Maybe it is because of the restrictions we have had during the pandemic these past couple of years, but I have found our Lenten journey this year to be very fruitful. I hope you have too. During our Sunday readings during Lent, we have looked at the themes of transformation, mercy, repentance, forgiveness, and gratitude. On this fifth Sunday of Lent, we are presented with the profound, shocking encounter between Jesus and the woman brought to him by the scribes and Pharisees. It is good for us to look at the important values of our faith, such as forgiveness, conversion, repentance, and mercy; but, these values have their context in the truth of God’s word and God’s laws. For centuries, the Jewish people defined their covenant with God in the terms of the law given to Moses. Yet, over time, the meaning of the law became distorted in different ways, with different layers added to God’s law. Sometimes, religious authorities placed burdens on the common people through God’s laws. The Scribes and Pharisees added their own complicated interpretations of God’s law, the common person could not understand God’s laws because of this, let alone obey them. This is the background behind the scribes and Pharisees bringing the adulterous woman to Jesus today.
The scribes and Pharisees were trying to find ways to condemn Jesus and to trap him. They saw Jesus’ opposing their understanding of God’s laws. They brought this woman caught in adultery to Jesus, wanting to see how he would apply God’s law to her situation. Would Jesus demand that she be stoned death according to the law in the book of Deuteronomy? The do this to try to test Jesus. Jesus says to the scribes and Pharisees: “Let anyone among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” Think of the words we pray each time we pray the Lord’s prayer: “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.”
I connect this encounter with the adulteress woman to something I witnessed in Africa as a Peace Corp volunteer in the country of Guinea. Most of the people there were of the Muslim faith. People washed their clothing out by hand and dried the clothing by hanging them outside on the trees. There had been a lot of women’s dress stolen by someone while they were drying on the trees, but they did not know who was doing this. One Saturday morning on a busy market day, a woman was spotted wearing one of the garments that had been stolen. The people started yelling at her. A crowed gathered, including some of the Muslim elders of the community. They stripped the woman of her garments and beat her. The crowd just stood there watching. I could not believe what I was seeing. According to their religious norms and laws, this was the punishment she was due, to be beaten and shamed in public. My friends in the village explained to me that this was the law to which everyone adhered. This incident still remains vivid in my memory.
Without a doubt, Jesus respected God’s Law. We see this in Matthew’s Gospel, as Jesus states “Think not that I have come to abolish the law and the prophets; I have come not to abolish them, but to fulfill them.” However at the same time, Jesus understood that at the heart of God’s law was divine mercy, unconditional love and forgiveness. The Latin word for mercy, misericordia, is derived from two words, miser and cordia, miser, meaning the poor and the oppressed and cordia, the heart. In other words, in mercy, we have a heart and a concern for the oppressed, the poor, and the downtrodden. That cannot be taken away from God’s law.
Yet, we also cannot forget that Jesusa also holds the adulterous woman accountable to God's law. It might seem easy for Jesus to say to the adulterous woman and to us when we sin, “I do not condemn you.”With those words of mercy, Jesus saved her from death and gives her a new lease on life. Does it cost her anything? Yes, it certainly does. Jesus tells her to “go and sin no more.” This will be a drastic change for her. I am sure it will not be easy at all.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a famous German Protestant theologian and pastor who was put to death for opposing Hitler and the Nazi regime near the end of the second world war. He wrote a book entitled The Cost of Discipleship, pointing out the difference between “cheap grace” and “costly grace.” Indeed, we receive God’s grace as a freely given gift from him. God offers us the gift of his pardon and his loving friendship in a way that transforms us and makes all things new. But this grace is not cheap. It was paid for by the suffering of God’s Son, suffering that he willingly embraced out of love for us. But the adulterous woman is asked to do her part, to sin no more, to embrace God’s friendship through Jesus, and to transform her life.
God’s grace was present between Jesus and the woman brought to him by the scribes and Pharisees. God’s grace is offered to us as well. The question is, how precious do you view God’s grace and mercy? What value do we place on it? It is offered to us daily through the Eucharist, through the Word of God, though prayer, and through the sacrament of reconciliation, just to name a few. Are we too busy to fit these into our schedule? How much effort do we make to encounter God’s grace? Are we just complacent and moping around? Or do we eagerly want it? Actions speak louder than words. Let’s examine where we spend our time, money and energy. That will tell us what it is that we really value most.
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