The Fifth Sunday of Lent

The Fifth Sunday of Lent

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April 7, 2019

Isaiah 43:16-21; Psalm 126; Philippians 3:8-14; John 8:1-11

Scripture calls her the woman caught in adultery, but that is an unfair characterization of this woman who stands before Jesus to receive forgiveness. We look to the past as the measure of a person’s character, and we seldom let the past be in the past. We mostly bring it forward into the present to live on, but that is not what forgiveness does for a person. We are much more than the product of our sins or poor decisions. I think of one of the lines in the first reading, “See, I am doing something new.” The positive judgment of Jesus helps the woman gain freedom from her past because she is no longer bound by her accusers’ threats of punishment. Reconciliation restores us to a place within ourselves where the words of our accusers can no longer hurt because our self-dignity has been restored.

In this story, Jesus defines sin as our unwillingness to have compassion upon another person. This is a altogether different interpretation of the Mosaic Law. We sin when we don’t even bother to try to understand another person’s situation and we presume that we have the correct answers. Obviously, the Scribes and Pharisees try to trick Jesus by undermining his teaching authority, but trickery doesn’t stand up to the goodness of another person. The Scribes and Pharisees sinned because they lacked compassion on the woman they publicly shamed. Toxic shaming seldom, if ever, brings about better behavior. It only causes more violence. The townspeople and elders were complicit in sinning because they harshly judged without understanding the circumstances of the woman and the man who was also part of the affair. Jesus notes that their sin was greater than hers. He forgave her sins; they walked away without being forgiven. Who would you rather be?

Those who want to judge and convict will do so. The Scribes and Pharisees wanted to convict Jesus after convicting the woman, but they end up convicting themselves. They are stuck with the effects of their judgment and it is not a satisfying way to live. We see the unreconciled religious leaders walk away in defeat and holding onto their sin. Those who want to forgive will live without judgment, and this is the life of emotional maturity and wisdom to which Jesus calls us. It is through forgiveness and reconciliation that he calls us to something new.

When we see beautiful aspects of another person, we overlook those things that are not beautiful. We can see the whole person and not just individual actions that never totally define a person. We know we are not perfect, and we know people criticize us. When they do, say to them, “You are only partly right. I have positive things in me as well.” It helps us accept reality and it preserves our willingness to improve. This preserves the truth about who we are. This is what Jesus sees when he looks at us as he once did with this woman. He sees the whole person and not just a collection of actions. When we don’t judge ourselves, we accept who we are. When we do not judge others, we accept who they are.

        

         Consider the gift Jesus gave the woman. She had the impression she was alone and without support as the angry mob surrounded her. She learned that Jesus stood by her. When we feel alone, we can remember that it is only a perception and it is not accurate. Jesus, and many other persons, will stand up for us in our defense, because we are good people, who sometimes make decision of which we are not proud. We are much more than those failings.

         Jesus has already forgiven our sins and we are no longer bound by our past. Let us leave the past way behind us. Do you think you can do that? That is what we are called to do. We have to liberate our thoughts so we can accept who we are – people who are lovable, people of dignity and great worth, people who are generous in love, people who are trying to do the good and the right, people who suffer deeply, people who are worthy of forgiveness – and of more chances to get it right. Has anyone condemned you? Jesus has not; nor will I; nor will our Church. This begins the way for a bright new future. Remember the words of our Lord: See! I make all things new.

Scripture for Daily Mass

First Reading: 

Monday: (Daniel 13) Daniel’s sharp advocacy skills spare the life of Susannah who has been unjustly accused of immoral sexual relationships.

Tuesday: (Numbers 21) As the wandering Israelites passed through the desert near the Red Sea, many are bitten by seraph serpents, but Moses erected a bronze serpent that he lifted up for those bitten to gaze upon the image and be cured.

Wednesday: (Isaiah 7) Annunciation: Ahaz is tempted by the Lord to ask for a sign but he will not. The Lord gives it anyways: the virgin shall conceive and bear a son named Emmanuel.

Thursday: (Genesis 17) The Lord said to Abraham: You are to become the father of a host of nations. You will become fertile; kings will stem from you.  

Friday: (Jeremiah 20) Terror on every side. Let us denounce him. The Lord is with me like a mighty champion.

Saturday: (Ezekiel 37) My dwelling shall be with my people. I will be their God and they shall be my people.  

Gospel: 

Monday: (John 8) A woman caught in adultery is brought to Jesus for a verdict, but he does not answer as he calls upon those who are without sin to cast the first stone.

Tuesday: (John 8) Jesus tells the Pharisees that they will lift up the Son of Man and will then realized that I AM.

Wednesday: (Luke 1) Gabriel was sent to Mary of Nazareth to inform her that she has been chosen by the Lord to bear a son who will be called holy, the Son of God.

Thursday: (John 8) Whoever keeps my words will never see death. Abraham rejoiced to see my day; he saw it and was glad.

Friday: (John 10) The Jews picked up rocks to stone Jesus, but he wanted to know for which of the works he was condemned. He went back across the Jordan and remained there.

Saturday: (John 11) Many came to believe in Jesus. Caiaphas asked, “do you consider that it is better for you that one man should die instead of the people?”

Saints of the Week

April 11: Stanislaus, bishop and martyr (1030-1079), was born near Krakow, Poland and studied canon law and theology before he renounced his family fortunes and became a priest. Elected bishop, he oppose the bellicose and immoral King Boleslaus II who often oppressed the peasantry. He excommunicated the king who ordered his murder but the soldiers refused to carry it out. The king murdered him by his own hands, but then had to flee into exile.

April 13: Martin I, pope, (6^th century – 655), an Umbrian was elected pope during the Byzantine papacy. One of his earliest acts was to convene the Lateran Council that dealt with the heretical Monothelitism.  Martin was abducted by Emperor Constans II and died in the Crimean peninsula.

This Week in Jesuit History

·      Apr 7, 1541. Ignatius was unanimously elected general, but he declined to accept the results.

·      Apr 8, 1762. The French Parliament issued a decree of expulsion of the Jesuits from all their colleges and houses.

·      Apr 9, 1615. The death of William Weston, minister to persecuted Catholics in England and later an author who wrote about his interior life during that period.

·      Apr 10, 1585. At Rome, the death of Pope Gregory XIII, founder of the Gregorian University and the German College, whose memory will ever be cherished as that of one of the Society's greatest benefactors.

·      Apr 11, 1573. Pope Gregory XIII suggested to the Fathers who were assembling for the Third General Congregation that it might be well for them to choose a General of some nationality other than Spanish. Later he expressed his satisfaction that they had elected Everard Mercurian, a Belgian.

·      Apr 12, 1671. Pope Clement X canonized Francis Borgia, the 3rd general of the Society.

·      Apr 13, 1541. Ignatius was elected general in a second election, after having declined the results of the first election several days earlier.