A Story of forgiveness

An angry mob hauls a woman in before Jesus – they throw her on the dirt in front of him
They are self righteous, proud – this woman has sinned and they are going to make her pay
They demand that she be punished by the law of Moses
Stoning was the punishment of choice and they were gathered around the woman with stones in hand

Why is it that some of God’s people want to throw stones?
These were the teachers of the law & the Pharisees – they should have known God better than this – but they didn’t

John 8: 6 - 11 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, “If any one of you is without sin, let him 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.”

Just like the Pharisees we can be the ones carrying the stones
Maybe you are carrying a few stones – maybe people have done something wrong in your eyes – and you think they deserve to pay
Jesus said you without sin throw the first stone – who are we to be throwing stones at each other – we who have been forgiven such a great debt

The world loves to take people down – Tiger Woods has sinned and the media vultures are flocking
The world might be like this – but not us – we are meant to be the people who forgive

Jesus demonstrates his extravagant love and forgiveness by releasing this woman
He also demonstrates it by forgiving and releasing you and I
We need to drop the stones and forgive one another!