John 8:7-11: in context

A woman caught in adultery is brought to Jesus by those who would stone her, testing him. He answers, let him who is without sin among you throw the first stone at her. One by one, convicted by their consciences, the accusers go away, until Jesus is left alone with the woman. Where are your accusers? he asks; has no one condemned you? No one, Lord, she says. And Jesus says, neither do I condemn you. Go your way; from now on, sin no more. He neither condemns her nor excuses her sin, but shows mercy and calls her to a changed life.

Jesus' words to the woman hold together two things we often pull apart: mercy and the call to holiness. Neither do I condemn you, he says: mercy, refusing to condemn the guilty woman, not casting the stone she deserved. And go, sin no more: the call to holiness, not leaving her in her sin but calling her to leave it. He does not condemn her, but neither does he excuse or ignore her sin; he shows mercy and calls her to change. Grace and truth meet in his words: the grace that forgives the guilty, and the truth that calls them to a new life. This is the way Christ deals with us, and it corrects two errors. One error is condemnation without mercy: to see the sinner's guilt and condemn, casting the stone, offering no forgiveness. The accusers were ready for this, until their own sin was exposed. Jesus does not condemn; he shows mercy. The other error is mercy without the call to holiness: to forgive the sin while leaving the sinner in it, treating grace as if it meant sin no longer mattered. Jesus does not do this either; he says, sin no more. He holds mercy and holiness together: neither condemning nor excusing, but forgiving and calling to change. There is now no condemnation, Paul says, for those in Christ Jesus; and yet the grace that saves also trains us to renounce sin. This is deeply comforting and deeply challenging. It is comforting: Christ does not condemn the guilty who come to him; he shows mercy, refuses to cast the stone, forgives. Whatever our sin, we do not meet in Christ a condemnation that casts the stone, but a mercy that forgives. And it is challenging: Christ's mercy is not permission to continue in sin; it comes with the call, go and sin no more. He forgives us not to leave us in our sin but to free us from it. This calls us to receive Christ's mercy and to heed his call to holiness. He said to the woman, neither do I condemn you, mercy; and, go and sin no more, the call to holiness. And to us who come to him with our sin, he offers the same: not the condemnation that casts the stone, but the mercy that forgives; and not permission to continue in sin, but the call to leave it. Let us receive his mercy, which does not condemn but forgives, and heed his call, which does not leave us in sin but says, go and sin no more, holding together, as he does, the grace that forgives and the truth that calls us to a changed life.

When I come to Christ with my sin, do I fear the condemnation that casts the stone, or do I treat his mercy as permission to continue in sin, and can Jesus' words to the woman caught in adultery, neither do I condemn you, and, go and sin no more, move me to receive his mercy that forgives the guilty rather than condemning, while heeding his call to holiness that does not leave me in my sin but frees me from it, holding together, as he does, the grace that forgives and the truth that calls me to a changed life?