Casting Stones, The Unfaithful Woman

"He raised Himself up and said to them, He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first" - John 8:7

The story of the unfaithful woman is one that we all can relate to. The woman was brought before Jesus by the Pharisees and accused of adultery, "Teacher" they said to Jesus, "this woman was caught in adultery, in the very act. Now Moses, in the law, commanded us that such should be stoned. But what do You say?" Jesus spoke not a word to them but stooped down to the ground as if He did not hear them and began to write in the dirt with His finger... What did He write?... Was it their own sins that He was writing down before them?... Maybe Jesus was wondering the same thing that must of us have, If she was caught in the act, where is the man?

Can you image this woman crumbled and broken before Jesus, accused of a crime that is punishable by death, her life now lying in the hands of a man she does not know. Would He condemn her to death as the crowd wanted, or would this Man defy the law that was handed down to Moses?

I'm sure there was tension in the air as Jesus continued to write in the dirt and not address the question of the Pharisees, "Teacher, once again we ask You, what should we do?" Jesus stands to His feet, turns to the crowd and says to them, "let him that is among you that has never sinned, let him cast the first stone at her." Jesus again stoops down and commences writing in the dirt. The woman must have been terrified as she lay there broken and tensing up, waiting for that first stone to strike her body. Then the silence that came upon the crowd as they look around at each other, waiting to see who was capable casting that stone.

Convicted by their own conscience, they began to drop the stones in which they held, the sound of the stones hitting the ground makes the woman jerk in fear thinking her punishment has started. But instead one by one her accusers begin to walk away until she and Jesus are the only ones left.

"Woman" Jesus said to her, Where are those accusers of yours? Has no one condemned you?

She said, "No one Lord"

And Jesus said to her, what He says to us each time we make mistakes and go to Him in repentance, "Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more."

The crowd came to Jesus, stones in hand, and with evidence that the woman was guilty of the crime in which she was accused, but yet Jesus did not condemn her for her wrong doing. We as Christian are to be like Jesus, doing that in which He commands of us, and that means doing thing in a way that is pleasing to Him. Being pleasing to Him is not acting as those in the crowd but as Jesus did towards the woman brought before Him.

I have made a lot of mistakes in my life and no matter how far I have come there are those who will always bring forth the past. It seems that Christians are the last one to forget but the first to cast stones. Like the Pharisees I can not cast stones because I am not without sin, none of us are without sin, but yet so many try to remove a speak from the eye of others while forgetting about the plank in their own eye.

My mistakes, my trials, the childhood abuse all that I have been through has now become my tools, for without it I would not be the man I am today, and I would not have helped those that I have helped. You can look at your situation and feel sorry for yourself, you can listen to all the stone casters that look down on you, or, you can do as many have done, and take everything that life has thrown at you and use it as God had planned for you to. What you call mistakes, God calls, "on the job training," God has to prepare you, for what He has prepared for you, and sometimes that preparation requires hardship, but the one thing that it most defiantly requires is patience.

The Pharisees became convicted of their own conscience when Jesus said the one without sin could cast the first stone, today we should be convicted by our conscience and understand that none are without sin, and no one has the right to cast stones at others. Remember, if you are angry with some one without cause it is the same as committing murder, sin is sin and there is none greater than the other. If you are having sex out side of marriage or have had lust in your life, then you are sinning just as much as a person who may be gay or committing adultery.

As Christian we are to be as Jesus, and walk in a way that others can see Him through us, we should treat those that we come in contact with the way Jesus would have. We have to look past the mistakes and try to look into the heart. We should do our best to see others the way God sees them, as a work in progress, a master piece waiting to be finished. We are all made by the same God, and God does not make mistakes, He allows us to do that so we can grow.

I encourage anyone that is a stone caster, to stop and ask yourself, "What would Jesus do?" What would He say to those who are gay? What would He say to a woman who had an abortion? What would He say to one who committed adultery? The murderer, the liar, the Thief, what would He say to those that our church leaders and it's congregations that carry picket signs, and judge those who they do not know? What would Jesus say?... "Let him who has not sinned cast the first stone" that is what He would say... Can you?

Casting Stones - The Unfaithful Woman is written by French Miller / Called2Blessing Ministries. I invite you to visit Called2Blessing Ministries at http://www.called2blessingministries.org.