Early in the morning he came again to the temple. All the people came to him, and he sat down and taught them.3 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.” And 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 8:2-11
Consider, if you will, the situation outlined in the above scripture. You're in that woman's place, surrounded by a mob riled up at the sin you obviously committed. You're expecting to die. Your life is in the hands of this teacher that they dragged you before, so not only is your sin laid bare for all to see, but you're now an example used by the Pharisees to humiliate someone else...humiliation upon humiliation! But something miraculous happens. One by one, from oldest to youngest, your accusers throw down their stones and walk away. How would you feel?
Now, consider our climate in 2020: everyone seems to have stones (our condemnation of others), and everyone is hurling them with great speed at one another. I'm going to say this, and it will offend many, but I love your eternity more than your opinion of me: are you any better than the one you're lobbing stones at? You're accusing people of being bigger sinners than you, but apart from Christ, if you were to stand before God in judgement, you'd be just as guilty. Paul writes in Romans 3:23 "for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God," so just because you hate the sin of your opponents, does not justify your right to throw stones at them. You are just as bad as they are, but in different ways. No one sin is greater than another, as all sin will be judged. So put down your stones, You don't have the right to throw them at anyone else, for they could by your own judgement throw them at you. And remember that we "are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. (Romans 3:24-26)
