Out of natural curiosity, we would all like to know what the Lord wrote on the ground in the episode of the adulterous woman. The Pharisees and scribes were evil people. They must have secretly followed this woman for a while. They bring her into the presence of the Lord. She is placed between the Lord and the crowd, between God's mercy and the anger and violence of the accusers.

From the moment witnesses to the woman’s sin began to publicize it, many more people joined in the gossip and the desire to expel the sinful woman. That group energy intensified like a hurricane. That group energy reaches its peak when they arrive before the Lord and ask him the question, "What do you say about this woman?" The Pharisees and scribes were not interested in knowing the Lord's opinion. The question was maliciously intended to trap the Lord. If the Lord approved of the action, he would lose his reputation for kindness. If he did not approve, the Lord would be ignoring the Law of Moses.

The way the Lord handles the situation is masterful. The first thing the Lord does is not answer the question. In his silence, the Lord makes a mysterious gesture: He bends down and begins to write on the ground. With his silence, the Lord does something incredible. His silence breaks the momentum of the negative and violent energy of the crowd. This is a great lesson from the Lord for us. The first step toward ending gossip, for example, is to remain silent. The Lord’s silence was also an invitation for the crowd to begin thinking about leaving the case to divine justice.

I want to pause here to reflect on the Lord's mysterious gesture. We will never know what the Lord wrote on the ground. Holy theologians of the Church of the early centuries speculated that the Lord wrote on the ground the sins of those accusing the woman. Perhaps the sins of the eyewitnesses, who, by law, would be the first to throw stones.

The crowd's thirst for blood outweighed their reflection. They insisted that the Lord give them an answer. Faced with their insistence, the Lord stood up and said one of the most devastating one-liners in the Bible: "Let the one among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her". With these words, the Lord literally disarmed them all. They cast aside their stones, both the visible stones intended for the woman and the concealed stones intended for the Lord.

The private dialogue between the Lord and the woman is one of the most beautiful and hopeful scenes in the Bible. The Church offers us this Gospel in this season of Lent because it highlights the theme of God's mercy. God does not want the sinner to die, but to be converted and live. The Lord says to the woman, “Neither do I condemn you. Go, and from now on do not sin any more.” God's forgiveness changes the life of the one who receives it.

Let us ask the Lord to grant us his grace to, first, seek and accept his forgiveness and, second, resolve to sin no more.