“They kept demanding an answer, so he stood up again and said, ‘All right, but let the one who has never sinned throw the first stone!’ ” (John 8:7).
In a religion class, I once heard a professor quote the following: «In the Bible a boundless field is opened for the imagination. The student will come from a contemplation of its grand themes, from association with its lofty imagery, more pure and elevated in thought and feeling than if he had spent the time reading any work of mere human origin» (Child Guidance, ch. 77, p. 507).
Although we can ‘t distort the Bible’s message or change its words, its stories could be much more valuable if we would dwell more on them, asking ourselves questions about the characters and happenings and trying to put ourselves in their place.
I once read the story of a woman who had been caught in the act of adultery, I tried to carry out that exercise and began a simple practice that has been a great blessing to me.
While she lay there on the pavement, in silence, awaiting the teacher’s judgment, the woman must have spent several seconds in unforgettable anguish. Her gaze, which she was afraid to lift out of fear, must have focused on the ground, the rocks which seconds later would be thrown at her and the feet of those who were present. But, when she heard Jesus’s sentence and saw those who accused her were leaving, she heard Jesus telling her, «Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more» (John 8:11, NKJV).
I imagined some time later the woman entered a home and found a shelf with one of the rocks that had never been cast to kill her. It seemed interesting to me to wonder if someone in the multitude, after realizing they had behaved badly, took a souvenir home, to remember the great lesson learned that day.
We don’t know if that happened, but I decided to pick up a little stone from the ground and start a shelf with memories of lessons learned from the Bible.
It’s not very hard to assign ourselves the role of judges. It seems that we like having that power and image of superiority, but we know very little of the responsibility such a huge task entails and we should be thankful only God can fulfill it.
Today may we judge less and put a little stone in every house reminding us of this lesson of love.
