Sunday the 6th of April 2025 - The Fifth Sunday of Lent

Isaiah 43:16-21/ Ps 126(125)/ Philippians 3:8-14/ John 8:1-11

We live in a society that can be quick to judge, eager to cast the first stone. The mainstream media and social media whip up our thoughts and emotions. The various news platforms present stories from a point of view that aligns with their politics while social media outlets are full of the many and varied thoughts of individuals and groups that use it. All these means of informing the public are based on limited information often mixed with rumour and gossip. The only person who knows the truth of what we do, say, and think is God. We are even able to hide things away from ourselves, but God can penetrate even the most dark and hidden parts of our being. God, who has the full picture of everything, and is not influenced by any outside thoughts or prejudices, is the only one who can judge justly.

In the gospel passage today, we hear how the scribes and Pharisees, the legal minds of the day, presented a woman caught in the act of adultery to Jesus amid the crowd who had gathered to hear him. The accusers were not interested in justice but were seeking a way of tricking Jesus into saying something that he could be condemned for. Jesus, aware of their intention, treated them with the contempt they deserved, said nothing but wrote on the ground with his finger. The scribes and Pharisees pressed Jesus to answer so he threw them the challenge that whoever was without sin should be the first to throw a stone at the unfortunate woman. As they considered their own unworthiness the crowd melted away leaving only Jesus and the woman. No one had dared throw the first stone following the challenge by Jesus who also did not condemn her. Jesus did not condone the sinfulness of the woman but sent her away with the warning to sin no more.

The plot to trick Jesus into contradicting their established law had failed because he turned it back on the instigators. We are all sinners and cannot accuse others before we have dealt with our own failings. The self-righteousness displayed by the scribes and Pharisees is clearly present in our society today. We can easily be influenced to the judgement of others when we should be examining our own behaviour. We cannot throw the stones of accusation at others when we are often little better than those we fault. Jesus challenges us as he challenged the crowd on the Mount of Olives. As the passage from the letter to the Philippians puts it, ‘not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith’. It is through the righteousness of God that we are judged, not by each other but by the only judge who can see us as we really are.

The claim that Jesus made to forgive sin antagonised the leaders of his people more than anything else he did or said. Forgiveness of sin was reserved only to God meaning that either Jesus was the worst of blasphemers, or he was God. We know that Jesus was God but even with his many miracles to prove his power over creation he was not accepted for who he was by his own people, and he is not accepted by many today. The concept of sin, offence against God, is no longer widely accepted in our times. Without understanding sin and its effect it is impossible to grasp the need for the costly redemption won for us by Jesus. The compassion Jesus has for us sinners is evidenced in his dealing with the woman in the gospel today. He is sensitive to her failings, but he is quite firm in his call for her to sin no more.

We are all sinners which makes us exiles like the people of the Old Testament, wandering in the desert looking for a new beginning. Lent is our wandering in the desert, it is not a meaningless meandering but a time of preparation. Through our fasting, prayer, and almsgiving we are preparing ourselves for the new beginning that Easter brings. The death of Jesus sees the death of our old ways and his resurrection sees the new life in Christ. This new life is our eternal life in heaven which starts here on earth. Through partaking in the Eucharist, we are already on the threshold of the eternal heavenly banquet to which we are invited.

As we examine our own consciences during this lent let us throw down the stones we hold ready to throw at others, see ourselves for the fallen people we are and quietly walk away from the self-righteous crowds so quick to condemn others. In this way we can leave judgment to Jesus and concentrate on making our own way to him so that we can hear him say to us, ‘Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more.’

God Bless Brendan