Jesus had spent all that dark and chilly night on the Mount of Olives, and early in the morning He went to the temple where His people came to worship.
It seems that many of them were out of bed early too that morning. They had something special on their minds. They had a duty to do. It was a chance to show how right they were. It was a chance to show how wrong somebody else was.
I think we understand that very well, and we might have been up early too to join the stone-throwing crowd against one bad woman. She was a married woman who had been found in the night with someone else’s husband.
Her accusers were good, religious people who knew the ten commandments well. They were sure that this woman had broken a commandment and were quite sure she should be stoned to death. The law of Moses said so. They asked Jesus what should be done.
God Himself was the One who gave those ten commandments, and God was there that early morning in the person of Jesus, His eternal Son. The same God whose finger wrote those ten commandments on tablets of stone long ago was standing there, and God does not change His holiness to suit our sins.
They waited for His answer, and I can imagine the poor, scared woman held her breath. But Jesus did not speak. He stooped down and with His finger wrote on the ground.
What did He write? We are not told, but some of the most wonderful words of Jesus are written down for anyone to read, words such as, “[You] shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:3232And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. (John 8:32)). The Bible is God’s personal message for you.
These accusers were so busy finger-pointing and fault-finding that perhaps they missed the wonderful words written by the finger of Jesus Himself. And you - DON’T MISS IT TOO!
But the accusers kept right on asking what should be done about this woman’s great sin against the law of Moses. Jesus stood up and said to them, “He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.” Then He stooped down and wrote on the ground again.
That brought silence. Everyone in the presence of that Holy One began to search his own heart, and everyone found the same thing. Sin. Search your own heart and you will find it there too. Sin. And God knows all about it.
The gray-haired ones among them were the first to feel their guilt. They had been sinners a long time, and their lists were long and ugly, even if no one else knew about them. The oldest one there quietly slipped away. He could not throw a stone. And so it went on, right down to the youngest and strongest who could have lifted a boulder to throw at her. But each one knew that his heart was sinful too, and each one slipped away.
Gone. All gone! But why did they go? Why didn’t they come to the feet of Jesus and tell Him that they were sinners too? Listen, you who are reading this story, don’t go away. Don’t go away from the only One who can save you. Jesus knows your sin far better than you do, but He loves you, and that’s why He died for you. He wants to cleanse you from those sins that make you guilty in His sight. There is no salvation for you anywhere else. Don’t go away!
Now the poor woman had her chance to escape. She was no longer in a ring of accusers pointing fingers who had the right to stone her to death. The only One left was the sinless, holy Son of God. She stood silent, but she did not go away.
Jesus said to her, “Where are . . . thine accusers? hath no man condemned thee?”
She said, “No man, Lord.”
And Jesus said to her, “Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more.”
How could Jesus leave her uncondemned? Is that fair after what the Word of God had said in the Old Testament?
The only way He could let her go free was to bear the punishment for that sin Himself. And not only for that one sin, but for all the black history of her life. He did this during the hours of darkness on Calvary’s cross. Only Jesus had a right to throw a deadly stone at her, but only Jesus could take the total punishment upon Himself.
Will you go away from Him too? Will you carry your own sins down into eternity with you, or will you come to Him now - the One who offers you total forgiveness, at the cost of His own precious blood? “Who can forgive sins but God only?” (Mark 2:77Why doth this man thus speak blasphemies? who can forgive sins but God only? (Mark 2:7)). “The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin” (1 John 1:77But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. (1 John 1:7)).