“But Jesus stooped down, and with his finger wrote on the ground,
as though he heard them not.”
John 8:6
What ran through his mind?
God’s plan?
Man’s inhumanity to man?
Was her husband kind?
Why with his finger?
Dust into dust?
For better or for worse?
God given lust-
A blessing and a curse
What did he write?
Some obtuse design?
A stick figure of His own end?
A solitary hangman’s game?
Was it Words?
To Him to her compare?
******* versus *****?
Which was less, which more?
How to stop this madness-
Stones cast on her head?
Turn them into bread?
**** me in her stead?
No matter what he chose
He was sure to lose
This is the story of the woman caught in the act of adultery by her husband, and the crowd who was about to stone her to death as was required by some of the scriptures. The crowd asked Jesus what he thought they should do with the woman. He eventually answered saying: "let he who is without sin cast the first stone". I was struck by one small part of the story- the fact that, before he answered, Jesus knelt down and wrote in the dust. What was that all about?