What struck me on this reading of the Gospel, for the 5th Week of Lent, was the actions of the accusers and the crowd. How long had they been planning this attack? Was it a spontaneous decision or had they worked on it for some time as a part of a wider pattern of behaviour to humiliate their victim? Did it extend beyond this individual as a manifestation of vigilante justice and social control? It makes it worse that they tried to implicate Jesus in their nastiness. What ever the case it occurs to me that this is an example of bullying and, because of that, cowardice. The crowd was baying for blood and took a a vulnerable woman as its scapegoat. She may have been guilty but this was in no way a just method of proceeding. We need to be conscious in our conduct not to join with others in attacking or humiliating others as a pack. This can consist even in things like buying magazines and other media where individuals are held up for ridicule or it can happen in our own offices and places of work as we gang up on others through gossip or "jokes". May it never be that the reproach spoken by Jesus will be levelled at us.
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