Jesus Opens The Way

This painting is based on John 8: 1-11 –the story of the woman caught in adultery. The crowd behind her is ready to stone her, but when Jesus challenges them, saying, “Let him who is without sin cast the first stone,” they drop their stones and walk away. 

There has been much speculation about what Jesus was writing in the sand, and I have created many versions of this image with Jesus tracing out various things. In this version, He traces a wall of separation that has existed between man and a loving yet holy God since the Garden of Eden. Jesus draws an opening in the wall –effectuated by the forgiveness, the grace, that He won through His incarnation, crucifixion and ascension. He now extends that same grace to the woman –and to all of us as well.