Today's Journal
THE FIRST STONE
One of the most famous stories in the gospels is of the ‘woman caught in adultery.’“Teacher,” they said to Jesus, “this woman was caught in the act of adultery. The law of Moses says to stone her. What do you say?”
They were trying to trap him into saying something they could use against him, but Jesus stooped down and wrote in the dust with his finger. They kept demanding an answer, so he stood up again and said, “All right, but let the one who has never sinned throw the first stone!” (John 8:4-7)
It seems to be a good idea to throw the first stone in self-righteousness until it is framed as Jesus did for these ‘teachers of religious law and Pharisees.’ To say ‘who is without sin’ is not to say that sin makes no difference. It only exposes our motives for grabbing the first stone. How do we throw stones at ourselves rather than someone else? Motive is the issue and, in this case, where is the man and why didn’t they ‘put him in front of the crowd’ for humiliation as he was ‘caught at the same time’ and why isn’t he getting the stuffing thumped out of him over this incident instead of the woman only? How often do I desire to throw the first stone?
Then Jesus stood up again and said to the woman, “Where are your accusers? Didn’t even one of them condemn you?” “No, Lord,” she said. And Jesus said,
“Neither do I. Go and sin no more.” Jesus