Missing the Beautiful Mountain for that First Stone

We’ve all seen it. It’s been everywhere. Memes, Facebook posts, tweets, church signs, tee shirts, tattoos, we’ve all seen it. It’s one of the most famous verses in the whole bible. John 8:7 And I’ll be the first to admit, it’s an important, and a biblical message. 

"And as they continued to ask him, he stood up and said to them, "Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.""

John 8:7

It’s an important message, but we often put all our focus on the hypocritical scribes and Pharisees who had dragged that woman to the feet of Jesus. 

It is an important note that we should not be casting stones if we ourselves are guilty, but you know the old saying, missing the forest for the trees? We are missing a beautiful mountain for that first stone. 

Let’s take a look at the full passage. 

"But Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. Early in the morning he came again to the temple. All the people came to him, and he sat down and taught them. The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery, and placing her in the midst they said to him, "Teacher, this woman has been caught in the act of adultery. Now in the Law, Moses commanded us to stone such women. So what do you say?" This they said to test him, that they might have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground. And as they continued to ask him, he stood up and said to them, “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her. Once more he bent down and wrote on the ground. But when they heard it, they went away one by one, beginning with the older ones, and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him. Jesus stood up and said to her, "Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?" She said, "No one, Lord." And Jesus said, "Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more."

John 8:1-11

We often put focus on the Pharisees and Scribes. How they dropped their stones and walked away when Jesus asked the oft-quoted saying “Let him who is without sin cast the first stone.” But there’s so, so much more to this than condemnation of hypocrites. 

Because, to be completely honest, we all are hypocrites, at least at one point or another. We’ve all been the scribes and Pharisees. But how many of us have put ourselves in the spot that we really need to identify with? The woman. 

She was caught in the act. Red handed. She knew the law. She knew what God had commanded. She knew the price of the sin she had committed. She saw every single stone in all of their hands as they dragged her, likely naked, and threw her at the feet of this teacher whom she had heard of. This Jesus, this Yeshua of Nazareth. He was known as a great teacher and prophet of the Lord. And she knew. She KNEW she had sinned. She knew she had done wrong. She knew she was caught, and she knew the price. 

Just place yourself in her position. Just think of yourself, caught in sin, knowing that the cost of that sin was to be stoned to death. And she knew she deserved it. She knew what the price of being caught in that act was. Imagine the terror. She went from sinful pleasure, feeling the joys of the flesh, and was loving life, to knowing that at any moment… the stones would fly, and she would have an slow, agonizing, and painful death. 

And then, the strangest thing happened. The teachers and scribes were all calling out her sins to this prophet. And he didn’t get enraged at her sin, he didn’t look at her in disappointment, nor in anger. He did the strangest thing… he sat down in the dirt, and began to write. Some think he was writing out the sins that the scribes and Pharisees had done. But honestly, I like how it was shown in the movie “The Resurrection of Gavin Stone”. While these men were condemning her, Jesus was simply writing out a small, five-letter word.

 “G-R-A-C-E” 

When they continued to publically exclaim what she had done wrong, as she knelt in the dirt, as she prepared to die, tears of shame and fear dripping onto the soil. This prophet said something even stranger than him writing in the dirt. He stood, and looked among the Pharisees and Scribes, and said “OK, but let the one of you who has NEVER done anything wrong at all throw that first stone.” 

Imagine again, you are this young woman. Imagine hearing that, imagine every muscle in your body tightening in fear as you prepare for the first self-righteous teacher to hit you. But she never felt a single blow, but she heard every single ‘thud’. In the Bible, it says he stood and spoke to her, but again, I’ll reference The Resurrection of Gavin Stone”. 

When she was kneeling, crying, terrified. Jesus, God himself, knelt before her. Imagine the soon-to-be nail scarred hands reaching out and gently touching her shoulders. Her eyes still tightly closes, sobs escaping her tight, dry throat. Then she hears a loving voice. “Woman? Where are they? Has no one condemned you?” 

Place yourself there. Imagine yourself knowing that you should be condemned. Imagine yourself knowing you were guilty. But you open your eyes and you look around where the angry, bitter faces had been. And all you see is their stones lying on the ground. 

I imagine that her eyes turned to see the Lord’s eyes staring back at her, with a loving, kind smile on his bearded face. With a trembling, shocked, hopeful voice, she replied to him: “No one, Lord.” 

Now, imagine that strong but loving voice speaking to her, with a caring squeeze of the shoulders, “Neither do I condemn you.” But he didn’t just let her go, he didn’t say “they were wrong, and you’re ok.” No, he said to her, likely with a smile and a nod, “Now, go and sin no more.” Go and sin no more. 

She KNEW she was guilty.

She KNEW she had sinned.

She KNEW she was condemned to death. 

But, He, Jesus, God in the Flesh, offered not condemnation. No, he offered grace, and forgiveness. Not permission to go back and keep on sinning. No. He offered a second chance. A chance to do right. A chance to live life as it was meant to be lived. 

It’s an offer he’s made for each and every one of us. 

I KNOW I am guilty. 

I KNOW I have sinned. 

I KNOW I am condemned to death. 

But, he has offered me and you grace and mercy. He has paid the price for my sins. He had paid the price for your sins.  That’s the true meaning of that passage. While it is notable and important to not be judgmental, but it’s even more important to know, God, while he is just and will judge, he has offered GRACE. He has offered us a chance, when we only deserve death. Yes, the fact that first stone was not thrown because none had not committed a sin, it’s more important to know that we have all sinned, and we have all been found guilty, but He is graceful and forgiving. And he is willing and able to say to each of us… “I do not condemn you either, now, Go. And sin no more.” 

Let’s not take his grace as a reason to live as we want to live. Let us not let it be an excuse to live worldly. Let’s take this as a second chance to live lives godly and good. So that his sacrifice might be meaningful, and that we might spread his grace and his love to a world who is condemned and need it desperately.