5th Sunday of Lent Year C.
Readings: Is. 43:16-21, Phil. 3:8-14, and Jn. 8:1-11.
“No Need to be Stressed up by the Negative Past Events.”
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
1. One of the reasons for which History is studied is to correct the present happenings or to maintain them. This is because when we do the same things we expect the same or similar results or outcomes. Some of the things that have happened to us or that we have done remain so clear to us that it is impossible to forget them. At times we are so much influenced by such things that our lives and activities are so much affected negatively. We dwell on the past. We remember every thank you note that we didn’t receive. But God looks forward. He does not remember our iniquities but casts them far away from us in our admission of guilt and pleading for mercy.
2. In our first reading today, the Israelites as well as all of us are told by the prophet Isaiah: “Remember not the events of the past, the things of long ago consider not; see, I am doing something new!” Notwithstanding the Babylonian captivity and the pains, they went through while on exile, God was to deliver them and lead them back into their own land, into their own country. God never forgets His own people; God never forgets humanity. He did not intervene only in the past; He keeps manifesting His love by performing surprising feats. We only need to open our eyes, if we want to see them. In the 2nd reading, St. Paul told the Philippians about himself that: “I forget the past and I strain ahead for what is yet to come.” It was not easy for Paul to come to this – he regretted almost in all his letters, that he persecuted the Church though he would admit that it was in ignorance and through the grace of God, he now must preach the Gospel; the Gospel he first rejected.
3. In the Gospel text, we meet a woman who had been dragged before Jesus. She has been caught in the very act of adultery. The man had disappeared, but she is arrested. The Pharisees have brought her to Jesus. Their eyes condemned her as much as their words. The Law punished adultery with death. Confer the Book of Leviticus 20:10. It reads: “If a man commits adultery with his neighbor’s wife, both the adulterer and the adulteress shall be put to death.” This was the Law, but the judges were not that severe and rarely condemned to death for this. In all honesty, it is not recorded anywhere in their history that this was ever executed. This was thus a test for Jesus. Jesus never condemned the woman, nor did he encourage the woman to continue with such a bad example.
4. What did Jesus do for the woman? Jesus helped her to go beyond her sin – to forget the past and to look to the future. “Woman where are they? Has no one condemned you?” She replied, “No one, sir.” Then Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you. Go, and from now on do not sin anymore.” Jesus forgave and forgot her past life. This is how God is. He forgives and traces are not left for remembrance. When God forgives, He forgets and wipe out that for which you have confessed and asked for pardon for or are sorry about. God did this for the Israelites ‘the people he’d formed for Himself.’ Though unfaithful as they had been, God told them to forget the past and to live the future; the “new deed,” He is doing for them. Once again, He is forgiving them and saving them. Directing their minds only to the future!
5. The public is often too sensitive to the 6th Commandment as if that alone makes for integral Christian life. It does not. Sex is tricky because it is powerful and can easily distract us from pursuit of God, but it is not the only thing that can make or break our relationship with God. We must constantly remind ourselves that we have ten commandments and not one. The story is told of a priest who was attacked by armed men, one of whom gave up cigarettes for Lent. As Christians we aim at being totally for God in all we do. Be integral. In as much as you would not commit adultery, do not steal, do not lie, do not bear false witness etc.
Jesus had often defended sinners, and they were his friends. What was he to say of this public sinner? – a woman caught in adultery. It was simple: “Let the one among you who is guiltless be the first to through a stone at her.” We are told that he bent down and continued writing on the ground. Get him well, when the one who is without sin throws the first stone, the rest who are guilty could now throw their own stones at her. Their hypocrisy was unmasked – often we are too quick to identify and point to the sins of others and we talk about them as if we are better. The ones who are stingy in love and forgiveness, the ones who try to limit the merciful capacity of God, are the ones who are unable to face the love that God offers. The Pharisees and the Scribes insist that they are different from this woman, when they are also sinners in need of God’s mercy. Speaking ill and condemning others take us nowhere and that does not help them either. Look into yourself constantly, doing self-evaluation to see the areas you need to grow in, to be an integral person. This involves chastity, patience, humility, forgiveness, love, kindness, etc.
6. We are not allowed to throw stones. Take note that they started leaving beginning from the eldest. It is in fact the eldest in our communities that must further examine themselves. They are the ones that often play about with ‘stones.’ This often results from their unsatisfaction resulting from their personal and family lives, given the wrong choices they would have made, they become nervous and grumblers instead of opening their hearts to the Gospel and converting, they begin to seek out evil in others. Let them first take a good look at themselves and then perhaps they may have to give up their eagerness to talk about certain things and people.
7. Finally, my dear brothers and sisters, Sin is a serious fact and makes one unhappy and it ruins the life of the sinner. Jesus never said to the woman, go in peace you were right to betray your husband, to be unfaithful; do it again! But he cautioned the woman to stop hurting herself, do not ruin your life for a more pleasurable moment. Nobody hates sin more than Jesus because nobody loves the human person more than he does. He died to save us. And yet he does not condemn one who makes mistakes (and does not allow others to throw stones) so as not to add more evil and ruin to what the sinner is already going through brought about by sinning. What Jesus wants is the salvation of all including those who go wrong. He wants them to leave behind their sinful conditions. We are all sinners in need of God’s mercy and in need of conversion and salvation. This Lenten Season is ending as we approach our Holy Week and the celebration of Easter Triduum. We look with joyful hope for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ in the passion of Holy Week, in the joy of Easter, and at the end of time, when all might be united in Him. We look forward to God. God be the honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.
Fr. Anthony D. Lawir,
Pastor, St. Agnes and Our Lady of the Snows Parishes, Pittsfield and Dexter.