He who casts the first stone

Reflection

Jesus's response to those ready to stone a woman caught in adultery, that whoever is without sin should cast the first stone (John 8:7), remains one of the most quoted lines in the Gospels, precisely because it exposes the gap between the eagerness people feel to judge others and the reluctance they feel to examine themselves. One by one, the accusers in the story walk away, beginning with the oldest, presumably the ones most aware of their own history. The story is often used to argue against any moral judgement at all, but that misses its ending: Jesus tells the woman that he does not condemn her, and then tells her to leave her life of sin. Grace and moral seriousness are held together rather than opposed. The challenge the story leaves is not whether wrongdoing matters, since Jesus clearly believes it does, but whether the self-appointed judges in any situation, including ourselves, have the standing they assume they have.

Questions to sit with

• When have you been quick to judge someone for something you also struggle with?
• How do you hold together taking wrongdoing seriously without becoming self-righteous?
• What would it look like for you to extend grace the way Jesus did in this story?

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