We need to stop throwing stones and start removing them

​“Teacher,” they said to Jesus, “this woman was caught in the act of adultery. The law of Moses says to stone her. What do you say?”

I think that's one of the more powerful questions in the bible, really. Because Jesus' answer has become one of the most powerful answers in my life.

Jesus would tell these men he wasn't there to join them in catching this woman doing something wrong. But by all means, he would tell them, if any of you have done nothing wrong, if you are pure, go ahead and throw your stones.

Bombs away.

All of the men dropped their stones and walked away.

When it was just Jesus and the accused woman left behind, Jesus assured the woman he wasn't there to stone her, but to acknowledge the burden of the stones she'd been living with inside. Stones that had been contributing to her choices.

For most of my life, I ran from a God trying to catch me. And I wasn't wrong about that. God was trying to catch me, just not for the reasons I had assumed.

God was never trying to catch me to unload his wrath on me for all the mistakes I was making. God was trying to catch me to help me unload all the burdens I was carrying that were contributing to those mistakes.

Too often, we don't let God catch us because we start to imagine God looks like too many people in our lives. We start to assume God wants to catch us to judge us and not heal us.

Several years ago, I found myself sitting at a picnic table with a friend. I began telling my friend about a pattern of mistakes in my life. Struggles. Shortcomings. The list was by no means short.

This friend, one of the most Godly people I know, said to me, I am not mad at you, and neither is God. In that moment, my friend looked like Jesus must have looked like to this accused woman:

Then Jesus stood up again and said to the woman, “Where are your accusers? Didn’t even one of them condemn you?”

“No, Lord,” she said.

And Jesus said, “Neither do I. Go and sin no more.”

It's a wrong assumption to assume that the people we catch doing wrong in our eyes are doing wrong because they find pleasure in it or have some desire to bring pain to others.

And it is wrong for us to start with judging that wrong and not with wondering if these people are feeling all sorts of wrong inside. Wondering if they are overwhelmed with guilt or shame or judgement or unresolved challenges or traumas in their lives.

I used to wonder what that woman must have felt like, looking at those men lined up with stones ready to begin throwing them in her direction, and her probably felling like she deserved every one of them, only to have a friend show up and help everyone, including her, understand condemnation won't be the story here today.

I used to wonder it until I got up from a picnic table and walked away, not bruised by stones but relieved from the burden of them.

We can all do a little better at looking like the God who is chasing people. Not to throw stones, but to remove them.

We all seem to long for a world that looks more like healing. I know I do. Well, that world looks a lot like people dropping their stones.