Because of its beautiful portrayal of the mercy of God, the story of the woman caught in adultery may be read in conjunction with the parable of the Prodigal Son, even though it is the story of a real incident in the life of Jesus and not a parable.

In some of the very early manuscripts of the Bible, the story was put into Luke's Gospel, and there are many reasons to think it may have been recorded by Luke first: on several occasions Luke records parallel stories of a man and a woman. Jesus raised the daughter of Jairus and the son of the widow of Nain from the dead. He told the twin parables of a man who lost a sheep and a woman who lost a coin. He then continued with the parable of the prodigal son (Lk. 15), but there is no story of a prodigal daughter to match it. Whatever the background was, this portrayal of God's mercy manifest in Jesus is a worthy companion to the parable of the Prodigal Son. All of us, men and women, need the mercy and forgiveness of God.