John 8:11 She said, "No one, Lord." And Jesus said, "Neither do I condemn you; go, and do not sin again." (RSV)

The above text is from the story of the woman caught in adultery. In this story the scribes and Pharisees brought to Jesus a woman who had been caught in the act of committing adultery. According to the law given to Moses, the woman was to be stoned to death. (Leviticus 20:10, Deuteronomy17:5) The scribes and Pharisees ask Jesus what He thought should be done with the woman. They were not as concerned about the law as they were about what kind of answer Jesus would give. They were hoping Jesus would say something that they could use against Him. If Jesus said to stone the woman, it would destroy the message of God's compassion and forgiveness, which had been the message Jesus had been trying to teach everyone. If Jesus forgave her, they could accuse Him of going against the law of Moses. Since they did not believe Jesus was the Son of God, they would say He had no right to forgive anyone of their sins.

When they brought the woman to Jesus and asked what to do with her, He didn't say anything, he just looked over the situation and then began to write in the ground. While Jesus was writing, the scribes and Pharisees continued to ask Him about the woman. Jesus stood up and said to them, "He who is without sin among you, let him throw the stone at her first." (John 8:7) This brings up an interesting situation. According to the law in Deuteronomy 17:7 the person, or people, who witnessed the act were to be the first ones to throw the stone. Jesus was telling the scribes and Pharisees that, provided they were without sin, they could cast the first stone. That would indicate that those men had witnessed the acts of the woman. One wonders how men, who profess to be holy and clean, would be in a situation to witness a woman committing adultery. It suggest the whole situation was a trap, or one of them were involved with the woman.

After Jesus told them they could cast the first stone, provided they were without sin, He went back to writing on the ground. The Bible never tells us exactly what He wrote, but the next text says "Then those who heard it, being convicted by their conscience, went out one by one, beginning with the oldest even to the last. And Jesus was left alone, and the woman was standing in the midst." (John 8:9) Whatever Jesus wrote convinced the men they had no right to throw the first stone and they all left the scene. Then Jesus stood up and saw they had all left. He turned to the woman and said, "Woman, where are those accusers of yours? Has no one condemned you?" She said, "No one Lord." Then Jesus said the most beautiful and loving words this woman had probably ever heard. He said, "Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more." He didn't point out her faults, bring up her past, or say anything other than to tell her He didn't condemn her either. However, he didn't just excuse her actions either. He also told her to "sin no more."

God doesn't take sin lightly, but He is also quick to forgive. Only God has the right to judge another person. No human is without sin, yet we are the quickest to pass judgment on another and treat each other harshly, while at the same time ignoring our own sins. We see someone shuffling down the street, wearing dirty rags for clothing and quickly jump to conclusions about the person without finding out the facts of how the person got in that situation. Most of us pull away from such a person, when what we should be doing is finding a way to help that person. Judging, and refusing to help, those are sins. Gossip is also a sin, a very harmful and hurtful sin. It is usually a bit inaccurate in it's information, which makes the situation even more hurtful. But accurate or not, it is still a sin. The worse sin, and the mother of all the other sins, is the one of trying to do anything without consulting God first. Anytime we try to go off on our own, without including God in all we do, we are sinning. It is that sin which causes us to do the other sins. None of us have a right to think, or act, unkindly towards another. We all sin. We all are in the same boat. We all desperately need a Savior. The good news is that we have one. Jesus died for all those sins. We just have to recognize our need for Him and His grace, and stay with Him 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. There is never a time we can be safely away from our Lord.