemned you? …Neither do I condemn you."

Jesus teaches us that falling into sin is not an irretrievable disaster. The real disaster is running from our sinfulness and living in denial and hypocrisy. The woman caught in adultery was a sinner, Jesus leaves no doubt about that ("Go and sin no more").

The scribes and Pharisees were sinners also, but unlike the woman, they were hypocrites. Jesus called them on that fact and their readiness to call others to task before they called themselves. In their self-righteous hypocrisy they really condemned themselves.

This story reminds us that every disciple is morally responsible for their own actions. The world abounds with those who take great satisfaction in pointing out the sins and faults of others without taking stock of their own.

This story illustrates how Jesus changes religion from a relationship to rules and norms to a relationship with a personal God. Jesus teaches us that our God is not primarily a "judge" but a parent. God is a Father who, like a good parent, wants us to do what is good and loving --- "Go and sin no more" --- but who accepts their children with all their failings and loves them just as much --- "Neither do I condemn you."

In the end, feminists don't have to worry that Jesus is part of a misogynist conspiracy in this drama. Quite the opposite: The scribes, Pharisees and male elders are the ones who take the real moral beating and so they should. The woman caught in adultery is every disciple caught in the web of evil and sinful choices that has experienced that overwhelming goodness of our loving God, who has experienced that "ambush of Grace" from a God who "wills not the death of a sinner" but rather their salvation.

The woman was a victim of her own immoral choices, as all of us sinners are, but she also became the victim of self-righteous hypocrites. Jesus was able to save her both from herself and from others. The scribes, Pharisees and elders left in denial to hide their shame and the truth. Jesus was unable to forgive them because they did not present themselves for forgiveness.

In the end, this particular story of Jesus in Scripture tells us about how much God loves us, about how God knows us and accepts us in the situations in which we find ourselves, about how God makes available healing and reconciliation. Male or female, with sins of the flesh or sins of hypocrisy and pride, God is ready to forgive, not condemn; but God is also ready to challenge us to live in a right relationship with Him.

Perhaps the tale is a powerful reminder to us all that the sacrament of penance is something that each of us needs to cherish more, to understand more and to utilize more. The sacrament of penance is the time and place where God says to every one of us, "Has no one condemned you? Neither do I condemn you. Go, and sin no more."

Vincentian Father Richard Benson is academic dean and professor of moral theology at St. John's Seminary, Camarillo. His column appears monthly in The Tidings.