It is NOT up to us

The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery...

and they thought...

It is against the law.  What she did, it was immoral, illegal too in our town.  We cannot just let her get away with it!  What will the others think?  They will think it is alright for them too!  It is a bad witness.

And you, Jesus, have been befriending these people, these sinners.  Tax collectors, harlots! You do not come from the God we serve!  The God of Moses who gave us these laws that we have been trying so hard to get Israel to follow.  God will take away our land again if we ignore the law.  We will not do it, nor allow and encourage these others to break the law too.  It is up to us and we will do whatever we have to to hold onto our nation.

"In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?"

Let them all see, this crowd who loves you, what you are really about!   Let them see your disrespect for the law.  Show yourself to be an impostor!  Come on, come on!  What do you say?

They made her stand before the group...

and she thought...

Jesus, why do you let them treat me this way?  It is true what they say, but they did not take my lover too, they only took me!  They have no interest in my life, my sin.  It is you they are coming for.  My lover was a man, an important man at that.  It is I, the disposable woman who they took because I am nothing to them, like an old worn out dog, not even that valuable.

But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger.

Jesus, they say you are different, that you value women and children too.  See the women who follow you.  They say you are kind to them and to all: the rich and the poor, the learned and the simple, the religious and those far from God.  What are you doing drawing on the ground when they will soon stone me?  Help me! Protect me.  Save me, Jesus.  Forgive me! I am a weak and sinful woman!

"If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her."

and Jesus thought...

I love them all, these confused souls who think they do My Father's will and yet cannot see His love and power in Me.   Fill them, Holy Spirit, so they can see their need for the mercy that I so long to give them.  And let this woman feel the pain of her sin and the joy of the forgiveness I will show her.  Father, Our children, they fight and hate each other!  How it makes me weep and how I long for the peace of heaven. There they will all sit together at Our table, laughing and embracing one another.


"Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?"

"No one, sir," she said.

"Then neither do I condemn you," Jesus declared. "Go now and leave your life of sin. -- John 8:1-11



 "It is up to us," that is the lie.  We can not beat down the sin of others with stones.  Only the Holy Spirit can draw souls, convict and heal.