Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. But early in the morning he arrived again in the temple area, and all the people started coming to him, and he sat down and taught them. Then the scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery and made her stand in the middle. They said to him, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the very act of committing adultery. Now in the law, Moses commanded us to stone such women. So what do you say?” They said this to test him, so that they could have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and began to write on the ground with his finger. But when they continued asking him, he straightened up and said to them, “Let the one among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” Again he bent down and wrote on the ground. And in response, they went away one by one, beginning with the elders. So he was left alone with the woman before him. Then Jesus straightened up and said to her, “Woman, where are they? Has no
Homily based on John 12:20-33 A great deal is packaged into this long section of the Gospel according to John. What jumps off the page for me is Jesus telling us: Now the ruler of this world will be driven out. Really? Who is this ruler? John tells us it’s Satan – our image of darkness and evil. Satan does very well in the darkness of our hearts and minds. Many of us fight the darkness competing against the light within us. We have to work very hard to drive out this ruler – to strip evil of its power over us because our opponent the devil prowls around in the darkness like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. And we are on the menu. Satan and his minions – mythical, legendary, and real-life – can take control of us when we give in to temptation. That’s why our Gospel reading from John that left out the rest of Chapter 12 shortchanges us. It brings us up short of a very important conversation between Jesus and the crowd. It reads: Jesus said to them, “Walk while you have