Jesus returned to the Mount of Olives, ² but early the next morning he was back again at the Temple. A crowd soon gathered, and he sat down and talked to them. ³ As he was speaking, the Jewish leaders and Pharisees brought a woman caught in adultery and placed her out in front of the staring crowd.
⁴ “Teacher,” they said to Jesus, “this woman was caught in the very act of adultery. ⁵ Moses’ law says to kill her. What about it?” ⁶ They were trying to trap him into saying something they could use against him, but Jesus stooped down and wrote in the dust with his finger. ⁷ They kept demanding an answer, so he stood up again and said, “All right, hurl the stones at her until she dies. But only he who never sinned may throw the first!”
⁸ Then he stooped down again and wrote some more in the dust. ⁹ And the Jewish leaders slipped away one by one, beginning with the eldest, until only Jesus was left in front of the crowd with the woman.
¹⁰ Then Jesus stood up again and said to her, “Where are your accusers? Didn’t even one of them condemn you?”
¹¹ “No, sir,” she said.
And Jesus said, “Neither do I. Go and sin no more.” (John 8:1-11, NLT)

Last night I put myself into the story of Jesus when a crowd brought a woman to Him who had been caught in the act of __SIN__. In my visualization, sometimes the SINNER was a man, sometimes a child, and other times a woman. In every case, only this particular guilty one was presented to Jesus. Fingers pointed at the SINNER, the crowd self-righteously called for punishment—for BLOOD. This crowd resembled the many I see today every time I watch a newscast.

A few times as I entered into this picture, I realized I was standing in the middle of the crowd, and Jesus looked up at me as He crouched drawing pictures in the sand. I covered my mouth and fell to my knees in shame as He said, “He who is without sin, throw the first stone.” I am NOT without sin. It is only by His grace that I am saved. I unclench my fingers and drop a stone.

The crowd slinks away, and I watch Jesus look at the woman/man/child. No more finger pointing. No more spewing of hate speech. No lurking danger of flying rocks.

Her accusers are gone. Jesus doesn’t accuse him. Jesus loves this naughty child. It wouldn’t be long before the death threats, the punishment, the BLOOD that poured out onto the ground would be His own. And it would be shed for every woman, man, and child. It would be for you. It would be for me. This is why Jesus came to earth. He came to save us.

The next part really hits me. “Go and sin no more.”

“As if.” There is not a human being on earth who could do what Jesus said to do here. “Go and sin no more.” Not humanly possible.

And that’s the point. Transformation is possible, but not in our own strength, goodness, discipline, fortitude, or grit. The Holy Spirit, who lives inside each believer, makes transformation a real thing.

We will sin again. That is our condition in the world we live in. But Jesus has already paid for our sins. God the Father sees me as one whose sins are washed away, and He forgives me when I confess. And the Holy Spirit brings our minds, hearts, spirits, and bodies—the whole of our beings—to change and absorb more of the mind of Christ. This process brings transformation. It is real.