In today’s Gospel, the scribes and the Pharisees test Jesus’ righteousness. Indeed, preceding this test, we see the chief priests and the Pharisees trying to have Jesus arrested and even killed. So, when Jesus demonstrates that only He has the power to condemn the woman brought before Him, caught in the act of adultery, and chooses not to condemn her, my summary comes quick: “Yay! Once again, Jesus demonstrates His merciful love and righteousness, thwarting the plans of the scribes and the Pharisees!” It is simple and comforting, like a happy ending to a chapter of a book or an episode of a TV show. But despite how I respond to this passage at first, there is more – when I look closer, I find more and more of myself among the Pharisees and within the adulterous woman. And that’s not comfortable! But when I let Jesus speak, then I begin to see the depths of His mercy not just for the woman in the passage, but for me, despite my sin. And He offers the same to all.
It’s incredible really, how much Scripture can speak into our lives. Just a few days ago I was told to reflect on this passage in the context of unworthiness – that when I feel unworthy, when I say, “if only you knew what I have done,” I can stand before Jesus like the adulterous woman and learn that He does not condemn me. And lo and behold, this is the Gospel reading for the Fifth Sunday of Lent, Year C! Approaching this Sunday with this new perspective, I realize that even if I do not intentionally test Jesus’ righteousness like the scribes and the Pharisees, there are times I do test His righteousness and doubt His mercy and love. Those moments that I find myself despairing over my messy humanness, believing that I am unredeemable and that I cannot be more than my past and my sins – those are the moments when I hold a stone in my hand. Why am I so willing to condemn myself? And why am I willing to do the same to others – to look at someone and judge their soul, to condemn them in my heart because of their sin?
The good news is found in Jesus’s reply; first, “Let the one among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her” (Jn 8:7). Jesus stays the hand that holds the stone. He is the only one who could righteously condemn her, but instead, He does not. God is so merciful! He looks at me, as I stand vulnerably before him – he knows me, he knows what I have done and the shame and unworthiness I may feel, and He says, “Go and from now on do not sin anymore” (Jn 8:9). He does not ignore my sins but demonstrates His mercy in that despite my sins and lack of faithfulness, He sends me forward, “straining forward to what lies ahead” (Phil 3:13). This is not to undermine the power of the sacrament of Penance; indeed, in the Catechism we read that “it makes sacramentally present Jesus' call to conversion, the first step in returning to the Father from whom one has strayed by sin” (CCC1423). It is through this sacrament that we re-commit ourselves to going forward and sinning no more.
Whether or not you see yourself in the woman or in the crowd, this is an opportunity to think about where we are with the Lord and where we are going. Take a second and think about this: next Sunday is Palm Sunday. Holy Week begins next week! What better time is there to return to the Lord with our whole hearts and receive his mercy, for He is gracious and merciful (Jl 2:12-13)? Yes, the Lord says to us, “See, I am doing something new!” (Is 43:19); He is doing something new in us, making a way for us in the Lenten desert. Even if we go forth weeping in this desert, we will come back rejoicing (Ps 126:6). We can step forward and do our best to sin no more, growing in faithfulness and giving thanks to the Lord for His mercy, as we prepare for what is to come.