Stu's Blog

No, I’m not asking where she went after Jesus said “Neither do I condemn you. Go and sin no more” (John 8:11) This morning as I was reading John’s gospel on page 1376 of The Oxford Study Bible, REB version,¹ I noticed that chapter 8 began with verse 12. I quickly checked a few other translations (ESV, NIV, NAS, NRS, NET, KJV) and they all had 8:1-11. Where there are textual questions, you might expect to see square brackets around the text in question and/or a footnote (see Mark 16:9-20), but here it was just gone. A little digging revealed this:

Conspiracy of Silence –
In most every scholarly commentary John 8:1-11 is a source of genuine controversy. Conservative scholars agree that this incident is part of the original manuscript; but they can’t agree on where it belongs in the Gospel record. It seems that at the end of the first century or in the early part of the 2nd, some overly zealous Christians thought that this account made Jesus look soft on sin. As a result, there was a widespread conspiracy to expunge it from the record. “The reason probably is that in a day when the punishment for sexual sin was very severe among Christians this story was thought to be too easily misinterpreted as countenancing un-chastity.”² Inspiration preserved the text, but some feel that it originally belonged to Luke’s Gospel.³

The idea that the verse numbers, or horror of horrors even which gospel, might be in question as to the proper placement of this passage could be a cause of great anxiety among us moderns. We forget that chapter and verse is a pretty late addition, as in the 1500′s for our English bibles. The controversy, to my mind, is more revealing of our problem over a “soft on sin” Jesus than which page, if any, this story belongs on.

The REB does include this story. It places it at the end of John’s gospel with this footnote:

This passage, which in most editions of the New Testament is printed in the text of John 7:53-8:11, has no place in our witnesses. Some of them do not contain it at all. Some place it after Luke 21:38. others after John 7:36, or 7:52, or 21:24.

I’m glad the story wasn’t missing after all. It’s an important story. Too bad that it was so embarrassing that it got shoved to the end of John’s book. It is kind of clumsy to place it there, but then again, to close John’s gospel with “Neither do I condemn you. Go and sin no more” is more poignant than reminding us that there’s more to Jesus than fits in a bunch of books.

“Poverty and disgrace come to him who ignores instruction, but whoever heeds reproof is honored.” (Prov 13:18) To have good people call you to account is a great gift. Living well in isolation is impossible. Navigating decisions and interactions with others in life is like driving at night through the fog with bad wipers and one headlight out. “Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another.” (Prov 27:17) Accountability is opportunity for reflection, correction, clarity, commitment, repentance, forgiveness and healing. “My son, do not despise the LORD’s discipline or be weary of his reproof, for the LORD reproves him whom he loves, as a father the son in whom he delights. Blessed is the one who finds wisdom, and the one who gets understanding, for the gain from her is better than gain from silver and her profit better than gold. She is more precious than jewels, and nothing you desire can compare with her. Long life is in her right hand; in her left hand are riches and honor. Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace. She is a tree of life to those who lay hold of her; those who hold her fast are called blessed.” (Prov 3:11-18)

I am currently reading “Imitation of Christ” and “They Like Jesus But Not The Church”¹during my morning routine and I wish I could get Dan Kimball and Thomas à Kempis in the same room and be a fly on the wall. “Imitation of Christ” is a classic and much about spiritual growth through devotion and discipline. “They Like Jesus” is a contemporary work dealing with the disconnect between church and culture. Kimball narrates his journey of breaking out of the “bubble” while Kempis seeks to enter more deeply. This paragraph from Kempis prompted this post:

If we were to uproot only one vice each year, we should soon become perfect. The contrary, however, is often the case—we feel that we were better and purer in the first fervor of our conversion than we are after many years in the practice of our faith. Our fervor and progress ought to increase day by day; yet it is now considered noteworthy if a man can retain even a part of his first fervor.²

I believe in discipline. I have a morning routine that is such a fundamental part of my life that on the rare occasion that I don’t go through my morning ritual (fodder for another post perhaps), I suffer anxiety about getting my reading done before the day is over, for time is unfortunately unrenewable. Use it or lose it. The above quote is nonetheless disturbing. There’s an old saying that only a fool will continue to do the same thing hoping for different results. Make no mistake, Kempis is no fool. If anything, he seems to be highlighting the fact that personal devotion and discipline is not enough or all there is. Kimball is helping us to see why we shouldn’t isolate ourselves from humanity in general and non-Christians in particular. Kempis is too concerned with avoiding spiritual contamination: “We should enjoy much peace if we did not concern ourselves with what others say and do, for these are no concern of ours.”³ How shall we ever love others if we are more concerned with our own peace than their concerns? Do your devotions and disciplines and then get out in the world and mix it up.

A symptom of the “bubble” is the gradual inclusion of CCL (Christian Code Language) in everyday conversation such that we become increasingly incomprehensible to the mainstream community. Dan Kimball, in “They Like Jesus But Not The Church” says: “We find ourselves regularly using Christian words and cliches, such as backsliding, prayer warrior, fellowship, quiet time, traveling mercies, ‘I have a check in my spirit.’ … The transformation is complete. We have become citizens of the bubble.”¹ Theologians often use technical language to talk about God because they can’t figure out how to say what they want to say in simple language. At least they are intentional. We often coin and use Christianese because it distinguishes us from “normal” people. It’s kewl to know the secret lingo. There are websites for those who need to study up – google Christianese. Some other goodies: “when I used to be in the world,” “bless his heart,” “she caused me to stumble,” “I don’t mean to judge, but the truth is,” “truthfully,” “Lord willing.” I have a few questions for you: 1. Are you in the habit of using Christianese? 2. Do you care that non-Christians have no idea what you’re talking about when you use Christianese? Actually, they will have an idea, but it’s probably not what you intended. 3. Should you care? 4. Why should you care? 5. Did you notice that Jesus, though at times hard to understand, didn’t coin new language to talk about God but used familiar language about things that grow, losing and finding stuff, fighting, working, loving, families, friends, enemies and such?