Friday Flash Fiction
  • Home
    • About Friday Flash Fiction
  • 100-Word Stories
  • Longer Stories
  • Poetry
  • Authors
    • A-C
    • D-F
    • G-I
    • J-L
    • M-O
    • P-R
    • S-V
    • W-Z

What Was He Writing? by Doug Bartlett

10/9/2021

 
It was the Sabbath and I went up the southern steps onto the Temple grounds.
I walked past a teacher presenting a lesson to his disciples just outside the courtyard gate when I first heard it.

It was the sound of a woman yelling and screaming. She was surrounded by a group of men pushing and pulling and at times even dragging her. It appeared they were heading straight for the teacher. That’s when I realized that he wasn't just any teacher but he was the Teacher. He was the one who claimed to be the Son of God and was giving the Pharisees and their corrupt religious system fits.

These men interrupted the Teacher by bursting into His group of disciples and flinging this woman down at His feet causing a cloud of dust to encircle the woman. When the dust settled I realized she was naked. I also realized that most of the men who put her there were Pharisees.

That in itself was strange but then things got even stranger. The Pharisees, with hatred in their voices, questioned Him.

“ Teacher, according to the law of Moses, this woman, who was caught in the very act of adultery, says she is to be stoned. What say you? “

That’s strange I thought. That was a half-truth. According to Moses both parties committing adultery were to be stoned. But these Pharisees would know this. Hmmmmm…...something strange is going on here. This is starting to look like a set-up. Then it got even stranger. The Teacher didn’t respond to them but instead bent down and began writing in the dirt.

This infuriated the Pharisees because He was ignoring them. They began picking up large rocks. I couldn’t believe it. They were going to stone this woman. The Pharisees were trying to get rid of the Teacher so they could get back to their comfortable lifestyle of corruption.

The Teacher told the Pharisees to go ahead and stone her, but the only guys that could do it would be the ones who had not committed this same sin.

Wow! There was some murmuring in that crowd and then you started to hear the rocks hit the ground as the Pharisees began dropping them. Then the Teacher asked the woman where her accusers were. There were none, they had all left. The Teacher told the woman to go and sin no more.

I went on to the Temple to worship and when I came back the rocks were still there. I picked one up to take home as a reminder, not just a reminder of what I saw happen that day. It would also be a reminder to me not to hold someone to a higher standard than I hold myself to.

Oh, were you wanting to know what the Teacher was writing on the ground? No one knows for sure but some say It was the names of all the Pharisees that had had a sinful relationship with this woman.
Mike B
10/9/2021 08:30:08 am

Great job of telling this story Doug!! What a convicting message, not to hold others to a higher standard than we do of ourselves. It makes sense to me that the Teacher could have very well written what your story suggests.

Doug
10/9/2021 05:48:30 pm

Thank you Mike. I appreciate your comments.

Jim link
10/9/2021 03:45:27 pm

I see the "Teacher" was holding a different sort of class that day...
Nice
Jim

Doug
10/9/2021 05:50:05 pm

Thanks Jim. I'm glad you enjoyed it.

Mike U
10/9/2021 04:26:09 pm

Great story and great reminder Doug. Thank you!

Doug
10/9/2021 05:51:17 pm

Thank you Mike. We all need reminders from time to time.

Chuck J Anderson
10/9/2021 09:56:23 pm

Maybe it was names and dates...nah.

Doug
10/9/2021 10:50:38 pm

Who knows. Thanks Chuck.

Sue Clayton
11/9/2021 06:36:57 am

"Let he who has not sinned cast the first stone." A parable with an age old message. Unfortunately there are those in this world who are willing to cast stones even though they are sinners themselves.

Doug
11/9/2021 06:48:24 am

How true Sue, how true. Thanks for your comment.

Pamela Kennedy
11/9/2021 10:47:06 pm

Lovely story, Doug.

Doug
12/9/2021 01:16:01 am

Thank you for those kind words Pamela.

Jennifer Duncan
13/9/2021 03:05:07 pm

This story is such a good reminder of Jesus' passion for truth. I've sometimes wondered if the woman was even a willing participant in the adultery. Your retelling is really well done.

Doug
13/9/2021 05:09:34 pm

Thank you very much Jennifer. It's possible the woman was innocent and the Pharisees falsely accused her of adultery.

maggie clark
16/9/2021 06:29:15 am

No matter how big and strong those pharrisees were.,not one of them could even have picked up a pebble because they realised the Teacher somehow knew the truth Had they been written in the Bookof life that would have beeen a different story! well done

Doug
16/9/2021 05:49:10 pm

Thank you Maggie.


Comments are closed.

    Longer
    Stories

    Longer Friday Flash Fiction Stories

    Friday Flash Fiction is primarily a site for stories of 100 words or fewer, and our authors are expected to take on that challenge if they possibly can. Most stories of under 150 words can be trimmed and we do not accept submissions of 101-150 words.


    However, in response to demand, the FFF team constructed this forum for significantly longer stories of 151-500 words. Please send submissions for these using the Submissions Page.

    Stories to the 500 word thread will be posted as soon as we can mange.

    Picture

    One little further note. Posting and publishing 500-word stories takes a little time if they need to be formatted, too.
    ​Please note that we tend to post longer flash fiction exactly as we find it – wrong spacing, everything.

    Archives

    April 2023
    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014

Picture
Website by Platform 36