“Neither do I condemn you.”
It happened early in the morning. The temple courts were filling. People gathered to listen to Jesus. He’d just sat down to teach them. Then a scuffle distracted everyone’s attention.
The “Teachers of the Law,” the experts in applying Old Testament law, pushed a woman forward into the circle, in front of everyone.
“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?”
The humiliation. If there was a time she wanted the ground to open up and swallow her, this was it.
Suddenly her fate was in Jesus’ hands. Stones were not yet thrown, but her skin burned anyway.
Jesus, it seems, was not in a rush to answer. He bent down and wrote on the ground. The experts continued questioning him, badgering him for an answer.
When he finally spoke, his words were measured:
“Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.”
With those words—who is without sin—they understood, not about Jesus, but about themselves. One by one, the accusers left.
And then it was just the two of them. Jesus straightened up and asked her,
“Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?”
“No one, sir,” she said.
Then came the words that change everything:
“Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.”
Jesus’ words are a reminder of a statement he had already made, about himself and his purpose—words that are for us, too.
“For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.”
This is the kind of Savior he is—the only one qualified to throw a stone chooses not to. So often we assume that in the presence of God, our individual failings find us guilty, and worthy of blame. But when Jesus speaks to you and me, we only receive mercy.
“Neither do I condemn you” are costly words, because as we move toward Easter, we see where judgment truly lands. The one who refused to condemn her and us, chose to be condemned himself.
Maybe you know what it feels like to stand and be accused by others. Maybe you are the one holding a stone—either to throw at yourself or someone else.
Remember these words: “For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ” (2 Corinthians 5:21).
Pray
For now, stay in this quiet moment after the crowd has left.
Stand before Jesus, just you and him. Be vulnerable and honest. And listen to the mercy in his voice as he says: “Neither do I condemn you.”
