Neither do I condemn you

"But Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. At dawn he appeared again in the temple courts where all the people gathered around Him, and He sat down to teach them. The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group and said to Jesus, 'Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?' They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing Him.

 But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with His finger. When they kept on questioning Him, He straightened up and said to them, 'If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.' Again He stooped down and wrote on the ground. 

At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there. Jesus straightened up and asked her, 'Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?'

 'No one, sir,' she said.

 'Then neither do I condemn you,' Jesus declared. 'Go now and leave your life of sin.'

John 8:1-11

Last time I heard this scripture, I heard more than usual. You know how sometimes you hear a scripture a ton of times and never really get a whole lot out of it, but then you read it again later and it's like BAM! Revelation! That's how it was the other day.

I think the most common use for this scripture is to teach people not to judge. And why not, after all, when that's what it's about? But last time I read it, I got something else.

Jesus says here, "If any one of you is without sin, let Him be the first to throw a stone at her." And after that, everyone, one by one, leaves, even if they weren't accusing her. Everyone except One. And the thing with the One who stayed is that He had no sin. He had every single right to stone that woman.

This is the part that deserves attention:

He didn't stone her. He had every right to judge and condemn this woman and He forgave her.

And that's what He does every day with every one of us.