By the time Moses makes it back to camp, the people of God are under the spell of the golden calf. God says they “are ruining everything.” And God makes it clear that divine fury will soon burn and devour them.

But for reasons not given in the passage, Moses does not take God’s decision as the last word on the subject. Instead, he pleads with the Lord to change his mind and not carry out the intention to destroy the people. Amazingly, Moses’ intercession prevails, and “the Lord changed his mind about the terrible things he said he would do to his people” (ceb).

Fast forward to Jesus’ time. A woman has been caught in the act of adultery. The law is clear: She must die. Bona fide religious leaders gather around her to make sure she gets what is prescribed. But Jesus is there too, and like Moses he intervenes and prevents her stoning. (See John 8:2-11.)

Whenever the people of God get it wrong because of their expectations, it’s easy to think in terms of consequences: “They made their bed, let them lie in it” or some other version of, “They get what they deserve.” From the lesson today, it seems God has felt that way too. But however the mind of God changes, the story in Exodus ends where the story of the woman ends: with mercy. When we read the Psalm lesson tomorrow, we will discover the pivot. Today, it is enough to be amazed at how things turned out. If, for a moment, we put ourselves into Moses’ or Jesus’ shoes, we may discover times when we must go and do likewise, so that grace is the last word—even when the people of God get it wrong.