Today we hear about the immense mercy and wisdom of Jesus
Reflections on the readings for the Fifth Sunday of Lent (April 3, 2022): IS 43:16-21; PS 126:1-2, 2-3,4-5,6; PHIL 3:8-14; JN 8:1-11
MISSIO offers “Preaching Mission,” as a homily help, providing connections to mission from the readings of Sundays, Feast Days and Holy Days.
While we may not be perfect -- we are not such bad people after all. Yet we are all called to examine ourselves.
For the scribes and Pharisees who dragged a woman caught committing adultery before Jesus, is must have seemed like a triumphant occasion. This popular young Rabbi was preaching to a crowd in the temple area and now they would see Him falter and fail them. After all, these men lived to serve the word of the law of Moses. They would now force Him either to agree with them and condemn her to death -- or to speak up for mercy and flout the law. They even hoped to hear our Lord say something that they could use to bring Him up on charges. But He would not play their game. “Jesus bent down and began to write on the ground with His finger. But when they continued asking Him, He straightened up and said to them, ‘Let the one among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.’ Again He bent down and wrote on the ground. And in response, they went away, one by one” (John 8:6-8). We cannot know what He wrote. Many scholars believe that He recorded sins of the scribes and Pharisees. But whatever it was, those men realized they could not make Jesus do what they wanted. He had reminded them that they, too, were sinners. They who claimed to be so law-abiding knew their own weakness and wrongdoing. And they could not answer Jesus or withstand the truth about themselves.
Now Christ turned His attention to the woman whose life He had effectively spared. He did not ask her to explain herself. He knew her guilt, but He also saw her contrition. He sent her on her away forgiven and with a chance for a new life. Like almost all the people Jesus helped and healed, we know nothing more about that woman. But He had given her His mercy. It is this mercy and the opportunity for a new way of living that He offers everyone. Some of us may be in an extreme position like this woman. Some of us may believe that -- while we may not be perfect -- we are not such bad people after all. Yet we are all called to examine ourselves. We must accept the reality that only by following the way of Christ, by embracing the law of love, and by entrusting ourselves completely to God’s will, can we be His true children in both time and eternity.
