Stephen Langton (1150-1228) was a biblical scholar and Theology lecturer at the University of Paris. He was later elected to be the Archbishop of Canterbury in 1205. He was the first to divide the Gospels into chapters. Until then, the Gospels had been a set of scrolls without divisions.

Although there are one or two instances where the one idea or passage got split into two chapters, I think the only instance where a single verse got split and came to be in two chapters is only in John 7:53 + 8:1. The context is the situation where Jesus is teaching in the Jerusalem temple and the leadership and the common people are divided into two groups. In the Catholic version of the Bible, the last verse of chapter 7 is brought into the beginning of the 8th chapter: "53 Then each went to his own house." 8:1"while Jesus went to the Mount of Olives." In fact, it should have been a single verse. Jesus spent long hours during nights in prayer. When the Gospels say "He went to a deserted place" and "He went to the Mountain," they would mean that He went to pray or spend time in meditation.

We see that the people who went to their houses were aggressive while they were in the temple. Then each went to his own house - can mean to their own selfishness. If you remain in yourself, you remain violent, whereas a compassionate, peaceful person is the one who retreats into meditation. The person who retreats to meditation returns with more compassion. Because the person who meditates sees himself and his surroundings in the larger mirror that is God. He recognizes his own shortcomings and limitations. It becomes clear to him that the shortcomings and limitations of others are also his own. That is why he returns from the mountain with a more compassionate heart.

Look what comes next in chapter 8! They bring a woman caught in adultery to him. Those who do not meditate and retreat into their own selves will become more judgmental of others. We soon would hear that famous line: “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.”

Those who do not meditate will be self-absorbed, those who are so will be judgmental of others, and those who judge others will be aggressive.

When Jesus had them to turn to themselves momentarily – ​​all those who came to throw stones at her, and do away with her, disperse. How did that happen? Because Jesus made them meditate. It was a single moment of meditation that made them to put down the stones and leave. When they all had left, it is written that ‘he was left alone with the woman before him.’ Now she has seen herself in him– through an intense meditation. Once she has found herself, he says to her: "Neither do I condemn you. Go, and sin no more."

If just for a day these ten little verses were to appear on all our streets, in all our newspapers, on all our TV channels, and on all our social media sites, and all the rest were to be erased for a day, the world would have transformed into a different place the following day!