Again he bent down and wrote on the ground And in response they went away one by one (Gospel). 5 th Sunday in Lent, Cycle C March 17 th, 2013
First Reading: Isaiah 43:16-21 16 Thus says the Lord, who makes a way in the sea, a path in the mighty waters, 17 who brings out chariot and horse, army and warrior; they lie down, they cannot rise, they are extinguished, quenched like a wick: 18 Do not remember the former things, or consider the things of old. 19 I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert. 20 The wild animals will honor me, the jackals and the ostriches; for I give water in the wilderness, rivers in the desert, to give drink to my chosen people, 21 the people whom I formed for myself so that they might declare my praise. Responsive Psalm 126 A Song of Ascents. 1 When the Lord restored the fortunes of Zion, we were like those who dream. 2 Then our mouth was filled with laughter, and our tongue with shouts of joy; then it was said among the nations, The Lord has done great things for them. 3 The Lord has done great things for us, and we rejoiced. 4 Restore our fortunes, O Lord, like the watercourses in the Negeb. 5 May those who sow in tears reap with shouts of joy. 6 Those who go out weeping, bearing the seed for sowing, shall come home with shouts of joy, carrying their sheaves.
Second Reading: Philippians 3:8-14 8 More than that, I regard everything as loss because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and I regard them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but one that comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God based on faith. 10 I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the sharing of his sufferings by becoming like him in his death, 11 if somehow I may attain the resurrection from the dead. 12 Not that I have already obtained this or have already reached the goal; but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. 13 Beloved, I do not consider that I have made it my own; but this one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, 14 I press on towards the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus. Gospel Reading: John 8:1-11 8 1 while Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. 2 Early in the morning he came again to the temple. All the people came to him and he sat down and began to teach them. 3 The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery; and making her stand before all of them, 4 they said to him, Teacher, this woman was caught in the very act of committing adultery. 5 Now in the law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say? 6 They said this to test him, so that they might have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground. 7 When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, Let anyone among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her. 8 And once again he bent down and wrote on the ground. 9 When they heard it, they went away, one by one, beginning with the elders; and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him. 10 Jesus straightened up and said to her, Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you? 11 She said, No one, sir. And Jesus said, Neither do I condemn you. Go your way, and from now on do not sin again. ]] Homily Let us use the Gospel Reading as a personal meditation rather than simply an account of an event that occurred long ago and for an error for which we do not personally identify. Let adultery represent any kind of compromise in integrity in any relationship in your own history it could be something long ago, something more recent, or something that is still occurring. Perhaps it has to do with something far different than adultery, but adultery of the mind, soul, and spirit is at bottom, some form of idolatry, where we display misplaced value on something that is not reflective of our commitments. It could be focus upon a person who in some way is deemed more valuable than s/he should, who substitutes for God in our hearts. It could be pretending loyalty and allegiance to one person while surreptitiously (secretly) being doubleminded, e.g. perhaps undisclosing to both parties about our true intentions. There are many levels to this problem and many more motives which we attribute to ourselves to remain comfortable in our subterfuge: We are too ashamed to disclose. We might hurt someone s feelings. It would harm the other person if they knew the truth.
So whatever comes to mind in your own path, place yourself in the place of this woman who has been caught. In Jewish law, there had to be observers of adultery in order to mete out the ultimate punishment of stoning. Now, think about that. How over are secret lovers trysts observed by others? Perhaps she was set up by her husband or others. I am reminded of the modern-day hiring of private investigators to follow a spouse to catch them on videotape. And sometimes we are caught red-handed in our manipulations with little wiggle room to explain or excuse ourselves. In this case, we see that Jesus turns the situation back on the accusers. If you have no sin, then throw the first stone he didn t say sexual sin. That is not the main focus of this story. Perhaps more difficult are those mistakes for which we are not caught red-handed. They tend to nag at us, to leave us guilt-ridden, and/or to become distorted, where we project blame on the other person. Or, perhaps we distract ourselves and avoid recognition all together. And what does Jesus do? He inquires of her whether anyone is still accusing her, and after they have all slinked away, she says no. She is left in the presence of the only one who matters. And he tells her to go and sin no more. He also says he does not condemn her. So whether your own self-identified error involved public humiliation or occurred unrecognized by others, the meeting with Jesus is personal, and he speaks to each one of us. Let him speak to you today in your heart, and if you need to find healing with a brother or sister, leave the altar and go seek their forgiveness too. This is an important part of our Lenten journey. As in the First Reading, see that the Lord is doing something new! The former things and things of old refer to the first Exodus, or symbolically, our own treks across the desert of our hearts. As with the Psalmist, may we come home carrying sheaves with shouts of joy. With St. Paul and the Philippians, in the face of losses, let us press on to meet the future -- forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead. You are the Father s gift, always present, always new. You are cool water for our dried-out, everyday lives. Help us drink deeply. Jesus, give us power to accept the loss of all things
in order to gain you. Find us, please, and help us say yes, yes to a share of your suffering yes to joining in your rising. Lord, the adulteress loved it when you said, Neither do I condemn you. You were like a river in a wasteland, a shelter in a storm Shelter us too. Please, let us become what you give. Forgiven, let us always forgive. Uncondemned, let us go and sin no more. And stand before you. Prayers only. Copyright 2013, Anne M. Osdieck. All rights reserved. Permission is hereby granted to reproduce for personal or parish use.
Study Notes: Fr. Reginald Fuller [St. Louis University Liturgical website, Scripture in Depth, 3/17/13] tells us that this story about the woman caught in adultery is generally agreed not to have been part of the Gospel of John s early text, but it is still part of the canonical NT having been restored from the margin of later manuscripts. Earlier manuscripts sometimes place it in Luke, after 21:38, and other manuscripts omit it or place it elsewhere. But is it an authentic story about Jesus? The late Bruce Metzger, well-recognized as a scholar of NT manuscripts, says that it has all the earmarks of historical veracity. Another scholar from Sweden, Harald Riesenfeld, speculated as to why the story may have gone underground. This was at a time when church authorities were holding Christian marriages in a strict discipline and perhaps it was thought that the story depicted Jesus being too lax, but Jesus was not condoning her, but pronouncing forgiveness.