The Great and Wise Teacher
It was a trick. You see in Jesus’ day, a Jew had no say in the corporal punishment of such a crime. That was Rome’s job. So, if Jesus said “stone her” He would have been jutting his jaw at the Roman’s. Not a good move.

But if Jesus had said not to stone her, it would have seemed as though He was flagrantly disregarding the Law, in spite of the fact that the woman’s accusers were taking only the part of the law they wanted to use as their accusation. (The law actually required both parties in the sin be executed, though “stoning” is not specified unless the woman was a betrothed virgin.[2])

Jesus was not buying into their scheme. He wasn’t going to play Bible Baseball with them either. Here stood a woman — I imagine face-down in her shame and scarcely clothed — surrounded by men in the temple of Jerusalem during one of its busiest times, sukkot.

Wonder What He Wrote
It remains a mystery of the Bible. Rather than speak His answer, Jesus bent down and began to write on the ground, using his finger. Then He stood and said, “If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.”

Then He stopped and wrote on the ground again.

The accusers dispersed.

We don’t know what Jesus wrote, but let’s just imagine that He wrote their names. “If any one of you....”

Then, let’s imagine that when He knelt down again to resume writing, He began to finger-pen a list of sins...their sins.