From Stones To Salvation Series

Title: From Stones to Salvation

Intro: It invites us to see ourselves in this unnamed woman and to recognize the gift of mercy that costs our Savior everything.

Scriptures:

Isaiah 43:16-21,

Philippians 3:8-14,

John 8:1-11.

Reflection

Dear Sisters and Brothers,

The stones lay scattered on the ground. Moments earlier, they had been clutched tightly in fists, ready to be hurled at the woman who stood trembling before Jesus. Now those same hands were empty, as one by one, her accusers walked away.

"Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?" Jesus asked gently.

"No one, sir," she replied, her voice barely above a whisper.

"Neither do I condemn you. Go your way, and from now on do not sin again." (John 8:11)

In these simple words, we witness a profound moment where justice gives way to mercy. Where death surrenders to life. Where condemnation transforms into liberation.

Today, as we stand at the threshold of Holy Week, this story invites us to witness the heart of Jesus—a heart that would soon be pierced for our sins. It invites us to see ourselves in this unnamed woman and to recognize the gift of mercy that costs our Savior everything.

The morning was like any other in Jerusalem. The temple courts were filling with people coming to pray, to learn, to connect with God. Jesus had arrived early and was teaching those who gathered around him. The scene was peaceful until it was suddenly disrupted by commotion. A group of scribes and Pharisees pushed their way through the crowd, dragging a disheveled woman with them.

"Teacher," they announced loudly, ensuring everyone could hear, "this woman was caught in the very act of adultery. In the law, Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?" (John 8:4-5)

Their question seemed straightforward, but their intentions were not. Scripture tells us they asked this to test him, hoping to trap him into saying something they could use against him. If Jesus said, "Let her go," they would accuse him of contradicting Moses' law. If he said, "Stone her," they could report him to the Roman authorities, who alone held the power to execute.

The trap was set. The woman was merely their bait.

Have you ever been reduced to your worst moment? Ever been defined by your greatest mistake? Ever been used as a pawn in someone else's game? This woman knows how it feels. Caught in the very act of adultery—her privacy violated, her dignity stripped away, her life now hanging in the balance while religious leaders use her shame as a weapon against Jesus.

But notice what Jesus does. He does not immediately answer. Instead, "Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground" (John 8:6). We do not know what he wrote. Perhaps he traced the words of Jeremiah 17:13: "Those who turn away from you will be written in the dust because they have forsaken the Lord, the spring of living water." Or maybe he wrote the sins of her accusers. Scripture leaves this detail a mystery.

What is not mysterious is how Jesus responds when they keep pressing him for an answer. He straightens up and delivers words that have echoed through the centuries: "Let anyone among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her" (John 8:7).

With this simple statement, Jesus turned their trap inside out. He upheld the law—yes, the punishment was stoning—but he added a qualification that came from the heart of God's justice. Only the sinless have the right to execute judgment.

And one by one, from the oldest to the youngest, they walked away.

The prophet Isaiah reminds us that God says, "I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert" (Isaiah 43:19). In this moment with the accused woman, Jesus was indeed doing something new. He was demonstrating that the path forward was not through punishment but through transformation. Not through condemnation but through redemption.

God had once made a way through the sea, dividing the waters and leading Israel to freedom. Now Jesus was making a way through the wilderness of human judgment and creating rivers of mercy in the desert of condemnation.

But this new way comes at a cost. The apostle Paul understood this when he wrote to the Philippians, "I regard everything as loss because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord" (Philippians 3:8). Paul, who had once been like those Pharisees—zealous for the law, persecuting those he deemed unfaithful—had encountered the transforming mercy of Jesus on the road to Damascus. And that encounter changed everything.

Like Paul, we are invited to count everything as loss compared to the privilege of knowing Christ—not just knowing about him, but truly knowing him in the power of his resurrection and the sharing of his sufferings.