Jesus Played in the Dirt - Day 12

The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman (where was the man?) who was caught in adultery. They want to know what Jesus thinks they ought to do. It is a trap. If Jesus says, “stone her,” he will look just like them and he will be at risk of losing the popular support of the crowd. If Jesus says, “don’t stone her,” he will look like he doesn’t care for the law of Moses. It is one of the “darned if you do and darned if you don’t” kind of situations. No matter what he does, the scribes and Pharisees think that they have him trapped.
So, what does Jesus do? He says, “Let anyone among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” (John 8: 7) He doesn’t say stone her or don’t stone her. He says you can stone her if you yourself are without sin. He didn’t play into the Pharisees' trap or into their hands. Instead, he held up a mirror to them. Look at yourselves. Are any of you without sin?
It says in scripture that before Jesus responded to the challenging trap of the religious authorities that he bent down and wrote with “his finger on the ground.” I have always wondered what words he drew or what image he wrote. It is such an interesting and arresting moment.
I think that what he wrote on the ground that day was a big circle. Not a dividing line between who is good and who is bad—this is what the Pharisees liked to draw; no, Jesus on that day, I believe, drew a great big circle. Who are the sinners? Circle—all of us. Who is in need of grace? Circle—all of us.
What is our business? Draw circles, not lines, not boundaries, not divisions. But before we can draw circles we need to drop our rocks. Jesus doesn’t like rock throwing at any child of God, including ourselves. He likes circles. So, what are you going to do to draw one yourself?