Catechism Links[1]
CCC 430, 545, 589, 1846-1847: Jesus manifests the Father’s mercy
CCC 133, 428, 648, 989, 1006: The surpassing wealth of knowing Christ
CCC 2475-2479: Rash judgment
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| “Christ and the Adulterous Woman” by Pieter van Lint, c. 1640 |
Options are offered for today’s Mass Celebration. The “Cycle A” readings may be used. Also, the first reading from the Cycle A readings may be used in place of Reading
Reading I: Isaiah 43:16-21
Thus says the LORD,
who opens a way in the sea
and a path in the mighty waters,
who leads out chariots and horsemen,
a powerful army,
till they lie prostrate together, never to rise,
snuffed out and quenched like a wick.
Remember not the events of the past,
the things of long ago consider not;
see, I am doing something new!
Now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?
In the desert I make a way,
in the wasteland, rivers.
Wild beasts honor me,
jackals and ostriches,
for I put water in the desert
and rivers in the wasteland
for my chosen people to drink,
the people whom I formed for myself,
that they might announce my praise.
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Commentary on Is 43:16-21
CCC: Is 43:19 711
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Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 126:1-2, 2-3, 4-5, 6
R. (3) The Lord has done great things for us; we are filled with joy.
When the LORD brought back the captives of Zion
we were like men dreaming.
Then our mouth was filled with laughter,
and our tongue with rejoicing.
R. The Lord has done great things for us; we are filled with joy.
Then they said among the nations,
“The LORD has done great things for them.”
The LORD has done great things for us;
we are glad indeed.
R. The Lord has done great things for us; we are filled with joy.
Restore our fortunes, O LORD,
like the torrents in the southern desert.
Those that sow in tears
shall reap rejoicing.
R. The Lord has done great things for us; we are filled with joy.
Although they go forth weeping,
carrying the seed to be sown,
They shall come back rejoicing,
carrying their sheaves.
R. The Lord has done great things for us; we are filled with joy.
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Commentary on Ps 126:1-2, 2-3, 4-5, 6
Psalm 126 is a lament. In this short psalm, the singer rejoices at the return of Israel following the Diaspora, the conquering of Israel and its enslavement. In this hymn, the people remember the greatness of God as he restores their nation and brings them back to their own land ("Although they go forth weeping, carrying the seed to be sown, they shall come back rejoicing, carrying their sheaves"). The sense is one of being overflowing with thanksgiving.
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Reading II: Philippians 3:8-14
Brothers and sisters:
I consider everything as a loss
because of the supreme good of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.
For his sake I have accepted the loss of all things
and I consider them so much rubbish,
that I may gain Christ and be found in him,
not having any righteousness of my own based on the law
but that which comes through faith in Christ,
the righteousness from God,
depending on faith to know him and the power of his resurrection
and the sharing of his sufferings by being conformed to his death,
if somehow I may attain the resurrection from the dead.
It is not that I have already taken hold of it
or have already attained perfect maturity,
but I continue my pursuit in hope that I may possess it,
since I have indeed been taken possession of by Christ Jesus.
Brothers and sisters, I for my part
do not consider myself to have taken possession.
Just one thing: forgetting what lies behind
but straining forward to what lies ahead,
I continue my pursuit toward the goal,
the prize of God’s upward calling, in Christ Jesus.
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Commentary on Phil 3:8-14
In his own profession he states: all he has given up for the Lord counts for nothing as he holds Christ’s Lordship as the only thing of worth. He goes on to say that it is only through his faith in Christ that he receives salvation, that his former devotion to the Law of Moses did not accomplish salvation (as the Jews believe).
This discourse likely addresses some members of the community who feel they have achieved a high state of grace and have lost their humility. By his example, Paul, who in his status as founder would be considered to have been further along this course, demonstrates the humble attitude that should be present.
St. Paul speaks to the community at Philippi about the primacy of following Christ as the (his) most important possession. He inverts the phrase saying Christ has taken possession of him which should not be interpreted as meaning he believed he had attained perfect spiritual maturity but rather that he (Paul) had given himself totally to the service of Jesus. Paul again uses himself as example, telling the Philippians that (even) he has not achieved the end goal of “perfect maturity” (a final state of grace), rather he still pursues that goal. This selection guides the rule of St. Francis, first in their vows of poverty and second, as Franciscan Order of Minim Fiars, in their view as the least of God’s children.
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Gospel: John 8:1-11
Jesus went to the Mount of Olives .
But early in the morning he arrived again in the temple area,
and all the people started coming to him,
and he sat down and taught them.
Then the scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman
who had been caught in adultery
and made her stand in the middle.
They said to him,
“Teacher, this woman was caught
in the very act of committing adultery.
Now in the law, Moses commanded us to stone such women.
So what do you say?”
They said this to test him,
so that they could have some charge to bring against him.
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,
beginning with the elders.
So he was left alone with the woman before him.
Then Jesus straightened up and said to 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.”
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Commentary on Jn 8:1-11
John’s Gospel places Jesus once more in the temple precincts. The story of Jesus and the Adulterous Woman constitutes another example of how the Jewish leadership attempts to trap Jesus with a difficult legal problem. They have no doubt heard the Lord’s teaching about loving one another and believe that he will not condemn the adulterous woman and thereby give them reason to call him “blasphemer.” As a side note, most scripture scholars believe this passage was not originally in St. John’s Gospel but was borrowed from St. Luke. Regardless, from a very early period it has been considered sacred in the current context.
It is not completely clear what Jesus is being asked to judge. The law concerning adultery by a betrothed virgin was stoning (see Deuteronomy 22:23-24). However, the law concerning married women was simply death (see Leviticus 20:10 and Deuteronomy 22:22) and was generally carried out by strangulation.
In response, rather than debating the law, he simply begins writing in the dust. Tradition tells us that what he wrote with his finger was a list of the sins of those gathered to stone the woman caught in adultery. He then asked that the one without sin should cast the first stone. (The first stones were to be thrown by the witnesses.)
In either case, Jesus should not have been able to commute her sentence without going against the law so he uses his knowledge of people’s hearts to have the charges withdrawn. As we saw in the first reading, two accusers are required to condemn a person under the law.
The story continues that after his second set of writings in the dust, the group gathered to stone the woman; “went away one by one, beginning with the elders.” Even, or more importantly first, the elders left. No one was without sin. In the closing statement Jesus does something unexpected. He does not judge the woman either; rather he tells her to go and sin no more emphasizing that Jesus came into the world not to judge it but through his presence save it.
CCC: Jn 8:2 583
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Homily:
From a faith perspective, we are
in the homestretch of our Lenten journey. Next Sunday is Palm Sunday and then
the intensity of Holy Week culminating with the great Easter Triduum. Each of the last four weeks I have been
meeting on Thursday nights with a group of parishioners to talk about the
Gospels from each Sunday of Lent and what they ask of us. There has been an interesting discussion
developing around the tension between forgiveness and justice. On the one hand, we are called to forgive,
even our enemies. On the other, we
recognize that forgiveness without correction does the person who commits the
wrong no good. It does not allow them to
understand that they have done wrong – committed a sin – and thereby helping
them turn away from sin in the future.
In the Gospel story of the
adulterous woman, we see Jesus confront those who were, while strictly following
Jewish law, anxious to have Jesus condemn the woman to death by stoning,
violating a more sacred law that protects life. The Lord refuted the idea. He
did so in a way that it did not diminish the dignity of any of those involved. Above all Jesus is merciful and loves all of
God’s creation (a thought echoed in the first reading from Isaiah).
The Lord simply bent down and
started writing on the ground. We presume,
because of Jewish law, he started by writing the sins of the persons bringing
the charge. It would have been their
responsibility to throw the first stone.
Whatever was written must have stopped those accusers because that first
stone was never thrown. Others continued to press him. (This, of course, was a
trap the leadership had hoped would allow them to go after Jesus. If he challenged
the death sentence, he would have blasphemed against Mosaic Law and opened
himself to the same punishment – stoning.
If he agreed with the sentence he would have contradicted his own
teachings about loving all peoples, even sinners.)
Jesus began writing a second
time. We can again assume that this time
he was writing the sins of the Jewish leaders who were present. One by one the accusers left, leaving Jesus
alone with the woman. He turned to her
and said the words that were no doubt the forerunner of the phrase we hear when
we are participating in the sacrament of reconciliation: “I absolve you of your
sins in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.” The Lord, being
in essence, God, needed only to say: “Neither
do I condemn you. Go, and from now on do not sin any more.”
At once the Lord forgave the
woman and absolved her of her sins. This also would have satisfied Jewish law
since an accusation must be brought by two individuals before the judge. With no accusers, there would have been no
act of punishment.
All of this seems pretty
straight forward does it not? Jesus
commands us to forgive others. We
profess that truth each time we pray the Lord’s Prayer: “Forgive us our
trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.” The Lord also told us,
through his commissioning of the Apostles: “Go,
therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptize them in the name of
the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.” I commanding this action, the Lord gave his apostles
the authority to forgive sins, for indeed, in baptism, all sins are
forgiven. Christ does this in an
unqualified way.
Now let’s ask this question: Jesus
has asked us to forgive others who wrong us.
What would your response be if a person cut you off in traffic? Could you forgive them? I suspect most people
would say yes without much hesitation. Now
we ask was justice done in that situation.
Yes, we forgave the reckless driver, but did that person recognize the
sin they committed?
Let’s ask the same kind of
question now, but instead of having an anonymous transgressor, lets say the
person was known to you, say a distant cousin, and the crime was more
immediate; you caught your cousin stealing money from your wallet. Same questions: could you forgive your cousin? Again, most of us would say yes. It’s only money. But now you can do more. Now you have caught your cousin in the
act. What do you do? Would you reprimand them, take the money back
and tell them not to do that again? Turn them in to the police? Physically assault
them?
The point is, how do we balance forgiveness and justice. We are commanded to forgive but we are also
asked to offer all we meet the Gospel, a path to heaven. It becomes a very personal decision and one
we cannot take lightly. How we forgive
and respond must be something that comes from our faith and understanding of
our Lord and what he would have us do.
Recall, he also drove the money changers from the temple.
The story of the woman caught
in adultery is one that shows the wisdom, compassion and mercy of Christ. He corrected the accusers by pointing out
that they too had sinned. He averted a
cruel punishment and then absolved the woman, telling her to sin no more. May we find the same wisdom when we are
confronted by the challenge of balancing forgiveness and Justice.
In other years on April 7th : The Memorial of Saint John Baptist De La Salle, Priest
[1] Catechism links are taken from the Homiletic Directory, Published by the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, 29 June 2014.
[2] The picture is “Christ and the Adulterous Woman” by Pieter van Lint, c. 1640.
[4] The readings are taken from the New American Bible, with the exception of the psalm and its response which were developed by the International Committee for English in Liturgy (ICEL). This republication is not authorized by USCCB and is for private use only.
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