Being Jesus in our stories 

By: Carole Lynne Haines 

 
“He who is without sin among you, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.”  (John 8:7b) 

I am yearning for the day when I will not have to deal with sin anymore, especially sin within myself. In the verse above, we see that we should not be casting stones at others unless we have no sin ourselves. Let’s look at the rest of the story. 

But Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. ² And early in the morning He came again into the temple area, and all the people were coming to Him; and He sat down and began teaching them. ³ Now the scribes and the Pharisees *brought a woman caught in the act of adultery, and after placing her in the center of the courtyard, ⁴ they *said to Him, “Teacher, this woman has been caught in the very act of committing adultery. ⁵ Now in the Law, Moses commanded us to stone such women; what then do You say?” ⁶ Now they were saying this to test Him, so that they might have grounds for accusing Him. But Jesus stooped down and with His finger wrote on the ground. ⁷ When they persisted in asking Him, He straightened up and said to them, “He who is without sin among you, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.” ⁸ And again He stooped down and wrote on the ground. ⁹ Now when they heard this, they began leaving, one by one, beginning with the older ones, and He was left alone, and the woman where she was, in the center of the courtyard. ¹⁰ And straightening up, Jesus said to her, “Woman, where are they? Did no one condemn you?” ¹¹ She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said, “I do not condemn you, either. Go. From now on do not sin any longer.” (John 8:1-11 NASB) 

I am always so touched by this story. Look at all the different characters. You have the accusers, who entrapped this woman so they could try to ensnare Jesus. You have the woman herself, who had no idea she was being set up. You have the absent partner, the man who was committing adultery with her. You have the onlookers, the morbidly curious crowd. And then, sigh of relief, you have Jesus.
If we are honest with ourselves, we have probably been all the different characters at some point in our lives. We’ve been the accuser, the accused, and the absent accomplice, the morbidly curious crowd. But have we been Jesus? Have we been someone’s else’s sigh of relief?

One of the most curious aspects of this story is thinking on what Jesus was writing on the ground while they accused her. There are so many possibilities. Could He have been writing the sins of every person standing there accusing this woman? Could He have been just doodling to maintain His composure in the face of the accuser’s hypocrisies? It’s anyone’s guess, and I think I’d like to ask Him that in heaven. But the most important aspect of the story is the dropping of those stones. Are we holding stones against others, ready to throw them? 

I was listening to a devotion on my computer one morning after I had ranted about someone to another person. As the speaker was closing in prayer, God spoke to my spirit, and I got up and pushed pause on the prayer. I reached out to the person I had hurt and asked forgiveness right away. I also reached out to the person I had been gossiping with and asked her forgiveness too. I never did get back to finishing that devotional prayer, but I made things right with God.  

Who do we want to be in the stories we live each day? I think we’d all say we want to be Jesus to everyone. We must then face ourselves as the ones who accuse and repent of that. We must face ourselves as the silent accomplice and repent of that. We must face ourselves as the ones who carry stones and drop those stones. Only then can we be Jesus to others in our stories. Only then can we be that sigh of relief to others/ Only then can we be an instrument in God’s hand; bringing reconciliation, healing and wholeness.