On this Fifth Sunday of Lent, we read the story of a woman caught in adultery (John 8: 1-11). To test Jesus, some scribes and Pharisees came to Jesus and asked him what they should do. They reminded him that Moses prescribed stoning such a woman. The Scripture then said that Jesus bent down and began to write in the sand. The Scripture does not say what Jesus wrote on the ground. Bible scholars, however, believe Jesus began writing down sins that the scribes and Pharisees had committed. Then, Jesus got up and said, “Let the one who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her” (John 8: 7). He then continued writing on the ground. One by one, those who had accused the woman left the scene until only Jesus and the woman caught in adultery were left.
When the accusers were all gone, Jesus told the woman he would not accuse her either. He simply told her to go and sin no more.
The moral of the story is that before we judge others, we need to remember that we, too, are sinners. And like Jesus, we should be the first forgive others, as we would want them to forgive us.