The leader of the little group of Pharisees burst into the temple. He was wearing a spotless white robe, over which was wrapped an expensive purple sash. Gold ornaments glittered all over his body. Another Pharisee came in behind him, similarly dressed, half-dragging a woman in an old dress, tattered and filthy where it touched the ground. He sat her down in the dirt next to Jesus. Her eyes were red and puffy, her face and arms smeared with dirt, and she stared into the ground ashamedly.
“Lord, you speak of forgiveness. This woman was taken in adultery, in the very act. Now Moses in the law commanded us, that such should be stoned: But what sayest thou?” They said, tempting him, that they might have a cause to accuse him later on. But Jesus stooped down, and with his finger wrote on the ground, as though he had not heard them. He ignored their continued inquiries. His finger furrowed intricate designs into the dirt. He recognized her as one of his before this life. He remembered their many conversations, her pleasant smile. He loved this woman who did recognize him. He wept in his heart, and prayed for her in his mind.
Finally, he lifted himself up, and said unto them, “He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.” And again, he stooped down, and resumed his drawing. The people who heard those words, being convicted of their own conscience, left one by one, beginning at the eldest. Jesus was left alone with the woman standing in his midst.
When Jesus lifted himself, and saw none but the woman, he said unto her, “Woman, where are they thine accusers? Hath no man condemned thee?”
“No man, Lord.” Silent tears rinsed lines through the dirt on her face.
And Jesus hugged the woman, and said, “Neither do I condemn thee. Go, and sin no more.”