Jesus was eying the poor woman, who had scrambled to her feet and was trying to smooth out her disordered robe. Frightened and humiliated, she kept her eyes on the ground; then, as the man finished his question and the suddenly quiet throng listened for the reply, she raised them and looked, with a mixture of defiance, contempt, and fright, at the tall bronzed man before her.
“But what can he say?” Claudia whispered. “Aren’t they trying to trap him into advocating violation of their laws?”
“Yes, Mistress. And they know, too, that they have no authority to stone anyone to death unless the person is first condemned by the Procurator. Either way, it’s a trap they’re trying to set.”
“Then I shall speak to Pilate....” She stopped; Tullia had laid a gently restraining hand on her arm, for Jesus had bent down suddenly and without offering to answer the Jew who had questioned him had begun to trace with extended forefinger certain markings in the dust of the marble pavement.
About him stood the silent crowd. Some seemed fearful of the horror they might soon be witnessing; others, their cold smiles attesting to their sadistic natures, were waiting expectantly to witness the woman’s death agonies; only a few solemn faces revealed concern and deep pity. But the little knot of Pharisees stood with arms folded across their rounded paunches; their smug smiles betrayed their confidence that at last, on the final day of the great festival, they had run to earth this annoying and dangerous young Galilean who had been so cleverly eluding them.
Then, raising his head, Jesus faced the man who had questioned him. “You have testified aright as to the law of our father Moses,” he said, his voice calm, deliberate. “The law of Moses commands that the woman ... and the man ... taken in adultery be stoned. But you ask me my interpretation of this law?”
“We do, Rabbi. What will you do with this woman?” The man looked about the semicircle of cold, hard faces, and one by one the Pharisees nodded approval of his questioning. “Rabbi, what is your law in this case?”
“I answer you, my brother, in this wise, and this is my interpretation of the law. Let him that is without sin among you cast the first stone.” His quiet, dark eyes rested a moment on the startled countenance of the man who had just propounded the question, and then quickly they moved along the line of the challenging Temple leaders.
Now once more he bent forward and with stiffened forefinger traced symbols in the dust.
For a long moment his eyes remained fixed upon the pavement. When he looked up, the little group of sneering Pharisees had departed. The others in the ring about him had fallen back from the steps on which he sat and stood regarding him with frank amazement; some of them revealed their delight at his having confounded his enemies, and on the faces of others could be seen a heightened responsiveness to the young man’s teachings and for the Galilean himself a strengthened affection.