The one without sin

“‘Let the one among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.’ Again he bent down and wrote on the ground.” (JN 8: 7-8)

Where there is no sin, there is no place for mercy. Our Lord—a Merciful God—came to sinners, weak and sick, to bring them hope and give them freedom. “The one without sin” could be “the first to throw a stone at her.” A strange paradox: those who are sinners are less threatening to others than those without sin.

“I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked man, says the Lord, but rather in his conversion, that he may live.” (Gospel Acclamation)