before you cast that stone

John 8:7&8

"7 So when they continued asking Him, He lifted up Himself, and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.

8 And again he stooped down, and wrote on the ground."

If you were the scribes and Pharisees, holding stones in our hands ready to hurl them at this poor woman; what would Jesus have to write on the ground to get you to stop? Maybe Jesus would write your sin on the ground? Maybe Jesus would write the name of the other half of the parties caught in the act of adultery? There a number of things Jesus could have written on the ground. 

These religious leaders, many in this audience and, honestly, you and me; we see others sins as worse than our own. We divert attention from or sin to other's sin. We try to make others look worse. We point to people across the country and world. We judge others. We cast our stones at them when we KNOW we are the one who should be stoned.

In today's verses Jesus drives this point home; "He lifted up Himself, and said unto them, He that is WITHOUT SIN among you, let him first cast a stone AT her." This poor woman who is being humiliated and put on public display, you are going to throw stones at her? Only if you are pure of heart. Only if you are WITHOUT SIN. This poor woman is someone's daughter. She is likely someone's sister. She is possibly someone's mother. She is definitely a child of GOD. And, she is saved by JESUS!