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The one among you who has no sin,
be the first to throw a stone at her.
This story from the Gospel of St. John
is one of many iconic readings.
We have all seen many paintings of Jesus
writing with his finger on the ground
and lots of ink has been spilled about
what was he writing on the ground in the sand.
Of course, it does not matter
what he was writing on the ground,
the whole scene is about mercy.
There is the law, and then there is the application of the law.
The law said if a man or woman,
is caught in adultery, they are to be stoned.
We are missing a partner here somehow!
In any case the Pharisees and the scribes bring her to Jesus.
They have an agenda.
They come to trap Jesus.
They come to catch him, and
they presented this woman, one half of the party,
to try and put him to the test.
They were not seeking justice as much as their own agenda.
Jesus responds not with judgment, but with mercy,
not with a lecture, but with love.
And in that moment, she is transformed.
If the Pharisees allowed themselves,
they too would be transformed by that, too.
That is the challenge for us.
That moment of when you are accused,
caught in the act, so to speak,
it is a powerful moment
because it is in that moment
that conversion can take place
both the fastest and the most permanent
because one remembers how one feels in that moment.
All of us have made mistakes.
We have all done something that was wrong,
whether a little thing when we were a child or something older.
We will always remember how
we were treated in that moment of shame,
that moment of being caught.
That moment can shame us and maim us,
or it can transform us into something much better,
something more profound.
Those moments are inflection points in our lives.
When our parents or family members or friends
can recognize the importance of those moments in our lives
then we can have true conversion,
a moment of mercy that transforms.
That is what Jesus is trying to tell us in this gospel today.
I remember one incident many years ago.
My friend had just bought a brand-new car.
I always remember it was a brand-new white car.
I asked to borrow it just to run down to the store.
There was something wrong with my car.
I can not remember what it was.
Anyway, backing out of the driveway
there was this tiny little red wall.
As I backed out of the driveway, I scraped the bumper.
I thought, did I hit that wall?
I got out and I looked at and
I saw this big red mark on the white bumper.
I try to rub off and, and it would not come off.
I mean, so it was there and I was like,
“Oh my gosh, how am I going to tell my friend
that his three-day-old car has got a big red mark?”
I was not looking forward to him coming back
and me telling the story.
I was not terrified as much as sort of embarrassed
and completely humiliated
because I was always proud of my driving, right?
Anyway, I always remember coming out,
I have to say, “So I borrowed your car,
just, come out and have a look.”
And, and he came out, he looked at it
and I always remember his reaction.
It was like, “Huh, ah, it is just a car.
It was going to get scratched.
Maybe it would be on the first week, then it is over with.”
And that was it.
Never, ever said a word, never scolded me.
No lecture, no condemnation.
That was it.
The last that was ever said about it.
I always remember that.
The reason why that is so important is
because in those moments,
we have the ability to turn something
and somebody to completely different direction.
How we treat them in those moments of brokenness,
those moments of weakness,
those moments of guilt and shame.
It is our opportunity to be men and women
of gentleness and kindness and mercy
and of love rather than condemnation.
I want to be careful here,
when somebody is breaking the law for their own good,
we may need to confront it.
We have to be careful not to abdicate all versions of the law.
The law is there to help us.
When somebody is doing all for self,
a grand abasement self-promotion,
we may need to challenge it.
But when somebody has made a mistake
and knows they are guilty,
then our mercy can transform them
permanently to a path of righteousness.
What we need in our world, in our community, is more mercy.
What we need in our world is more love, not lectures.
What we, you and I, can be are the purveyors
and the providers of that love and that mercy
that transform our communities into
places of gentleness, not places of condemnation,
places of mercy, not places of judgment.
Today may we be part of that movement of
gentleness, kindness, and mercy,
and be ready for our moment of conversion.
The one among you who has no sin,
be the first to throw a stone at her.
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