8 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 taught them. 3 As he was speaking, the teachers of religious law and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in the act of adultery. They put her in front of the crowd. 4 “Teacher,” they said to Jesus, “this woman was caught in the act of adultery. 5 The law of Moses says to stone her. What do you say?” 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, but let the one who has never sinned throw the first stone!” 8 Then he stooped down again and wrote in the dust. 9 When the accusers heard this, they slipped away one by one, beginning with the oldest, until only Jesus was left in the middle of the crowd with the woman. 10 Then Jesus stood up again and said to the woman, “Where are your accusers? Didn’t even one of them condemn you?” 11 “No, Lord,” she said. And Jesus said, “Neither do I. Go and sin no more.” -[John 8:1-11 New Living Translation]

Many times while growing up Christian, you're constantly exposed to countless Christian values and moral lessons: Moses and the Israelites, Solomon and the two women, the prodigal son, the story of Job, etc. The list is vast, but in hindsight, I realized that one particular story was often neglected, one that had lessons from which the lack manifested itself within the community in which it was placed to help.

I do not believe that this story is to be useful only to Christians or those belonging to a particular religion, but rather to all. The 11-verse story pictures a telling and profound truth that we seem to miss in our daily lives.

So why this story as opposed to others? I believe that this story has a fundamental message that hits the core of our psychology.

Jesus was seated and teaching, then came along a bunch of Pharisees who brought into the midst an adulterous woman to be stoned for her acts, following the law of Moses. Now, it is indicated that they brought the woman to test Jesus—a ploy, if you may. Jesus takes a step back and stoops to the ground to write until his attention is called again. Then he says, "All right, but let the one who has never sinned throw the first stone!" and one by one they left.

Simple little details in such a short story. 

You don't need to walk too far or too long because you will uncover condemnation and judgment being passed from person to person. We constantly have the biological need to add to the box of good and bad, so we walk towards the good and separate from the bad.

The condemnation of the bad is at the very core of our being; it seems so integral to us. Why? I can't say I know, but it is there. It could be as little as contempt towards your partner for a simple reoccurring incident like not dropping the toilet seat, or it could be much bigger things like one's spite towards a serial murderer. Either way, it is quite easy to find examples of ourselves passing down condemnation to others.

When the Pharisees brought the woman to Jesus, they came because they themselves believed that the woman deserved to be stoned to death. I'd infer that they were ready to strike if Jesus had given them that direction. I'd also assume that wasn't the first time such consequences were considered and acted upon.

This indicates nothing more than that people believed that committing extramarital affairs was to be a warrant of death, a view not so held or common today. I would like to believe that we would condemn such ideas if ever they were brought up, but here these people are in the times of old, ready to condemn the woman as they must have others. This reminds me of many examples today where we believe we have the moral duty to condemn and punish people who act against society's status quo, whether through digital bullying or in the physical land. 

Now, this is not to say that we shouldn't take away bad behavior from the core of our society or that we should allow criminals to roam the streets. No, I do believe that good principles should be preached and criminals should be isolated from society. However, what I don't do is place myself above these people, believing that I hold, on any conscious level, some form of moral superiority over them.

The Pharisees did that when they brought the woman into the midst of Jesus. In all their rights and cognition, they believed dearly that the woman they had in front of them warranted the death penalty, an idea that seems so far from us today that would easily have been accepted by a number of us if we lived in such a time. Several people could deny this; they would say that they would have never, but you need to understand that the Pharisees were exposed to the moral law and judgment that was available to them at the time, the same way we are exposed to the moral laws and judgment we are exposed to as well. If you are easily influenced by the moral frameworks of today, how are you to believe you wouldn't condemn the villains of the Pharisees, the adulterous women?

They stood around her, ready to strike, as we are at times, ready to condemn and dehumanize anyone who falls into the category of villainy, and Jesus said to them, the same way he would have said to us, "Let the one who has never sinned throw the first stone." and one by one, their consciences hit them as they left. 

Humans are flawed, but in a variety of ways, the mistakes some of us make are to lower the magnitude of our flaws and, on the other side, inflate the flaws of others. We justify our flaws with excuses we understand are the product of a long line of complex situations, beliefs, and experiences, but with others, we simplify their reasons as evil, stupid, or bad. I believe that because we cannot comprehend their acts, they somehow have an inhuman nature. But to that, Jesus says, let him with no sin strike first. Let them, with no flaw, condemn the flawed. Let him perfect, hit the imperfect.

I believe some seconds in the mind of someone else will allow you to drop the stone and walk back home. You need to understand that the mental space of every human is a set of different perceptions of the world, different sets of reasoning, and different cognitive limitations. And if you could experience it from their perspective, you'd understand why they act as they do and why they think as they do.

We should learn that striking is an easy step to take. The world doesn't exist in our heads; only our world exists. And in the world, there are about 8 billion little worlds. To create a objective moral framework based on your own subjective perception of reality blinds you to the real world in front of you. So drop the stone and walk away.

A subsequent video on this will be posted on; @themysticaliconoclast on Youtube