BY Jose “joesum” Sumampong, Jr.
April 3, 2022
5th Sunday of Lent (Year C)
Isaiah 43: 16 – 21 / Psalm 126: 1 – 6 /
Philippians 3: 8 -14 / John 8: 1- 11
CONDEMNATION OR FORGIVENESS?
Word: In Jesus’ time it was important to determine the arrival of daybreak when the first offerings were to be made in the temple. Enemies of Jesus bring a woman to him at daybreak while he is teaching people in the temple area. They make her stand there humiliated in public. They said to him, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the very act of committing adultery” (Jn 8:4). Though morning had come, for the woman’s accusers it is still night. They cannot see that it is their brother or their sister who have committed the sin.
Moreover, in their darkness, the woman’s accusers are unable to see that Jesus is also their brother, sent by God to bring them into the light. They already have violated the God-given dignity of the woman by reducing her to the status of an object. Now they are attempting to use her as a means to advance their own interests by laying a trap for Jesus in order to have a charge to bring against him. They ask Jesus whether he judges that she should be stoned. They said this to test him, so that they could have some charge to bring against him (Jn 8:6a). The malice of their action is compounded by the fact that they are seeking to destroy Jesus under the guise of honoring the divine law given to Moses. This surely is taking the name of God in vain (Ex 20:7).
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” (Jn 8:6b-7).
After Jesus exposes their malice, the woman’s accusers are afraid to condemn her. Beginning with the elders, they all go away. Then Jesus straightened up and said to her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” (Jn 8:10). Perhaps the woman is trying to save what dignity she has left when she replies, “No one, sir.” (Jn 8:11). Then Jesus says to the woman: “Neither do I condemn you. Go, (and) from now on do not sin any more.” (Jn 8: 1-11). Jesus is gentle and forgiving, yet his final words do contain a firm note of warning.
The contrast between the reactions of the woman’s accusers and the reaction of Jesus makes it clear that God is “doing something new” in Jesus. It is a good reminder of the difference between the “sin” and the “sinner”. The sin may be grievous, the sinner is always loved. In a dramatic way, we are shown the quality and extent of divine forgiveness. Forgiveness is true judgment and creative love.
o0o
Order: Christ’s Liberating Law. It is this new law of love through Christ’s Spirit that is liberating, for to be conformed to the law of Christ, is to know freedom. Christ’s new law comes to us as a gift that the Holy Spirit places in our hearts. It carries the imperatives of the law beyond the mere external moral behavior and beyond even a sense of obligation. Christ’s law is a law of love, grace, and liberty (cf. CCC 1972). It touches the spirit rather than the letter. It requires a change of heart from which a change in behavior will follow. It names that self-giving openness to God and to others from which all the commandments derive their redemptive vitality; which changes them from servile constraints into a force which liberates our true humanity (Catechism for Filipino Catholics, no. 821).
o0o
Realities: Back in the days of the American Revolution, General George Washington had a good friend who was a Baptist minister. Now, this minister had an enemy in town who did everything he could to abuse and oppose him.
After some years, this evil man was arrested for treason and sentenced to death. When the minister heard of this, he walked 70 miles to the capital to plead for the man’s life. But Washington said, “No, I cannot grant you the life of your friend.”
“My friend?” exclaimed the minister. “He is the bitterest enemy I have.”
Washington was surprised, “You mean that you have walked 70 miles to save the life of an enemy? That puts the matter in a different light. I hereby grant his pardon.” (Quote, FORGIVENESS)
o0o
Direction: LORD, make me an instrument of your peace. Where there is hatred, let me sow love. Where there is injury, pardon. Where there is friction, union. Where there is error, truth. Where there is doubt, faith. Where there is despair, hope. Where there is darkness, light. Where there is sadness, joy.
O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console, to be understood as to understand, to be loved as to love. For it is in giving that we receive. It is in pardoning that we are pardoned. It is in dying that we born to eternal life. Amen (Prayer for the Grace to Help Others, St. Francis of Assisi <1182-1226>, religious and mystic).
o0o
Let us pray for a meanngful HOLY WEEK 2022