The New Testament

Why did the Word choose to become flesh among the Jews and not among any other people? No doubt, at that very time there were lots of cases like that of Jews on this Earth, even if we restrict our quest to the dominion of Roman empire. There are many reasons, but one of them is a striking example of perfect logic, which we can understand today only due to the historical and religios perspective. Even though conceptually very simple and straightforward, the answer will be more obvious from one of the most significant acts of Jesus. Let’s consider the incident with the adulteress. It is not reported in any other of the Gospels but in John, which makes it of a special theoretical character, but also a subject of contention. Here it is:

Jesus went unto the mount of Olives. And early in the morning he came again into the temple, and all the people came unto him; and he sat down, and taught them. And the scribes and Pharisees brought unto him a woman taken in adultery; and when they had set her in the midst, they say unto him, Master, this woman was taken in adultery, in the very act. Now Moses in the law commanded us, that such should be stoned: but what sayest thou? This they said, tempting him that they might have to accuse him. But Jesus stooped down, and with the finger wrote on the ground. So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself, and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her. And again he stooped down, and wrote on the ground. And they which heard, being convicted by conscience, went out one by one, beginning at the eldest, unto the last: and Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst. When Jesus had lifted up himself, and saw none but the woman, he said unto her, Woman, where are those thine accusers? hath no man condemned thee? She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more. (John 8: 1 – 12; our Italics)

It is as if one can see the scribes and pharisees jubilating already because, humanly speaking, there is no way out of the situation! It is obvious that if Jesus would answer “don’t kill her” He would be chargeable with transgressing the law of Moses; if, on the other hand, He would answer “kill her” this would be against His capacity as a Creator, destroying His Own creature. Either way, the answer would be a good piece to be added to the case scientifically assembled by scribes and pharisees.

                But no! Jesus is indeed the Creator, the one who knew creation best, for who could know the creation better than the Creator Himself? This creation in the instance given by the Jews, had a very keen sense of sin, a sense of sin that could not be found to any other people, the Romans for instance, anyway not to the extent required by a situation like this! The Jews may not be the ones who invented the concept of sin, but surely they withdrew it from under the narrow determination of the personal guilt, giving it the wider determination of the unnatural acquired by man along his social evolution. Every individual from Jewish society was, by education, conscious of the sin carried inherently by the human being, so that reveling it in a proper situation, could make him more… humane. It is exactly the act Jesus Himself adopted: He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her! Obviously, no one would know himself wothout sin, and the adulteress was saved. In a street in Rome, for instance, she wouldn’t stand a chance: the Romans did not have the notion of sin. It is doubtful, though, that the whole situation could go this far in Rome, for there the adulter was not a religious issue!

            So this is the key: from a religious point of view the Jews were clearly more advanced that any other people in the world. Thus they were the only people in the world able to understand Jesus best. The indisputable proof was soon to become obvious: from this very understanding came His death on the cross!