Brief synopsis of the readings: God, speaking through the Old Testament prophet Isaiah, reminds the people of their liberation from Egypt but then tells them not to remember the things of the past. Instead they are to pay attention to what God is doing for them now. “[F]or I put water in the desert and rivers in the wasteland for my chosen people to drink, the people whom I formed myself, that they might announce my praise. In John’s Gospel Jesus went to the temple area. The scribes and Pharisees brought him a woman caught in adultery and asked if she should be stoned to death, as was prescribed by Mosaic law. They did this to trap Jesus. Jesus did not reply but began writing on the ground with his finger. Jesus then told them that “the one among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” When they all left, leaving Jesus and the woman alone, Jesus asked her: “Has no one condemned you” and when she said no, Jesus replied: “Neither do I condemn you. Go, and from now on do not sin any more.”

So how do you want to be remembered? More to the point, what’s the one story you want people to tell about you? I suspect that if we think hard enough we can conjure up a memory of a time that we did something outstanding. Maybe we took on a particularly difficult project at work and did well enough to steer the organization in a whole new direction. Maybe we persuaded a woman to continue a pregnancy she was considering ending and now we get to experience a life that might not have made it. Maybe it’s something newsworthy; people who lived in the Washington D.C. area in January of 1982 know the name of Lenny Skutnik. On January 13th a plane leaving National Airport crashed into the Potomac River and while all of the crew and most of the passengers died, a few were able escape the plane and surface on the river. One woman was not able to grab a helicopter lifeline but Lenny, who was on the riverbank, dove in, swam out, and saved her life. It’s been 43 years but we still remember his name and his heroism.

On the other hand, none of us want to be remembered for our worst moment. We can all think of some of those moments and express gratitude that these things happened before cell phone cameras and social media. In the 1850s and 1860s there was a young actor who made a name for himself, but all we remember about John Wilkes Booth is that he murdered President Lincoln. General George Custer graduated from West Point in 1861 and fought well and bravely in the Civil War; his troops held him in great regard. But on June 25, 1876 he died in a battle with Native Americans at Little Big Horn and he will be forever associated with “Custer’s Last Stand.”

And so let’s look at the woman caught in adultery (and recognize that we hear nothing about the man caught in adultery). While we usually think of adultery as a cash machine for divorce lawyers, it was a big deal in biblical times. Leviticus 20:10 states: “If a man commits adultery with his neighbor’s wife, both the adulterer and the adulteress shall be put to death.” We know nothing of either of the persons involved, but let’s assume this was a consentual affair, a relationship that got out of hand. Since keeping secrets at that time was much harder than it is now, it may well have been the worst thing they’ve ever done, and the woman rightly feared it would be her last mistake. As I said, according to the law she had no defense.

But Jesus did a great deal more than show her mercy, even though he could have thrown the first stone. We know from other experiences that Jesus had incredible insight into peoples’ lives and he knew more about her than that she was caught in adultery. Maybe he knew (and I’m making this up) that the couple envisioned a future together, or that she believed false promises from him. The details don’t matter.

The themes in this incident are, if anything, are more present today. We know more people but we know fewer things about them. Through the news and social media we hear about countless people we’ll never meet. The one number thing that never seems to go down is the number of opinions we have about the number of people we think we know.

So let’s break that habit. As I said, we can safely assume Jesus had a larger insight into this woman and maybe he knew her as a good mother, a kind neighbor, and a pious woman. Maybe he knew about a good thing she did on the down low that nobody else knew about. Understand I’m not trying to let John Wilkes Booth off the hook and I’m not excusing this woman’s adultery. But we are more, much more, than our worst moment.

And finally, let’s try to stop defining ourselves by our worst moment. I’ve long lost count of how many times I’ve spoken with the caregiver of someone who’s dying who can’t forgive themselves for their temper or impatience. They’ve spent months or years caring for a loved one but one day they say something rude or hurtful. And in a split second they forget all about the times they showed patience, love and caring and think themselves a “bad caregiver” because of one moment.

Context is key. We’re not all good because of our best moment and we’re not all bad because of our worst. But we have the ability to emulate Jesus, who recognized this and showed mercy. It’s worth noting that nowhere in Scripture are we told to be without mercy and without compassion. I hope the woman moved on from this experience with more wisdom. But I hope more that the scribes and Pharisees moved on with a greater sense of mercy and compassion.