"ACCUSING FINGERS"

FIFTH SUNDAY OF LENT (C)
Readings: Isaiah 43:16-21; Philippians 3:8-14; John 8:1-11

I read a story about a black woman who was shopping in the grocery store and her baby in the shopping cart was screaming his head out. The more she tried to make the baby stop crying the more he screamed. All eyes turned to the baby and his mother who was visibly irritated and embarrassed. Just then, a white woman, who was also carrying her baby in a shopping cart passed by and said to her, "I know just how you feel." The black woman gave her a big hug and said to her, "That's the nicest thing anyone's ever said to me."

I think the woman accused of adultery in today's gospel would have felt much the same way when Jesus said to her, "Neither do I condemn you. Go your way, and from now on do not sin again."

There are two important lessons that we learn from today’s gospel. The first lesson is: JESUS WANTS TO REMIND US OF OUR HUMAN CONDITION. He's reminding us to remember where we came from. He's reminding us that we are not divine. We are not perfect; we are of the earth. And this is a wonderful way of concluding the season of Lent because at the beginning of the season we were marked with ashes. We are to remember our human condition.

Jesus points to the essence of life, saying that we are all flawed and broken human beings. The law of brokenness is the one we should follow. We don't need condemnation. Every heart that has ever realized it has done something wrong does not need to be “stoned.” Instead, every heart needs to be understood, accepted, encouraged, and loved.

Jesus embraces this woman in a beautiful way. He accepts her sin; he doesn't say that it was the worst possible thing, either. Jesus simply understands her situation and he embraces it. The look between Jesus and this woman gives me such courage as I struggle with my own sinfulness.
He simply looks into her eyes and says, “I'm not interested in condemning you or telling you that you are worthless. I simply want one thing. I want you to know that you are loved. I want you to know that you are important. I want you to know that you have an inner dignity that you and only you can really support. I want you to avoid this type of situation where you are choosing something less and there is so much more out there for you.”

That experience of God is something we all need to have. It's not just an intellectual understanding. It's the experience of a God who is so much in love with us and understands our human condition.

To be in the presence of this kind of God is to feel so much better about ‘who we are.’ Then, we are ready to strive for the goal of being the people we are called by our destiny to be.

The second lesson that we learn from today’s gospel is: JESUS’ DISAPPROVAL OF EXECUTING PEOPLE FOR THEIR CRIMES WHEN THERE IS A POSSIBILITY OF THEIR REPENTING IN THE FUTURE IF GIVEN MORE TIME TO LIVE.

The scribes and Pharisees ask Jesus to decide her sentence. “The Law of Moses,” they reminded Jesus, “commanded us to stone such women. What do you say?” We all know what they were up to. If Jesus told them to go ahead and start stoning her, then what would have happened to his teachings on compassion and mercy? If he said not to stone her, then they could accuse him of breaking, the Law of Moses – the Law of God that was the basis of their religion. Jesus didn’t answer their question. Seems he just bent down and began to doodle in the sand with his finger.

They grew impatient. He could feel their angry eyes on him and hear them thinking, “Well, are you going to give us an answer or not?” Jesus stood up, looked straight into the eyes of each and every one of them, and said, “Let the one among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.”

Silence! Utter silence! Were they thinking about their own dirty little secrets, wondering if others might know about them too? And concluding, “If I throw a stone at this woman after what this Jesus just said, I will come of f looking like a hypocrite?” So, they started drifting away, “one by one, beginning with the elders,” we are told.

I wonder how many of them had committed the same crime they were accusing this woman of. The next time we criticize anyone for anything, maybe we should check out our own past first. Or we too might look like hypocrites.

Jesus had bent back down again after he made his statement, and continued with writing in the sand. When he straightened up for the second time and saw that the scribes and Pharisees were nowhere to be seen, he asked the woman, “Where are they? Has no one condemned you?” “No one, Sir? “Neither do I condemn you. Go, and from now on do not sin any more.” Some translations read, “You may go. But from now on, avoid this sin.” Was Jesus too lenient with this woman? In the confessional she would have gotten at least three Our Fathers and three Hail Mary’s, you know.

Our laws don’t execute anyone for adultery. But in case you believe in the strict enforcement of every law, and think Jesus went too easy on this woman, in actuality he gave her a sentence that may have been the hardest she could get. “Go and avoid this sin. Sin no more.”

Ever tried giving something up that has become a habit? Not easy, is it? Ask any avid smoker, drinker, drug user, or chocoholic. We might suspect this wasn’t the first time this woman did something with a married man; maybe she was married herself. This was just the first time she was caught. Whether this was how she made a living or just something she enjoyed, if it was a habit, her giving it up as Jesus told her to was not going to be easy. Sometimes death may seem more inviting than living every day without what you have become accustomed to. No, Jesus did not let this woman off lightly. He was just giving her more time to change her ways and become the person God created her to be. He does that with all of us.

God forgives us. And he forgives lavishly. Like the father in the parable of the Prodigal Son went running down the road and covered his son with kisses, God our Father goes wild when we return to him and let him take us in his arms. God forgives, he dismisses from his mind our transgressions, he is always looking towards the future — ours and his. He envisions our living with him for an eternity of love and happiness. Like two newlyweds.

“Is no one condemning you?” Jesus is asking us, you and me. “No one, Lord, except maybe my own conscience. I am so very sorry for what I have done.” “Well,” says Jesus, “I won’t condemn you either. Go, and sin no more.”

God is patient. He is giving the world and all of us who are in it, time to come back to him – ONLY TWO MORE WEEKS OF LENT.