We will be born again

STUDY

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THE single most important thing that we need in reading the Bible is imagination.

Perhaps the two greatest threats to religion in our society are the materialist narrative of science and our inability within the Church to engage with Scripture imaginatively.

Scripture is a rich tapestry of mythology, spirituality, liturgy and fragments of history. Biblical stories are spiritual history carefully crafted.

Often details are not mere historical facts but treasures loaded with meaning and suggestive of other stories.

In the Gospel of John, we read the account of the woman caught in adultery.

The scribes and Pharisees brought her to Jesus. They cite the law of Moses which (they say) states that she should be punished: stoned to death.

Jesus refutes them: ‘Let anyone among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her’. One by one the crowd dispersed.

The story opens with the words, ‘Early in the morning’.

The imagery suggests darkness giving way to light. The resurrection narratives begin, ‘Early in the morning’, ‘Early on the first day’ or ‘Early at dawn’. Connecting the stories imaginatively, it may be that this story in John 8 is a ‘resurrection’ story: a faith narrative about new life.

Personal encounter with Jesus changes everything.

Like the woman at the well, this unnamed woman is born again.

In this story of scribes, Pharisees, stoning and adultery, only one detail is repeated: Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground. We are not told what he wrote. Perhaps he wrote, ‘You shall love your neighbour as yourself’; we do not know.

With the eye of imagination, what might the word ‘ground’ suggest?

In the Book of Genesis, blending together the myths of chapters 1 and 2, it is from the dust of the ground that God created humanity. Male and female God created them. Equally, they bear God’s image; equally, they receive the breath of God. Is it possible that, reaching beyond the law of Moses, Jesus is appealing to the creation of humankind? With his finger in the dust of the earth, Jesus is pointing to a dif erent value system; one in which women cannot be treated as mere property, easily discarded and treated dif erently from men. For Jesus, women are as much children of the Holy One as men.

Finally, it is a beautiful moment when the woman is left alone with Jesus. Our desire, and the destination of our spiritual life, is to be alone with Jesus, at least for a time.

It is when we are alone with him we are as we are: nowhere to hide, no mask to protect us, and no excuses for mistakes we have made or hurts we have caused.

In this intimate moment, we are met, as she was, with love, compassion and words of new life.

If we enter the scene, stand there with Jesus, feel the dust of the ground between our toes, and listen to his voice, we will be born again.

The Rev Scott McKenna is minister at

Edinburgh: Mayifield Salisbury.

This article appears in the April 2018 Issue of Life and Work

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