Homily for the 5th Sunday of Lent, Year C

“GO AND SIN NO MORE!”

Fr. Marcel Divine Emeka Okwara CSsR

Homily for the 5th Sunday of Lent, Year C

Holy Names Catholic Church

Memphis, TN

Last Sunday’s Gospel was about the story of the Prodigal Son. This Sunday’s Gospel is remarkably similar to that; it is the story of a woman caught in the act of adultery. Each of these two Gospels presents:

A sinner

An accuser and heartless accusers

And a judge

The sinner in last week’s Gospel (4th Sunday of Lent) is the Lost Son; the sinner in today’s Gospel is the adulterous woman. The accuser in last week’s Gospel is the elder son who preferred his younger brother stayed lost. He was angry that his father had welcomed his wayward younger brother home with a lavished party; in anger, disappointment and frustration, he refused to join the feasting. The accusers in today’s Gospel are the Scribes and the Pharisees. The judge in last week’s Gospel who was represented by the father of the two boys is God; and the judge in today’s Gospel is the Son of God, Jesus Christ. In these two Gospels, Jesus and his Father brandished their weapons which are compassion, mercy, love and forgiveness.

In today’s Gospel taken from John 8: 1-11, the Scribes and the Pharisees had brought a woman who had been caught in adultery before Jesus. They wanted to use her to test Jesus so that they could have some charges against him. It is also possible they wanted Jesus to stamp and sign the stoning of the woman to death: “Teacher, this woman was caught in the very act of committing adultery. Now in the law, Moses commanded us to stone such women. So what do you say?” But Jesus demonstrated he was by far wiser than all of them. Instead of falling into their trap, the Lord demanded “Let the one among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” Of course the demand of Jesus was insurmountable because all have sinned. Since all have sinned, their only response to the demand of Jesus was to walk away: “And in response, they went away one by one, beginning with the elders.” By this time, Jesus was all alone with the adulterous woman. In consonance with his nature, the Lord, unlike the heartless accusers offered mercy, forgiveness and restoration to the woman: “Neither would I condemn you. Go, and from now on do not sin any more.”

From this Gospel, the Lord has shown us that only the person who is without fault has the right to judge and condemn the fault of others. Remember in the Gospel of Matthew 7: 1, he had said “Judge not so that you may not be judged.” We cannot pretend to be faultless, attempting to remove the little speck of dust in our brother’s or sister’s eye when we have a plank in our own eyes. In life, it is usually easy to demand standards from others that we never even try to meet ourselves. Several times we condemn the faults in others which are very visible in our own lives. We easily judge others harshly of the same faults that we have. Remember the story of King David and Prophet Nathan in 2 Samuel 12. None of us is perfect. The common weakness of all men and women means that only God has the right to judge. No one is good enough to condemn. From this Gospel, Jesus has shown us that the first reaction towards anyone who has made a mistake no matter how grave the mistake is, should be pity. When confronted with someone who has made a mistake, our first feeling should not be rejection: “If you can do something like that, I will have nothing to do with you.” Instead we should seek for ways to help our fallen brother or sister. When we ourselves err, we usually expect pity from others. We must always extend the same compassionate pity to our fallen brothers and sisters.

From this Gospel, Jesus has demonstrated that despite the fact that God is full of mercy and compassion, he expects us to strive for perfection. It is very important to consider how Jesus treated this woman. A distant look at this story might suggest a lax on the side of Jesus. One might mistakenly think that he was too lenient with sin as if sin does not really matter. But the Lord was not. He forgave the woman but quickly added “Go, and from now on do not sin any more.” Although the Lord has forgiven her, he still expected her to live a life of grace and union with God from now on by not sinning any more. Jesus did not say that sin does not matter because sin does matter. He did not say “Don’t worry; it is all right; it is human to sin and commit adultery.” Jesus expected the woman to change her life style, to abandon sin because it damages our relationship with God. Sin is a heavy burden; it lowers us and destroys us. Sin punishes us and brings us evil. In a word, sin is evil.

Jesus refused to pass judgment on the woman. He refused to join the Scribes and the Pharisees in condemning her to death. Jesus offered her a second chance: “I am not going to pass a final verdict now; but I want you to go and prove that you can do better,” the Lord seems to be telling her. The Lord’s attitude to the sinner involved a number of things:

Jesus gave her the second chance: You have messed up your life before now, but you are not yet a finished product; therefore I am giving you another chance to clean up yourself. In Jesus there is the gospel of the second chance. The Lord is interested not only in what a person had been but also in what a person could become. The greatest sinner today could become an amazing saint tomorrow. Jesus showed pity to the woman and that is the difference between him and the Scribes and Pharisees who wanted the woman dead. While the accusers of the woman prescribed punishment according to their law, Jesus prescribed compassionate pity according to new law of love.

Jesus’ attitude to the woman involves a challenge. After forgiving her he did not pretend all is well. He did not tell her “Don’t mind them, just go and try. If you are not able, that’s okay.” He said to her “I forgive you now, but you must change your behavior.” Jesus’ words to the woman “Go and do not sin again” speak volume of his belief in human nature. It is a staggering thing that Jesus should say to a woman of loose moral “Go, and do not sin again.” This demonstrates his belief that the worst today can become among the best tomorrow. When he was confronted with a terrible sinner, he did not say “You are doomed; you are terrible.” He said “You are not yet a finished product; but to redeem your image, you need to sin no more.” The Lord’s treatment of the woman involves a warning. The woman was forgiven. But she has to choose between going back to her old way of life and thereafter face the wrath of her accusers and eternal separation from God or follow the new way that Jesus expected her to follow.

From today’s gospel the age-long maltreatment of women by the men is once again exposed. It takes two people to commit adultery. But in this story, the woman was presented as the sinner. The question is “Where is her partner- the man?” The gospel story highlights the self-righteousness and the hypocrisy of the Scribes and Pharisees. But in today’s gospel, Jesus again emphasizes that he did not come to call the virtuous, but sinners.