Jesus... Censored by the Church?

For a number of years now, I have been reading my way through the 17-volume Daily Study Bible, a translation of the New Testament (plus commentary) by William Barclay, a well-known Scottish theologian in the 1960s and 1970s. A student of classical Greek and Hebrew, Barclay provides interesting background understanding of the New Testament texts.

I started by reading his translation and commentary of the gospel of Matthew about the life of Jesus, jumped to the volume on the early church (the Acts of the Apostles). Then, after reading about the travels of Paul, I read through the volumes on Paul's letters to the early church - in the order in which they were written - so as to get a sense of the progression of his thought. I later read Barclay's commentaries on the gospels of Mark and Luke, as well as the book of Hebrews. I have left for last the writings of John, the disciple of Jesus. Currently, I am halfway through his gospel, at the story of the woman caught in adultery, the woman brought to Jesus by the religious authorities of his day, to test Jesus theology. What punishment should she receive? they asked. The law of Moses required she be stoned to death. But if he advocated that, they could complain to the Roman authorities that he advocated capital punishment - and under Roman law, only a Roman court could sentence a person to death.

Jesus bent down and wrote on the ground... what he wrote is not mentioned. Then he stood up and asked those questioning him: What does the law of Moses require?

That she be stoned to death, they quickly replied.

Jesus looked at them and said: Let him who is without sin cast the first stone...

Then, Jesus bent down to write on the ground again, while those questioning him quietly walked away.

Standing up, Jesus turned to the woman and said: Neither do I accuse you. Go and sin no more.

The story is rich with the teaching of Jesus: to refrain from judging others, to offer forgiveness and a second chance.

But what I found interesting was Barclay's comments on the history of this particular story. Papias, who lived 100 years after Jesus, apparently referred to it - indicating that the story was known from the earliest days of Christianity. Yet many of the oldest handwritten manuscripts of the New Testament leave it out out.

Why?

Barclay writes: "Augustine gives us a hint. He says that this story was removed from the text of the gospel because "some were of slight faith" and "to avoid scandal."

Amazing! Even early Christians found this teaching so revolutionary that they didn't know what to do with it... so they quietly censored it out.