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John 8:1-11
Then each of them went home, while Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. Early in the morning he came again to the temple. All the people came to him and he sat down and began to teach them. The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery; and making her stand before all of them, they said to him, "Teacher, this woman was caught in the very act of committing adultery. Now in the law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?" They said this to test him, so that they might have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground. When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, "Let anyone among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her." And once again he bent down and wrote on the ground. When they heard it, they went away, one by one, beginning with the elders; and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him. Jesus straightened up and said to her, "Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?" She said, "No one, sir." And Jesus said, "Neither do I condemn you. Go your way, and from now on do not sin again."

COMMENTARY
Trying to entrap Jesus, his enemies only provide opportunity for a teaching moment of such consequence that no amount of explanation, from the beginning of time, has covered the matter of judging one another so thoroughly as this event. The trap backfired. Jesus judged the scribes and the Pharisees, instead of the woman.

The woman, on the other hand, never made a confession of guilt or remorse. Jesus, who could know the cunning hearts that brought the woman before him, could also know her heart. It can be a comfort or a fear to have a God so knowledgeable about us that before we confess, he knows what needs to be said.

PRAYER
Lord Jesus Christ, I have made many confessions to you, and every one of them was incomplete. You know me so much better than I know myself. Though I try to explain my weaknesses to you, you already know them more thoroughly than I do. If I hide something from you, you know it. If I rationalize my actions, you know it before I do. How can you love sinners like me, so much more vile than our most vivid imaginations can guess? You know us through and through, and love us anyway. Love amazing. Love divine.

Lord, help me love that way. Help me put the stones back into my pockets and see another's pain. Help me to trace my finger through the dust of my critical heart that wants to condemn another, until it touches the soul of the one accused. Help me care for the ones caught in the cycle of sin, instead of worrying about their penalty.

Lord, I cannot begin to imagine what went on in this woman's head as her fate was determined. She claimed no innocence, made no defense, yet she knew that life and death were in the balance for her. She could say nothing to change it. She was there, as we often are, watching events unfold over which we have no control. She was so powerless against the law. She was powerless against her captors. She was able only to be the object of conversation.

Lord, your strength is made perfect in weakness, and if ever there was a better moment to see it happen for another, I don't know where it is in Scripture. You rescued her with quiet words. You saved her from the angry mob with one sentence. You melted the hardness of their hearts by making them look at themselves, instead of at her. She was not the only one saved that day.

Where are our accusers, Lord, if you stand by us? Who can harm us, if you forgive? Even if the stones had been thrown, you would have rescued her. You did not condemn, though you instructed her to sin no more. You gave her another chance, without ignoring the sin. You saw something in her soul worth redeeming. You saw something in the crowd worth challenging. You, Lord, with your finger in the soil, touched the substance from which we all came, and to which we all return. You know firsthand the breath of God breathed into the marvel of human life. You were there at the beginning when body and spirit were united.

Lord, thank you for second chances at life, regardless of our sin, or the opinions of our accusers. Thank you for saving the caught ones. Thank you for rescuing me, when I am caught, in the web of my own undoing.

When I stand before you, convicted, like this woman, have mercy, Lord. Remember the soil from which I came, remember the breath of God, and, in remembering, have mercy, Lord. Have mercy. Amen.