34. A Line in the Sand

"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: 2-11

*****

Were you a writer?

Because I never knew that about you.

It doesn't matter what it was

that you wrote--

it matters more that no one read it

but you.

They were all glaring

at the condemned woman

lost in their judgments

their fingers gripped tight

around the stones

like the hate that gripped tight

around their hearts.

While you,

fingers outstretched,

wrote a line in the sand

perhaps of love

or forgiveness

but the words weren't important.

The important thing is that

they were not for them.

A reminder to yourself perhaps

that it was you who would have to forgive them again

and too soon

when their stones were

trained on you.

Lord, write your words

on my heart.