“All right, but let the one who has never sinned throw the first stone!”
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 8:1-11, NLT.
Mercy is most appreciated by those who are helplessly caught by some sin, difficulty, or failure. Who are powerless to undo, reverse, or clean up something they have done. Such was the woman in John 8. She was dragged out of her paramour’s house and bed, embarrassed and shamed by her sin.
The men who dragged her out into the village’s street felt smug. They saw themselves as being righteous and beyond reproach. Somehow justified in their violent act against the woman. And please note that they did not drag her male lover out of the house.
I think that this Jesus story points out that mercy requires personal honesty. The person who is truly merciful knows that they each have their own share of causes for judgment. Knowing this makes it more difficult to condemn another person. As the saying goes, “There but for the grace of God go I.”
Showing mercy may be a risky act because you may be demonized by those with opposing opinions. Neither do you know what the outcome of your mercy might be. The woman, forgiven by Jesus, might have gone back to her profligate living. Or she may have been totally transformed.
The mercy that Jesus showed the woman was like a laser light that exposed the cruelty and self-righteousness of the woman’s accusers. You can imagine what it was like as first one man, then another, and another peeled off, embarrassed
There was no one left of the lynch mob, only Jesus and the woman. “Where are your accusers,” Jesus asked the woman.
“There are none of them left,” she said.
“Then neither do I accuse you. Go your way and sin no more,” Jesus said. Showing her mercy.
Prayer:
O Jesus, your life was a living model of what mercy is. Zacchaeus, the adulterous woman, and many more all knew your merciful touch. And we want to live like you did. Please help us to be rid of attitudes such as judgmentalism and self-righteousness that keep us from showing your mercy. Amen.