The Posture of Our Hearts

But Jesus went to the Mount of Olives.
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 8:1-11

I've heard of the phrase that goes like "hate the sin, but love the sinner". It sounded hypocritical at first hearing. But as I reflected on the above passage, The Scribes and the Pharisees were condemning a sinning woman whom, according to the Law of Moses, ought to be stoned to death. Interesting how the author of this passage wrote about 'Jesus bending down', 'stooping down to write on the ground' and never really made mention of what was written. It is the very detail that the author specifically excluded that brought our attention surrounding the unmentioned detail - "...Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger..."; "...Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground..."

Indeed, the author wanted to bring to our mind the posture of Jesus' heart as He was presented with the situation: 'a sinner who was being condemned'. This was in stark contrast with the posture of the Scribes' and Pharisees' hearts where they made the woman stand in the midst of the crowd and standing tall by the Law, pouring condemnation on her.

In reply, Jesus said some of the most heart-gripping and humbling statements, "..."If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her...".

"Our society often faces similar situations. Postures of hearts are set, perspectives chosen and actions taken following their trajectories. Some insist it is hypocrisy to love the sinner and hate the sin. But, Jesus shows the way to love the sinner and hate the sin, by helping the sinner to know the penalty resulting from sin, and helping the person to avoid that judgment."
~Rev. Joseph Goh, Priest, Church of the Good Shepherd (Anglican)