John 8

The Pharisees bring a woman to Jesus that they caught committing adultery. They are going to throw rocks at her until she is dead because of her sin. They also want to test Jesus because the law of Moses states that the penalty for this crime is death. Either Jesus agrees to her death and is with Moses, or he is against Moses, which means he is against God.

Jesus says "Let anyone among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her." (Verse 7)

Jesus then looks to the ground while the Pharisees drop their rocks, one by one, and walk away. When he looked up the woman was the only one standing there. I could only imagine what she was feeling at this point; she was seconds away from being killed by a mob of Pharisees and now she is standing in front of Jesus, the man that saved her life. Well, actually he gave permission for them to kill her, if they were without sin.

What is Jesus going to say to her? He is without sin and has the right to start throwing rocks, it was the lawful thing for him to do. Instead he says "Has no one condemnded you? I don't condemn you either. Go and sin no more." (Verses 10-11)

I think we all have been in her place. We have all done wrong and have gotten caught. We have broken hearts and broken rules. Maybe we have never done something worthy of death, but we have all done something that deserved punishment. I'll never forget what it felt like to wait in my room while my parents decided my fate. Would I be yelled at, grounded, or spanked... Or would it be the worst of all, the sad look that came when I let my parents down. The waiting was torture.

Just like her, we are all going to stand in front of Jesus.

You could spend the rest of your life afraid of what might happen on that day. Maybe the fear of being cast in to hell will motivate you to be a better person. Maybe you feel like it doesn't matter what you do because you've been told you're going to hell anyway.

Or maybe the bible is right, and Jesus will see you just the way you are and say, "I don't condemn you either."