"Let the one who is without sin cast the first stone." This phrase has become part of our vocabulary, though many may not know that it comes from the Bible.
A group of religious leaders dragged a woman to Jesus who had been caught in the act of adultery. They reminded him the prescribed punishment for adultery was death by stoning and asked Jesus for his judgment.
It was a trap. First, if she was caught in the act, where was the man? Adultery is difficult to commit alone. Secondly, they didn't have the legal authority to enact the death penalty. They had neatly trapped Jesus between Old Testament law and current Roman law. It was a no-win test.
Well, it seemed no-win. Then Jesus uttered those now-famous words: "Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her." (John 8:7). The crowd drifted off.
Checkmate. Two thousand years later those words still remind us not to judge.
Jesus, who had been doodling in the dirt while the crowd melted away, looked up and saw that he and the woman were alone. He said something that we need to hear today even more than the throwing stones phrase: "Then neither do I condemn you. Go now and leave your life of sin." (John 8:11).
Two important lessons to gain from this story. The first is there is nothing we can do that God can't forgive. Nothing. The second is that sin is still sin, and to truly change we need to stop. "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Romans 6:23).
