What you have looks GOOOODDD!

Adultery -- having sexual relations with another man's wife.  In a patriarchal society everything is from the man's perspective.  If the command "love you neighbor as yourself" summarizes God's law concerning human relationships, it's not difficult to see that having sexual relations with the neighbor's wife is near the top of unloving acts toward that neighbor.  Once again, however, Jesus moves from the outward action to the inner intent.  If a man's eye and imagination lingers over the figure of his neighbor's wife, is he not already failing to love and honor his neighbor?

In our sex-focused society we tend to dwell on the lust here rather than the endangered relationship between the two men involved.  Jesus is focusing on that relationship.  The woman and the sexual desire are not central to the message we need to hear.  The message is this:  Loving one's neighbor goes beyond actions and involves what is happening in our hearts.

Will I care enough about my neighbor to refrain from gazing lustfully on what he has and focus on loving him as a person?  And, in our society where women are recognized as people in their own right, will I love her as a person?  Will I look past her desirable looks and confident, flirty manner and see and value and love the person within?  If her husband or something else she has is attractive to me will I still see her as a valuable individual in her own right apart from those "things" that stir up desire within me?

Any application of this passage that moves away from the underlying principle of love for one's neighbor -- in this case the husband of the desirable woman -- may contain valuable lessons supported by other passages of scripture, but seems to me to miss what Jesus is really saying.  Love is not just an action verb; it goes much deeper than that to confront the covetous, dishonoring thoughts within us.