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If you were asked to name ten famous figures in the Bible, you would probably list a series of well known male identities, for example, Abraham, Moses, Job, Jesus, Peter, and Paul. Of the 1426 names mentioned in the Bible, 1315 are males (Goldburg, 2003: 233). Only 111 women's names appear in the Sacred Scriptures.
Given these statistics, one might assume that both women and the issues specific to women were largely ignored by the Biblical writers — most, if not all of whom, were male. We might, therefore, assume that the way women have been represented by the text, which means in practical terms the manner in which the significant female members of the Judeo-Christian community have been remembered by the tradition and interpreted by the male writers, has served to obscure and hide their stories.
Having said that, however, this Sunday's Gospel presents us with an anomaly — a nameless, adulterous women whose story proved so powerful that, despite being edited out of the first edition of Gospels, survived three centuries to make the "director's cut" of Fourth Gospel. What is even more remarkable is that it involved a woman who was far from exemplary in her behaviour; who constituted someone very different from those whose stories we might normally retail for edification.
The Fourth Gospel
The Fourth Gospel has an interesting transmission history. At its earliest stratum, it seems to be based on a primitive "Signs Gospel" (1:19-12:50); that is, a collection of seven stories about Jesus' miraculous deeds that demonstrated his messianic status and presented Jesus as the foundation of a new reinvigorated, messianic (Christian) Judaism.
The author of this early "Signs Gospel" probably brought his collection of miracle stories to a close with the verses that now stand at 20:30-31, which neatly sums up his purpose and his perspective on Jesus.
Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book. But these are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name.
Such was the power and the effectiveness of the Evangelist's stories that others augmented his work, while preserving his meaning. Most notably, Chapter 21 seems to have been added after the gospel was completed. It is penned in a style of Greek that is different from that of the "signs" stories.
The later editors of the Fourth Gospel seem to have taken the stories of Jesus' wondrous deeds and reworked each of them into highly effective dramatic scenes, which have been carefully sewn together with long poetic discourses. Most famously, the story of Jesus healing of the blind man in chapter 9, which is press-ganged into the service of the editor's theological vision of Jesus as the "Light of the world" (Moloney, 1990). This is interpreted by a narrative of controversy between the Pharisees and the young man whose sight is restored by Jesus, ending with a discussion of spiritual blindness and highlighting the symbolic meaning of the cure (John 9:1).
The story of the women caught in adultery that we read for this Sunday's Gospel is an even later addition. But what is truly remarkable about this addition is that it did not occur until the third century. The Church fathers of the second century are unfamiliar with it; and fragments of the Gospel that survive from that time are similarly devoid of the story. And this raises some very interesting questions about its origin and its ultimate success in making the final cut of the Fourth Gospel. However, it is skilfully woven into the context of the conflict between synagogue and Church.
The Adulterous Woman
The story of this woman whom Jesus saves from the clutches of an angry mob does appear to "fill a gap" in the Gospel by providing a narrative before the discourse (8:12-59) on the authority of Jesus as the "light of the world" (Perkins, 1990: 965). The story of the "kangaroo court" that led to the summary judgement of the woman caught in adultery is juxtaposed with the discussion of the "witnesses" to Jesus' authority. However, the marriage between story and ensuing discourse is not a comfortable one. The tale of the adulterous woman has none of the characteristic style of the Johannine writer, nor does it fit with his theology.
There is no doubt that women play an important role in the Fourth gospel. The Evangelist does take pains to demonstrate that women are not inferior to men in the Christian community. Jesus mother, Mary, is seen as an example of the perfect disciple (2:3-4), and the woman at the well in Samaria (John 4) is presented as a prototype of the Christian missionary (4:4-42). Even more significantly the first witness of the resurrection is Mary Magdelene (20:11-18), a detail which can only be interpreted as granted women, or at least this woman, apostolic status.
The story of the adulterous women is very different. She is not held up as an example of anything other than as a recipient of Jesus' mercy and compassion. The third-century copyist who inserted this story into the Gospel probably thought that it illustrated the later claim by Jesus that he "passed judgment on no one" (8:15). But the story is a "biographical apothegm" — a brief, witty story about Jesus avoiding a "trap" set by his opponents, which he deftly side steps by turning the question of guilt back on the woman's accusers (Perkins, 1990). It is an episode that would be more at home in the Synoptic Gospels (cf. Mk 12:12-17).
Some New Testament manuscripts have this story in Luke's Gospel, appearing just after the Lukan apocalyptic discourse in Chapter 21 and before the beginning of the passion in Chapter 22. This led many scholars very early on to assume that the origins of the story may be traced back to the Lukan community (Borgen, 1959; Brown, 1965).
In both its later Johannine setting and its sometime Lukan one, the story presupposes a situation in Jerusalem, where Jesus' defense of this woman contributed to the growing tensions between himself and the Jewish authorities. However, the story of Jesus forgiving a sinful woman reflects more closely the Lukan interest in Jesus' concern for the poor and marginalized — especially women who more often than men found themselves at the mercy of a draconian patriarchy, which viewed all women as temptresses like their mother Eve (cf. Lk 7:36-50; 8:2-8).
The Import of the Story
Adultery is defined as an act of sexual intercourse between two people, either of whom is married to a third person. However, in the Jewish practice of Jesus' time only women were indicted on such a charge. Women were seen as the property of their husbands, and men who wished to take up with another woman could simply declare their first marriage null and dismiss their wife — an inequity and an injustice that Jesus seems to have roundly condemned (Matt 19:7-9; 5:31-32).
Deuteronomy (22:23-24) proscribed stoning for a married woman who commits adultery. If the Fourth Evangelist is right in insisting that the Romans had deprived the Jews of the right to carry out death sentences (Jn 18:31), then the situation placed not only the woman but also Jesus in a dire situation. The woman was at the mercy of an illegal mob bent on blood, and Jesus was in a "no-win situation". Does he condone the mob lynching and thereby become a criminal in the eyes of the State, or oppose it and place himself alongside the woman as an apostate from the Mosaic Law?
This story is a worthy sequel to last week's Lukan Gospel story of the father and his two sons. Just as the Lukan Jesus told that story of the shameless father who sought to reconcile his two sons, so too here this very Lukan story serves to highlight the nature of the call to be Christian as a counter-cultural one. The later copyist who added this story to the Fourth Gospel in the third century could also see how it reflected one of the primary struggles of the early Church.
The polemic between synagogue and church, which lies behind the Fourth Gospel, produced bitter and harsh invective, especially regarding the hostility toward Jesus of the authorities, both Pharisees and Sadducees, who are combined and referred to frequently as "the Jews". These opponents are even described in the Johannine discourse, which follows the story of the adulterous woman, as springing from their father the devil, whose conduct they imitate in opposing God by rejecting Jesus, whom God has sent (8:44). The question placed before the readers of the Gospel is not unlike the one confronting Jesus in the story: Do you renounce your belief in Messiah Jesus and retain the mantel of Judaism, or do you accept expulsion from the synagogue and become part of a marginalized sub-culture?
Humans have a tendency to side with the mob. We conform in order to avoid the risk of being ostracized and marginalized. As the Biblical theologian Michael Casey (2004) writes in the Introduction to his book on New Testament Christology:
To avoid possible ridicule and rejection, we often allow ourselves to merge with others so that we become invisible as individuals. Even our protests against conformity are often expressed as an alternative compliance. Instead of solitary dissent, we wear the uniform of other recognizable nonconformists. Few men and women dare to stand absolutely alone — most need to associate themselves with a group or a movement, whether this association involves adherence either to majority or minority opinions. (6)
The Lukan Jesus is not one who is afraid "to be himself". He does not parrot the opinions of others or mimic their positions. The mob brought the woman to him for judgement, expecting that he would either side with them in the interests of the Mosaic law or against them in the interests of the State. They cited the authorities and laid a trap. But Jesus saw through their hypocritical sincerity. He knew that their appeal to the authorities, both religious and civil, was but an attempt to hide from the real demands of God's covenantal love.
When we resort to such deception we are merely trying to "shore up the fragility of a selfhood that is perceived as being under threat" (Casey, 2004: 6). There is always safety and security in the mob mentality. Jesus models a different approach; one which embraces the risk of being different.
Final Reflections
 Like the dysfunctional family of last week's Gospel story and Jesus in this week's story, we are being told that to be Christians we must be shameless. To publicly declare our allegiance to the crucified Christ is to identify ourselves with all those marginalized by the cultural expectations of society — be they refugees, drug addicts, prostitutes, adulterers, and even women.
In a society that saw women as property or worse, as temptresses, Jesus held to a broader, more equalitarian perspective, even at the risk of being seen as different and dangerous. The vestigial remains of the women's stories that survive in our Bibles reminds us that the original genius of Christianity held to the principle that being open to risk meant being open to difference, which ultimately found expression in the principles of equalitarianism and justice. The story of the adulterous women is remarkable, not just because it teaches this important truth, but because it survived to remind the nascent "Great Church" of the Roman Empire of its revolutionary and counter-cultural roots. May it serve a similar purpose for us this Lent.
 Bibliography and further food for the journey:
P. Borgen, "John and the Synoptics in the Passion Narrative" New Testament Studies 5 (1959), 246-259.
R. E. Brown, New Testament Essays (London: Geoffrey Chapman, 1965).
M. Casey, Fully Human, Fully Divine: An Interactive Christology (Melbourne: John Garrat Publishing, 2004).
P. Goldburg, "Women in the Bible", in M. Ryan (ed) Reading the Bible: An Introduction for Students (Tuggerah: Social Sciences Press, 2003), 233-249.
F. J. Moloney, "Johannine Theology" in R. E. Brown, J. A. Fitzmeyer and R. E. Murphy (eds) The New Jerome Biblical Commentary (London: Geoffrey Chapman, 1990), 1417-1430)
P. Perkins, "The Gospel According to John" in R. E. Brown, J. A. Fitzmeyer and R. E. Murphy (eds) The New Jerome Biblical Commentary (London: Geoffrey Chapman, 1990), 942-985.
Photo Credits:
The background image in the headline and the mannequin figures come from stock.xchng. The background image photographer: Nicolas Raymond, Montreal, Canada. The mannequin photographer: Janet Goulden, Liverpool, UK.
"Catholic Women" Women Priests URL: www.womenpriests.org/wijnga~1/wow2001.htm
"Fragment of the Gospel of Mary Magdalene" One of the Gnostic texts that preserve traditions about women in Christianity. The Reluctant Messenger.
URL: http://reluctant-messenger.com/gospel-magdalene.htm
"Woman Caught in Adultery" from the Jesus Video.
URL: www.request.org.uk/main/dowhat/weddings/wedding05.htm
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
 Dr Ian Elmer is a lecturer in New Testament at ACU National (formally Australian Catholic University). He is also a member of the Centre for Early Christian Studies, and was recently admitted into ACBA (Australian Catholic Biblical Association). His research specialities are Paul and First-Century Christianity. He is the author of published articles in the Australian Ejournal of Theology and in Prayer and Spirituality in the Early Church (a publication of the Centre for Early Christian Studies). He doctoral thesis was entitled Paul, Jerusalem and the Judaisers: The Galatian Crisis in its Broader Historical Context.
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©2007 Ian Elmer
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