Stone Throwing

There is an experience in John’s gospel which Jesus had with men who wanted to stone a woman as the Jewish law prescribed for her adultery (John 7:53f). Stoning someone to death for adultery is prescribed in the Bible, (Deuteronomy 22:21). It is interesting that the Bible prescribes that the woman is to be stoned to death but not the man. It helps to remember that men wrote the scriptures. This practice is in the scriptures, but Jesus did not obey it. Yes, Jesus did not obey the scriptures in this instance. First regarding the woman caught in adultery, I wonder if this was not a set-up by these men. At least it sounds like one to me. I wonder why these men were so determined to get rid of the woman. What was it that she knew that these men did not want to be made known publicly? Why were they there? Was one of them the man in the adultery incident? These men were self-righteous who thought they possessed the wisdom and ability of judging others. At least they were good at quoting scripture. The men wanted to stone the woman to death. Jesus wrote something on the ground, which the gospel writer John either did not know or could not remember so we do not have a record of what Jesus wrote. After Jesus’ dirt-writing, he said, “Let him who is without sin among you cast the first stone.” (John 8:7). Jesus brings the Jewish practice of using stones to a better conclusion. That conclusion is to stop judging others. None of us know the other person’s story, history, experiences, etc. We do not know why others do whatever they are doing, so let us leave any judging to God.