Jesus got up early that morning and started teaching in the Temple. While he is sitting there teaching away, some devious men haul in a woman "caught in adultery" and place her "in the midst" of all the people who had gathered to hear Jesus speak (v. 2). The connivers ask Jesus, "What do you say about her?"
After doodling in the dust, Jesus answers that the one without sin be the first to throw a stone. Well... they asked! Hearing this, everyone goes away "beginning with the eldest" (I love that part).
Even the people gathered to hear Jesus presumably have drifted away from the scene. But the woman stays.
Jesus, the one without sin, is the only one who does have the right to judge the woman. She must understand that, otherwise why not go away with the others? In what Raymond Brown, that wonderful scholar, describes as a delicate balance, Jesus (after more doodling) looks up and asks her, "Has no one condemned you?... Neither do I condemn you; go, and do not sin again." That is, the sinless one, the true judge, shows mercy to the sinner without condoning her sin, and he calls her to change her life.
The early Church did not like this story, and it was included in Scripture very late. My old Greek professor, Eugene Goetchius, pointed out that the principle of lectio difficile supports the genuineness of the story. The early Church found the story hard to read because they were encouraging virtue. The first writers wanted to leave this woman out of the Bible. But the story just would not go away.
Finally, the community believed this Gospel and put it in, some in Luke and some in John.
True story: The true judge has freed an adulterous sinner, not only from her punishment but from the sin itself; and she loves him always.
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