Sinners and Stones

“The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught…[in her sin]. They made her stand before the group and said to Jesus, ‘Teacher, this woman was caught in the act…Now what do you say?’ But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger…he straightened up and said to them, ‘If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.’ Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground. At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there. Jesus straightened up…Jesus declared… ‘Go now and leave your life of sin.’ John 8:3-11.

I feel so overwhelmed by this story this morning. It is probably because I have been both the Pharisee and the woman who is facing her sin. I have been that sorrowful woman whose head hung towards the ground in regret. I have been that woman who felt the smoothness of that stone in the palm of her hand. I have been the one who asked Christ to explain why the sin of another was not being punished. Why is it that the sin of others always looks worse than our own sin? I have stoned and have been stoned.

The image of Jesus stooping down is another reminder that He humbled Himself on earth, becoming a servant to man who needed a Savior. He gave up His life in order that every one of us could claim life through the cross. When all others have forsaken us…when all others have judged us…when all others begin to go away one at a time…the only thing left is Jesus. Don’t you know that Jesus had to stoop down because the sinner’s head hung chin on chest. Without Jesus lowering Himself their eyes could never have met. I can’t help but to feel that whatever Jesus wrote on the ground that sweet day for that repentant sinner was written in blood…His blood.

How marvelous it is that through the resurrection Jesus ‘straightened Himself up’ and declared that all sins at the base of the cross are forgiven…something we can all count on…its written in blood!