The scribes and Pharisees brought a woman to Jesus who had been caught in adultery.
Jesus said, “Let the sinless one among you cast the first stone at her.”
Only John’s gospel tells the story of the hypocrites who take a woman they catch in adultery to trap Jesus. The Romans have denied the Jews the right to administer the death penalty. Both Jesus and his opponents know this and know that the Mosaic law prescribes stoning a married woman guilty of adultery (Deut. 22.23-24). Actually the law calls for stoning both a man and woman caught in adultery.
In this story Jesus confronts individuals that can exist in any religious group or organization—those who are inflexibly certain they are right.
What double standard have you experienced in which one person takes public blame for many who have done the same actions?
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