Let Him First Cast A Stone

When the scribes and Pharisees brought before Jesus the woman taken in adultery and demanded for Him to pronounce judgment on whether or not she should be stoned, Jesus said, “He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.” None of the angry mob cast a stone at the accused woman. However, although He did not throw a stone at her, He who was without sin did offer a Stone to that woman, just as He offers the same Stone to each of us. Christ is the Stone upon which each of us ought to build our lives. He came not to condemn but to redeem, not to destroy but to save, not to tear down, but to build up. Christ’s glorious message is that no matter how often or how horribly we have sinned, each time He will tell us, Neither do I condemn thee. Go, and sin no more. If we fail again, the answer is the same. I don’t condemn you. Go, and sin no more. Christ’s stone is not meant to be throne at us, but rather to serve as a firm foundation as we grow and progress through His mercy and forgiveness and grace. We should not be using the gospel or the commandments or the repentance process to beat ourselves up, but rather to build ourselves up. If our instinct is to turn inward and bemoan our sorry and fallen state, then we can’t go forward and sin no more and build upon the stone that Christ offers for us. I know that Christ came not to condemn or destroy but to save us and to build us up.