The first stone

He does not argue that she is innocent. He does not argue that the law is wrong. He simply moves the question from her to them, and the crowd, which a moment ago was a single righteous body, becomes a collection of individuals, each remembering something. They leave, the oldest first.

Forgiveness of others begins with an honest look at ourselves, not to induce shame but to induce kinship. When you can see the ways you have been the accused, the stone gets heavy in the hand. And then the coda: neither do I condemn you. Go, and sin no more. Mercy first, then the invitation to change, never the other way around.