It's fair to say we're living through one of the most remarkable periods in political history.
Phrases like 'unheard of', 'unprecedented' and 'historic' seem to be so frequently used that one wonders if they have been stripped of all meaning.
Right now, the prime minister is facing a leadership challenge, having announced a vote on the infamous 'deal' which then got cancelled and then touring the EU to try and renegotiate or get assurances that never materialised.
I need to say that because by the time I've finished writing, this whole situation could be different. So much so that it would be entirely plausible to suggest that by the time I start to proof-read this, the vote could be back on, the deal could be re-negotiated and the prime minister could no longer be the prime minister, and none of those things would be surprising.
In fact, I've now written that paragraph four times because every time I finish, another news alert pings on my phone and I have to go back and do it again.
It turns out leaving the EU is really tricky. I'm not being glib, it really is tricky. It's been two and a half years since the referendum. Divorce bills, customs unions, Canada plus, Norway minus the lutefisk, borderline technology, agreements, disagreements, letters to Graham, Boris Johnson's new haircut...and that was just Monday afternoon.
It can be difficult to know what to make of it all. I know uncertainty is perhaps genuinely unprecedented right now. Being convinced of the deal, confident of leaving without one or seeing no problem whatsoever with a second referendum seems to be the order of the day. Certainty of opinion is ramped up as uncertainty of outcome is ratcheted up. And everything seems to be binary:
Leave or remain.
This deal or no deal.
Border or borderless.
Vote or no vote.
Even the issue of a second referendum seems to be either the best and only option for democracy or the least democratic thing ever.
A woman has been brought before him 'caught in the act of adultery'. There's no sign of the man involved in the story. The people who have 'caught' the woman want to catch Jesus out, they're looking for a way to discredit him. The woman is merely collateral damage for them.
The religious leaders say that the law says this woman should be stoned to death, what does Jesus think?
It's a binary choice.
Stone the woman or let her go?
Dead or alive?
Jesus does this weird thing. He gets down on the ground and starts drawing in the sand. And then he looks up and he essentially says, if we're going to be literal here, then whoever here has never broken any one of the same set of laws can throw the first stone.
People have interpreted the story so many ways, and there are loads of theories about why he started writing in the sand (to be one less set of eyes on what may have been a terrified and partially dressed woman) and what he was writing (the law they were quoting in full to show them he knew what he was talking about or every single one of the men's names to really freak them out).
The story ends with the men dropping their stones as they walk away and Jesus standing up to comfort the woman.
I have no idea why he knelt down or what he was writing; no one does.
Like with Brexit, it's uncommon for people to tell you they don't know or aren't certain when it comes to the Bible. Certainty is a strong commodity and often comes from the loudest voices. Great biblical scholars would be able to tell you why each theory is flawed. Terrible biblical scholars most definitely would tell you why each is flawed (the good ones tend to less annoying about rushing to point out everyone else's flaws).
I don't know why he did it, but I have an idea that I'm trying out.
Anger is an incredibly strong emotion and the scene facing Jesus is an angry one. Talk of execution, hands carrying stones, law being quoted, accusations, judgments. This is an angry moment.
Psychology teaches that one of the best ways to defuse a situation is to simply do something else. Not with a big fuss or announcement but just calmly do something else. It's why therapeutic parenting teaches that if a child is having an outburst one of the things a parent can do is slowly begin to shift their focus to looking out of a nearby window.
Distraction works. Distraction can defuse.
In a scene filled with looming men and religious experts. Jesus lowers himself onto the ground and begins marking the dirt.
You can almost sense the anger lowering as confusion replaces it while the men wonder what on earth he's doing.
They've given him his choice.
Dead or alive. The woman is here.
And Jesus just marks the ground with his hands.
They keep asking him.
We've told you the facts, the law says stones, so are you going to go against that?
The story says he had to 'straighten up' to speak, so he is crouching on the ground as he writes in the dirt, and they're asking him and asking him. Every time having to look down or lean further to try and get his attention, all the while the anger is draining from the scene as they have to respond to his posture which means adjusting theirs, getting down from their height both literal and otherwise.
Eventually he speaks. And in doing so, he forces them to reappraise their position.
This group of men, so certain of their view, so confident in their interpretation of the law, so sure that there are only two ways out of this.
So angry.
So very very angry.
This or that.
Dead or alive.
And Jesus draws in the dirt and offers them a chance to think again.
I'm not a fan of trying to paste Jesus into modern political scenarios (fun fact – 100 per cent of Christian writers who write about how Jesus would have voted, end up concluding that he would have voted exactly the way they themselves did). So let me be clear, I have no idea how Jesus would have voted in the referendum and I have no idea what he would say to Prime Minister May, I have no idea if he'd want a second referendum, or if he'd vote for Jezza.
What I do know, is that when faced with people who were all certain they were right, when forced to take choose between A and B, he got on the ground, took a breath and drew in the dirt.
And then, when he'd given everyone a moment, he asked them to look again
I'm not totally naive. We need an outcome to Brexit. The political uncertainty is bringing its own unique challenges and causing its own divisions to emerge.
I also know that Jesus didn't end stoning. He didn't forever smash the patriarchy that day.
But maybe in this moment, like that one, what we need isn't more certainty, bigger stones, louder accusations or legal decisions, but to take a step down, and to take a moment to draw in the sand.
To lower ourselves from our lofty certainties.
To drop the stones of our firmly held opinions.
To distract ourselves from our anger and division.
And to see if there isn't another way to approach each other while we try to work out the details.
Matt White is a Northern Irish TV producer living in Essex and working in London. Follow him on Twitter @mattgwhite
