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Fifth Sunday of Lent Readings
First Reading: Isaiah 43:16-21
Psalm: Psalm 126: 1-6
Second Reading: Philippians 3:8-14
Gospel: John 8:1-11
In today’s gospel we hear that familiar story about the woman caught in adultery. They bring her to Jesus while he is in the temple and they demand to know what he thinks should be done with her. Like we briefly discussed last week, today’s Gospel presents a couple of the big kahuna of sins, like adultery. In the language of the Church, we call these mortal sins. Brief side note, why are they called mortal sins? They are mortal sins because they can destroy our relationship with the Lord and His community, like adultery, a mortal sin can shatter a family.
In 1 John 5:16-17, for example, we learn the distinction between sins. John says all sin is bad, but there are some sins that are deadly. Smaller sins or what we Catholics call venial sins wound our relationship with the Lord. Mortal sins ruin or can kill our relationship with God and with His community. To be a mortal sin, the sin must be a grave matter, aka a big kahuna sin. Second, I have to know that it’s a serious sin. Sin is not an accident. Finally, I need to freely chose to do it even though I know it’s a sin. Those are the three characteristics of mortal sins. I have a few links at the bottom of notes that give more information about sins including the Catechism of the Catholic Church and a couple of excellent YouTube videos.
Ok, back to our Gospel today. As usual, there are so many things going on – there is so much texture in this reading alone, not to mention the other two readings and the psalm, that it’s difficult to know where to begin and how much to discuss. So, think about today’s Gospel, let’s start with this: it’s a trap!
The scribes and Pharisees tried to trap Jesus. On one hand, if he in any way refutes the Law, then they could accuse him in front of the Jews as lacking authenticity. How can he be a prophet let alone the Messiah if rejects the Law of Moses – to Law of God? On the other hand, if he affirms the Law and says that indeed, she should be stoned to death, then they can hand him over to the Romans and accuse him of trying to undermine Roman authority by advocating vigilante law. You see, it was against Roman law to kill another person.
Jesus doesn’t buy it.
Instead, he squats down and begins to write in the dirt. Wouldn’t you like to have been a fly on the wall to see what he was doing? Was he just doodling? Or was he writing something? Or was he drawing images that correspond to sins? We don’t know. But instead of falling into the trap, he brilliantly says, “Let the one among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” According to the Gospel, what happens next is that one by one, the crowd starts to dissolve. Then later, he asks her, “‘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 any more.’”
Now, does this mean that adultery isn’t that big a deal? No, I don’t think that’s what Jesus is saying at all. I think what he is trying to illustrate is that there is another mortal sin going on – the sin of pride. Now pride is said to be the first and most deadly of all sin. Why? Pride as a sin is the irrational belief that you are better than, superior to and more important than others. C.S. Lewis tells us that, “…it was through pride that the devil became the devil: Pride leads to every other vice…” (Mere Christianity, 121). So, perhaps Jesus is teaching us we can’t sin to expose sin. Two wrongs don’t make a right.
But Jesus doesn’t let the woman off the hook. First, he demonstrates God’s mercy by saying he doesn’t condemn her. If she is repentant, then she will be spared. But, he tells her to sin no more. Now this is what repentance is all about. The goal is not just to admit to ourselves, to our family and friends, and to God that we sinned. We need to try not to repeat the same sin.
That’s the point of the Catholic understanding of reconciliation. First, we go to confession to say our sins. Why? Because there is something powerful about admitting out loud that we did something wrong. We take ownership of what we did wrong. Second, we make amends, which is to say we try to make it up to God, our families and our friends. Third, and this is key, we commit to try not to repeat the same sin.
The great lure of sin is that it traps us in a never-ending cycle of sin. How many of find that we keep repeating the same sins over and over and over again? So, the goal of reconciliation is to try to commit to sin no more. Lent is wonderful time to come to terms with the things we’ve done wrong in our lives that have damaged our relationship with God, or family and our friends. In the Catholic tradition, this is an excellent time to experience the Sacrament of Reconciliation and experience the grace of God’s mercy and forgiveness.
Homework! Reflecting on the Gospel today, I encourage you to consider the following two questions in this week as we make our way to Palm Sunday:
- Have you ever experienced the feeling that were so right and someone else was so wrong that it didn’t matter to you what you did to prove it? What does today’s Gospel tell us about that?
- When was the last time you experienced the healing grace of God’s mercy and forgiveness? Maybe it’s time to go to Reconciliation.
I hope that doing our homework this week will help us take the focus off ourselves and open us to God’s mercy and love. May Almighty God bless you, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. +Amen!
Resources:
• Catechism of the Catholic Church 1846-1876 on sin
• Bishop Robert Barron: “Seven Deadly Sins; Seven Lively Virtues”
• Fr. Mike Schmitz: “Mortal vs. Venial Sin”