As the community has reeled from shocking revelations about the tragic murder of a newborn infant last weekend, the story of the woman caught in adultery keeps coming to mind.

The story is recorded in John 6:1-11. The most familiar line includes Jesus’ words to the scribes and Pharisees who had dragged the woman before him: “He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her,” He said.

Jesus’s main point becomes emphasized as the woman’s accusers drift off one by one, realizing their own vulnerability to accusations of guilt  in their own lives.

But there’s a subtle point seldom discussed.

The woman’s accusers state their charge graphically in verse four: “this woman was taken in adultery, in the very act.

“Now Moses in the law commanded us, that such should be stoned,” the scribes and Pharisees continue in verse five.

If you believe that words in Scripture are never wasted, verses four and five are worth a closer look. In the very act must mean that the woman could not have been alone when she was “taken.” The law that the scribes and Pharisees were throwing up to Jesus can be found at Leviticus 20:10 and Deuteronomy 22:21, and perhaps elsewhere. It  calls for the stoning of both parties involved in adultery.

The scribes and Pharisees had conveniently ignored the man involved when they snatched up the woman and dragged her before Jesus to see if he would sanction her stoning.

It’s a pattern that remains with us in most societal infractions involving pregnancy: the responsibility of the male partner is ignored, at least in this world.

As we turn the sad news of this week around in our minds, we do well to remember that there’s also a young man who was involved in the pregnancy that went so wrong. He is certainly culpable in the act that resulted in the conception and then the secrecy that followed. The law will be sorting out whether the father or anyone else shares any responsibility with the mother for the baby’s death. And what man sorts out imperfectly will ultimately be perfected.

In the interim, we do well to go back to the main point.