Why did Jesus say to the acuser of mary, if any of you had not sin before be the first to stone your acused?

Question

During the days of Jesus, a lady named Mary madeline was caught sleeping with a man who was not her husband.Acording to the Jewish Law, such woman must be stone to death; Yet when a lady caught in the very act was brought over to Jesus, all he said was, if anyone among you is with out a sin ;then let him be the first to stone her.. My question is, why did Jesus ask a person without sin must be the first to stone Mary.

Answer 1

He knew the religious leaders were looking for him to condemn her so they could say he was too strict or pardon her so they could say he was too permissive. They always sought ways to trap him with his own words or actions.


That account is found in John 8; but does it actually say that the prostitute was Mary Magdeline? I seriously doubt that. In fact, the entire story is debatable, because it hasn't been found in the oldest of the oldest existing manuscripts.
The lesson, however, is clear: We are all sinners and therefore do not have the right to execute judgement on our fellow sinners. Matthew 7:1 confirms this.

Answer 2

The woman caught in adultery wasn't neccesarily Mary. Jesus made His statement because they never would have brought the woman for a stoning had Jesus not been teaching at the temple that day. They were using the woman to try and trap Jesus. If he said don't stone her, they would claim He wasn't adhering to the law, if he agreed she should be stoned, they would say "I thought you cared for all people". But, Jesus knew the law better, the law demanded that the woman AND THE MAN be brought to justice, no man was brought forth. Jesus was making the point that for anyone to accuse her they may have "personal" knowledge of her adultery, so if anyone can say they have never sinned, they can be the one to stone the woman. She was just a pawn and Jesus knew it.

Answer 3

These people were accusing her rightly and Jesus made the point to say, that the ones throwing the stones sin as well. He wanted to say that no one is immune from sinning, no matter what the sin may be. However the passage does not end there, Jesus said, "woman where are you accusers, GO AND SIN NO MORE", So Jesus was not excusing the sin, He wanted her to change her lifestyle, however he was also telling the others that they deserve to die in their sin just as much. And so do we, that is why Jesus came to save us through His shed blood on the cross.

Answer 4

These people were (rightly) accusing her of adultery, however the point Jesus was made was that none of us are without sin (or perfect).
The people were being hypocritical, and were all sinners, and according to Jewish law, should all have been punished.
In theory, the only person who could have thrown a stone was Jesus himself.

Answer 5

In John 8:1-11 (King James Version) Mary is not mentioned.

However the important lesson to be learned from this is that the scribes and Pharisees hoped to draw Jesus into making a statement by which they could accuse and discredit him. However Jesus saw straight through their plan and instead challenged the scribes and Pharisees about their own conduct.

It has been suggested by some biblical scholars that Jesus wrote down the sins of each of the women’s accusers upon the dust in the ground of the temple and by doing this he shamed them into silence.

He also gave the famous challenge to them of "He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her” and thus castigated the scribes and Pharisees left in shame.

Then he turned to the woman and asked her "where are those thine accusers? Hath no man condemned thee?" she had nobody left to accuse her and then the Lord Jesus forgave her by saying "Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more”.

In this bible verse Jesus shows us by example that it is better to forgive sinners than to condemn them.

Answer 6

Jesus was simply reminding them that no one is without sin. I'm sure too, that some of those people that wanted to stone her was---the men, because they too had slept with Mary, and the wives of those men because---well you get the idea.

No one could cast the first stone because they all knew, in someway they were sinners. It was a lesson then, as it is now.

Answer 7

Because we have all sinned. if that were the standard that they were going to use, then they all needed to be stoned. Each of them sinned, so by law, they should have all been stoned.

My question is what about the man she was involved with. why wasnt he being stoned? Men are sometimes very forward to accuse others, and seek to have them punished, when they are themselves guilty of equal, and perhaps greater crimes. Should conscience be awakened to do its office, and none but the innocent be suffered to accuse or condemn, the guilty would often go unpunished.

Additionally, the woman was not Mary Madeline. Nowhere in the Bible does it state that she was the prostitue in this passage. Some of the popish writers say that her name was Susanna; that she was espoused to an old decrepid man, named Manasseh; that she died a saint in Spain, whither she had followed St. James

Answer 8

First of all, it's Mary Magdalene, not Madeline. He's saying that if you stone a woman for sinning, your being a hypocrite because EVERYONE sins. So why should you single her out for her sins? It's the lesson of "don't be a self-righteous hypocrite."

He probably also let Mary off the hook because he liked her....

Answer 9

There is also an expression "no-one is perfect" it seems to inhabit a human body shows that in some way we are capable of making trespasses I do not really know why this is, but I have yet to meet a perfect human being, without any faults. Jesus, seemed to fit that description that is why he is the complete man , number 5 the pentacle. Then there are saints and sages who are attaining perfection.

Answer 10

Jesus was trying to let the crowd of hypocrites know that Mary Madeline's sin of adultery was not any worse than their sins and that all sins could be forgiven if they put their faith in him.