They thought they had Him this time. Here was a woman caught in the act of adultery. The law demanded that she be stoned to death. But what about Jesus’ message of mercy? Note how the Pharisees did not care at all about the woman or the sin. They only cared about putting an end to Him. And this time they thought they had Him dead to rights. If He let her go, He was clearly breaking the Mosaic Law. But if He did not let her go, then what about all of His talk about mercy and forgiveness? They thought for sure there was no way out for Him. So, what does Jesus do? Well, basically He turned the law on them. The law also called for two witnesses who were known to be free from any suspicion of wrong doing to make the official accusation. They did not have two such witnesses. Therefore, there was no one to cast the first stone at her. They could not fulfill the prescriptions of their own law so the woman was not condemned; she was off the hook on a technicality. But what about the law-it called for death. Where was the justice? The woman would not die for her sin but the story was not over. Jesus knew that when He saved this woman’s life and let her go free that He had sealed His own fate. He knew He had not seen the last of the Pharisees. He knew that they would be back in force, especially after this latest humiliation and would not stop until He was gone. He knew that because of His action He would most definitely die. But He saved her life any way and upheld the Law by choosing to die in her place. What He did for her, He does for us. We commit sin, and because of our sin He dies and sets us free, urging us to sin no more. We might wonder about the woman in this story. Did she turn away from her sin? But really, we should wonder about us. Will we ever turn away from ours?