I wrote last week about forgiveness, about Jesus not condemning the woman taken in adultery and perhaps writing her accusers’ sins in the sand, so even they could be erased. My son Mark sent me this quote from a book he’s reading that speaks to the subject quite eloquently:

There were a few people in the African American community whose support of Walter was muted, not because they thought he was guilty but because he had had an extramarital affair and wasn’t active in the church. At the church meeting, I spoke mostly about Walter’s case, but I also reminded people that when the woman accused of adultery was brought to Jesus, he told the accusers who wanted to stone her to death, “Let he who is without sin cast the first stone.” The woman’s accusers retreated, and Jesus forgave her and urged her to sin no more. But today, our self-righteousness, our fear, and our anger have caused even the Christians to hurl stones at the people who fall down, even when we know we should forgive or show compassion. I told the congregation that we can’t simply watch that happen. I told them we have to be stonecatchers. -From Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption by Bryan Stevenson

Jesus was clear in his teaching on what we call “The Lord’s Prayer” and immediately after:

And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors…For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins. (Matthew 6.12, 14, 15, NIV)