Then they all went home, but Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. – John 7:53-8:1

 Today's Scripture Reading (November 29, 2020): John 8

"Canadian girls are so pretty, it's a relief now and then to see a plain one." The quote is common among Canadians, and it is attributed to Mark Twain. The Beach Boys may have liked their "California Girls, but we know the truth is that the most beautiful girls on the American continent reside north of the U.S.A. – Canada border. And so, our gratitude is liberally offered to Mr. Twain. Except for one problem, he didn't actually say it, at least, not precisely. In a letter Twain wrote to his wife, Olivia, from Quebec at the beginning of December 1881, Twain wrote that "Maybe it is the [winter] costume that makes pretty girls seem so monotonously plenty here. It was a kind of relief to strike a homely face occasionally." Still a compliment, but not quite the way that Canadians describe it.

We associate the phrase "Beam me up, Scotty" with "Star Trek: The Original Series." The phrase is even the title of actor James Doohan's 1996 autobiography; Doohan played Mr. Scott in "The Original Series." And yet, the phrase never occurs in the show. A more standard version of the words, often spoken by Captain Kirk, is "Beam us up, Mr. Scott." But "Beam me up, Scotty" is still a precious phrase in the memory of Trekkies.

With the words "Then they all went home, but Jesus went to the Mount of Olives," John begins to tell a story that is precious to the followers of Jesus Christ about a woman caught in the act of adultery. It is a story that we still like to tell, one that is often featured in Bible Study groups and taught from our churches' pulpits. It is a story that climaxes with the words, "Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her." It is a great story. The only problem is that we are pretty sure that John didn't tell the story, at least not in his gospel.

Does that mean that the story is not true? Not necessarily. It is a story with the ring of truth; the tale is totally within the character of Jesus. It starts with Jesus going to the Mount of Olives while his oppressors went home. It stresses that Jesus had no place to lay his head, no home to which to go; he went to the Mount of Olives to find a tree under which he could sleep. And then, the next day, he went to the rescue of the sinful woman.

The most likely solution to the problem is that this is a fragment of a writing about Jesus that has long since been lost. But this story remained, circulating among the believers in Jesus. A portion, an essential tale about the life of Jesus that none of the Gospel writers included in their writings. A story that was too important to be forgotten. One scribe placed the tale in Luke's Gospel, but most have chosen this place in John as the proper spot to tell the story. It is almost as if God decided not to let this story die, placing it in the heart of the people responsible for making copies of the sacred gospels and compelling them to include it somewhere in the final accounting of the life of Jesus.  

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: John 9