Drop the Rock

If I'm going to be honest, when it comes to giving grace to others, I have the hardest time with those closest to me - my family. I tend to judge their decisions, give unsolicited advice, and want them to follow everything I tell them to do. I focus on them following the rules, rather than our relationship. When I do that, I find myself holding on to resentment, judgement, and grudges toward the people I should be showing grace and love. Maybe you can relate to that.

But, you know what's interesting about grace? We all want it, we all need it, we have all received it, but we aren't always quick to give it. We can agree that grace is a good idea, but can we also agree that not everything in lifefeels worthy of grace. The Bible has a lot to say about our tendency to play the role of judge over others and their actions.

The Pharisees, the ultimate spiritual judges of that time, valued rules over relationships. They didn't like Jesus because he spoke with authority and valued the humanity of a person over the importance of keeping a rule. One day Jesus is teaching and the Pharisees try to test Jesus in a very public way.

As he was speaking, the teachers of religious law and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in the act of adultery. They put her in front of the crowd (John 8:3 NLT).

Just like today, adultery was a big deal in Jewish culture. But back then it wasn’t just a bad thing to do, it was illegal and punishable by death! The Pharisees were aware that Jesus knew how serious a crime this was and they wanted to see how Jesus would respond. 

“Teacher,” they said to Jesus, “this woman was caught in the act of adultery. The law of Moses says to stone her. What do you say?” They were trying to trap him into saying something they could use against him, but Jesus stooped down and wrote in the dust with his finger. (John 8:4-6 NLT)

The Pharisees set out to trap Jesus and it appeared that they had him. Would He judge the woman and allow punishment? By the Law, he would be right. Or would he go against His growing reputation of compassion and grace? Would He devalue the law that came from God himself in order to save this woman? It seemed like the Pharisees had set out the perfect plan. Either way, Jesus would not come out looking good. We don’t know what Jesus wrote in the dust. But, we do know the silence made people frustrated:

They kept demanding an answer, so he stood up again and said, “All right, but let the one who has never sinned throw the first stone!” Then he stooped down again and wrote in the dust (John 8:7-8 NLT).

This was a total mic drop moment. Because Jesus put the question back on the Pharisees. In other words,  He was saying, “I totally respect the law. I’m all for it. So who wants to be the first one to throw a stone? I have an idea!  Whoever hasn’t sinned, step right up!”

Basically, this disqualified everyone:

When the accusers heard this, they slipped away one by one, beginning with the oldest, until only Jesus was left in the middle of the crowd with the woman. Then Jesus stood up again and said to the woman, “Where are your accusers? Didn’t even one of them condemn you?” (John 8:9-10 NLT).

Jesus already knew the answer.  He asked it to make a point.

“No, Lord,” she said. And Jesus said, “Neither do I. Go and sin no more” (John 8:11 NLT).

The thing that makes this moment so powerful to me is that the only perfect one in this situation, the only one without sin, the only one qualified to be a judge, did not judge her! Today, like the Pharisees,  some of us are carrying rocks of judgement, ready to lob at anyone we judge worthy of it even family. Our rocks just look a little different today. It might be an eye roll. It might be a text. It might be gossip. A cryptic social media post. But no matter what our weapons look like, Jesus’ words are as true and important today as they were back then: Let the one who has never sinned throw the first stone. So, maybe the first step to grace is to drop the rock.

Russell