Drop the Stones

And the scribes and Pharisees brought unto him a woman taken in adultery; and when they had set her in the midst, They say unto him, Master, this woman was taken in adultery, in the very act. Now Moses in the law commanded us, that such should be stoned: but what sayest thou? This they said, tempting him, that they might have to accuse him. But Jesus stooped down, and with his finger wrote on the ground, as though he heard them not. So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself, and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her. - John 8:3-7

I find it interesting that the woman was brought before Jesus to be condemned, but there is no mention of the man with whom she was committing adultery.  As the old saying goes, "It takes two to tango."  So, if she was guilty of adultery, then he must be as well, but he's not even mentioned.  Chances are, he was one of the men who brought her before Jesus to be judged.  The jerk!  (Oh, sorry, but I have no feeling for a coward that would use a woman in such a way then leave her to pay the price alone.)

Was the woman guilty?  It would seem so.  Did she deserve to die for her sin?  Well, according to Moses' law, yes, she did.  But if you think about it, don't we all deserve to die for our sins?  It is only because of Jesus' great sacrifice on the cross that we have been freed from the wages of sin.  The same could be said of those men, with stones in hand, who stood around her, and they knew it.  We have no idea what Jesus wrote in the sand that day, but I think it somehow reminded those men that they were just as guilty as the woman they were trying to condemn.  And after that reminder, they dropped their stones and left.

Would that we could learn to do the same!  It's so easy to judge others.  It comes naturally to our flesh to want to cast stones at those who don't share our passions, discipline, talents or way of thinking.  The ironic part is that often the thing we're complaining about in regards to someone else is one of the things of which we, too, are guilty.  We simply don't see it in ourselves, but boy, do we see it in others!  When we do, we assign ourselves as judge and jury.  We complain about their behavior.  We point fingers and accuse them.  We even "pray" for them by talking to the Lord about how He really needs to help them because they're so bad off.  And all the while, we're completely blind to our own faults, our own sins.

It's time to drop the stones.  Romans 3:10 reminds us, As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one.  None of us is perfect.  We all have areas in our lives that need drastic improvement, and I hate to burst your bubble, but we all have an occasion where we behave in ways that are annoying or frustrating to those around us just as their behavior is frustrating to us.  So maybe it's time we focus more on correcting our own faults and less on throwing stones at those around us.

Go on.  Drop the stones!  You'll be glad you did.