Jesus Offers a New Beginning

Jesus was teaching in the temple when some men brought a woman before him. They accused her of being unfaithful to her husband and made her stand before everyone. They said to Jesus, “Teacher, Moses commanded in the law that a woman who had done this should be punished with stones. What, then, do you say?”

The men were not trying to learn from Jesus. They were setting a trap: they wanted to use his answer to accuse him. The woman stood frightened before the crowd.

Jesus bent down and wrote on the ground.

When the men kept asking, he told them that the one without sin should be the first to throw a stone.

Then he bent down to write again.

The men began to leave, one after another. Each had wrong choices of his own to remember.

Their footsteps moved away.

At last Jesus asked the woman where her accusers were. Had anyone condemned her?

She answered that no one had. Jesus told her that he did not condemn her either and that she should leave her sinful way behind.

He did not pretend that wrong choices were harmless. He gave her mercy and a call to live differently.

When we have done wrong, hiding or blaming someone else does not help. We can tell the truth, ask forgiveness, and choose a better way.

And when another person needs a new beginning, we can be kind instead of making their shame greater.