Surprised by Grace (22): O come all ye faithful

James Tissot: The Adulterous Woman — Christ Writing upon the Ground — Brooklyn Museum (from Wikimedia Commons)

They kept demanding an answer, so he stood up again and said, “All right, but let the one who has never sinned throw the first stone!” . . . When the accusers heard this, they slipped away one by one, beginning with the oldest, until only Jesus was left in the middle of the crowd with the woman (John 8:7,9 [NLT]).

This is a well known scene.
Even amongst non Christians.
And best to shut people up.

Of course it is a passage scholars now agree that wasn’t in the most reliable manuscripts. But it never bothers people.
Most still would quote it.
Neither should it deter us here.
Any decent Bible translation would have a footnote to that effect.

What’s of interest is the dramatic scene of the thinning of the crowd!

If it were a screenplay, the director would sequence the shots from a boisterous, hungry and almost wolfpack-like crowd, to the oldest person, then one by one by age, disappearing.
Until just the woman.
All accusers were guilty of sin——the older the more guilt.

Until only the woman left standing.
And don’t be overly optimistic.
She too wasn’t innocent.

Only Jesus is left.
All alone.

Imagine if the standard used by the thinning crowd is adopted for God accepting people, how many humans will be left?

How lonely would God be?

How hollow would this Christmas hymn ring?
O Come All Ye Faithful…

What kind of Christmas would it be?

Christmas works only with surprise.