Cycle C - Year II:

13 March 2016: Fifth Sunday of Lent

(Liturgical color: Violet)

Gospel: Please read John 8:1-11

We need to be forgiving!

As the campaign period in our national politics becomes hotter by the day, the traditional style of mudslinging and finding faults among competing candidates pollute the air waves and even social media. It is sad that voters hardly hear anything about programs and vision of governance. The game plan seems to be to destroy each other, until the last man standing.

Well, it is easy to find faults with anyone but ourselves, even when we also know that we are all sinful and imperfect beings.

This human tendency to judge and condemn others goes back even to the time of Jesus. The scribes and Pharisees were upset that Jesus freely associates with public sinners.

In the Gospel incident this Sunday, the scribes and Pharisees wanted to entrap Jesus by confronting Him on the issue of adultery and retribution. Under the Jewish law adultery is a serious crime punishable by death. Because it violates God's ordinance and wreaks havoc on the stability of marriage and family life.

The religious leaders brought a woman caught in adultery before Jesus. In their evil intent, they wanted

to put Jesus in a dilemma. If Jesus would pardon the woman they could accuse Him of encouraging the people to break the law of Moses. If Jesus would agree that she be punished for her crime, then Jesus would lose his reputation for being merciful.

Our Lord Jesus outsmarts them all and thus escapes the trap laid down by the religious leaders. He turned the challenge towards His accusers instead, as He tells them, "Let the one among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her." In effect, Jesus is telling the woman's accusers not to condemn easily because everyone else is in need of God's forgiveness.

At the end of the Gospel story, the woman was left alone with Jesus. For no one had the guts to throw the first stone at her. But in no way does Jesus condone adultery. Instead, Jesus tells the adulterous woman firmly, "Go, and from now on, do not sin any more."

We can see a contrast in attitude towards others by the major players in the story. The religious leaders wanted to condemn, but our Lord Jesus wished to forgive and restore the sinner to "health". Thus, Jesus showed His followers the path to follow, which is the way of mercy and forgiveness to our lost brethren. The message of the Gospel story is clear: Jesus condemns sins but pardons the sinners with a call to repentance. We all need God's mercy and forgiveness.

As Christians in our generation, the much harder path to follow is the one letting go of the tendency to judge others. It is almost a challenge to show someone who has wronged us the same mercy and forgiveness that our Lord Jesus has first shown us in respect of our own sinfulness and shortcomings in life.

So during this Jubilee Year of Mercy, let us pray for grace that collectively as a Church we become the visible face of God on earth, "of the God who manifests his power above all by forgiveness and mercy."

As we near the end of our Lenten pilgrimage, Mother Church encourages us to experience the joy of repentance and a clean conscience through the Sacrament of Reconciliation and Forgiveness. And we need to be forgiving, as well.

A blessed Sunday to us all. And thank you for a moment with God.

Ad Jesum per Mariam!