Please read the passage before reading the commentary.
The reading is from the thirteenth chapter of the book of Daniel, the story of Susanna who is falsely accused of adultery with its penalty of death by stoning. In a sense it is paired to the story of the woman taken in adultery from John 8:1-11.
The penalty for adultery from the books of Moses was death by being stoned. Susanna is saved from death when Daniel proves her accusers had lied about the incident. The woman in the gospel is saved because in the end no one has accused her. I see a change in attitude here from Moses to Jesus, from harshness to mercy and understanding.
Are we to condone adultery and say it does not matter? No. It does matter. Jesus told the woman to go and not sin again. Jesus would not condemn the woman, but he would not want her to repeat her behavior.
Part of the change from Moses through Daniel to Jesus is the movement from punishment to forgiveness. It is also a movement from anger to mercy. We are challenged to change our ways of behavior so that we seek to show mercy and forgiveness to others.
When we allow vengeance and anger to guide our lives, we allow those who govern us to act with vengeance and anger. Our government’s leaders act in our name and imitate our ways of doing things. Daniel, whose name means “God is my judge”, proved not only that the judges were corrupt, but that the people had been negligent in allowing injustice. Daniel called the people to change their verdict.
How must we change our harshness and anger into mercy, compassion and truth How do we change from being judges to being champions of victims and the accused?