2-732-642 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

Jesus writes on the ground, from a Mirror of Holiness (Mir’at al-quds) of Father Jerome Xavier, 1602-1604. As Jesus was debating with the scribes and Pharisees in Jerusalem they brought before him an adulterous woman and, hoping to incite him to violence, claimed that if Jesus followed the law of Moses he should order her to be stoned to death. Jesus responded, "Let whichever of you is without sin cast the first stone." Then he began to write with his finger on the ground, and each of the men saw a description of his own sins. The two men in the bottom corner of the painting seem to be uncertainly holding or hiding the stones in their hands.