Pocketful of Stones

“The teachers of the law…brought in a woman caught… ‘Now what do you say?’  But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger…” John 8:5b

I am sure the story of Jesus and the adulterous woman is one you have heard at some point in your life.  If not, it is certainly worth reading and meditating upon its principle.  The teachers of the Jewish law had brought a woman accused of adultery before Jesus, demanding that He condemn her.  The punishment for this crime was stoning to death.  Jesus, in His compassion and wisdom encouraged the teachers to throw the first stone if they were sinless.  One by one they dropped their stone and walked away until only Jesus and the woman remained.  He told her that just as no one condemned her, neither did He.  He instructed her to go and leave her life of sin.  Jesus states that He didn’t come to the world to condemn but rather to save. 

Yesterday, I was one of the people throwing a stone at another woman.  I was walking out of Costco and I noticed that a woman emptied her cart into the back of her car, pushed the cart behind the car next to her and was ready to pull out.  I not only glanced at the cart once but took a second look over my shoulder to ensure she saw my displeasure.  At that point, she rolled her window down and in a pleading tone explained that the person in the car waiting on her spot offered to take her cart.  I was completely humbled and disgusted with myself for casting that stone.  When I got in my car I was immediately convicted by the Holy Spirit.  As my spirit of condemnation turned into conviction I felt empty and embarrassed just like those teachers must have felt and they dropped their stone and walked away. 

We live in an accusing culture, one that writes a license for each one of us to judge and condemn others.  If Jesus didn’t come to condemn, why on earth do we feel we can?  Just as Jesus wrote in the dust on the ground a few thousand years ago, the sting of casting that stone was written on my heart.  The actions of others are between them and God.  Every one of us are sinners, and we will be until we trade in this life for the gift of Heaven.  We must empty our pockets of stones and look to our own tendencies of sin before we point out others.  I am thankful for the conviction of the Holy Spirit, and I am so grateful for the gift of grace and forgiveness.  May we all have a pocketful of Christ stones to share rather than those to throw.