|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
A Woman Gets Caught .....
Mar
25
Written by:
Sunday, March 25, 2007
5th Sunday of Lent
March 25, 2007
A woman is caught in adultery (John 8:1-11). The Pharisees bring this unfortunate woman forward: the penalty for what she has done is stoning, and they are ready to let her have it. But first, they want to see if they can catch Jesus with her situation for good measure. Notice that Jesus doesn't answer them right away ... he quite ignores them at first. The Lord will sometimes appear not to hear us too ... but he is waiting ... waiting ... waiting for the right moment, or perhaps, the right request; but he always listens.
In an old Cecile B Demille movie, as Jesus writes on the ground in silence, Jesus is writing the sins down of those around the woman condemning her. As they recognize their own sins, one by one, they begin to drift away ... beginning with the oldest ... for the oldest have had the most time to commit sin. I like this touch, though we have no evidence this is what Jesus was writing. We do know that Jesus promises us that every sin confessed and repented of in this life will never be made public in the next! That's why the Sacrament of Reconciliation is such a great deal: it brings inner healing in this life and gets us off the hook in the next.
I had a niece named Miranda who died of a drug overdose two years ago this April (she would have been 22 this year). She spent most of her teenage years at Hillcrest. Right from birth, she exhibited an incredible number of behavioral issues that only seemed to get worse over time. In her last couple of years of life, we became aware that she had fetal alcohol syndrome, which was confirmed when she contacted her birth mother (she was adopted), who admitted that she drank heavily during the time she was carrying Miranda.
I mention this because a great deal of her odd behavior traits were explained by this,and no one was aware of it at the time. This is why Our Lord taught us that we are not the final judge of a person's character, He is. I can't help thinking about how many other mitigating circumstances there are out there for other issues you and I face, biological and other issues we are not even aware of.
Neither the woman caught in adultery, nor Miranda, are completely off the hook. Jesus does not deny her sins, and no matter what our issues, there is always some part of us that can be converted, can turn to the Lord and away from wrong-doing. Jesus does not deny the woman 's sin – he tells her to turn away from it, and forgives her. Fortunately for us, Jesus knows thatwe are made of clay, and he also knows what our issues are. Perhaps there are sinners in your own life with hidden issues that call for compassion rather than condemnation.
Father Gary
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|