Sin is Sin

“At dawn he appeared again in the temple courts, where all the people gathered around him, and he sat down to teach them. The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group and said to Jesus, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?” They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him.

But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground.

At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there. Jesus straightened up and asked her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?”

“No one, sir,” she said.

“Then neither do I condemn you.” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.” 

John 18:2-11

Today I was struggling with forgiving an offense. The offense comes with pain and a lot of ugly! But as I worked through the need to forgive I was reminded of this passage. It is the bolded part that really spoke to me. What was it exactly that Jesus wrote on the ground? 

Today I feel that it was a list of “insignificant sins”. As humans we often categorize sin into one of four categories: insignificant, small, big, and horrible. There is really no middle ground. Mostly we categorize based on the amount of damage caused to another individual, but God sees sin as sin. All are equal. All are ugly. All separate us apart from our God.

So, if you were standing there before this “adulterous woman” would you have cast the first stone if Jesus had written, “white lie, tithing, gossip, sarcasm, or lust?” Would you have walked away when he wrote, “pride, greed, or jealousy?” 

I’m finding it so much easier to offer grace when I stand before another person, who’s caught in sin, with my own sin behind me (confessed, forgiven, and free) but frequently peeking in my rearview mirror just to make sure I don’t forget where I’ve been!