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Homily for the fifth Sunday
of Lent - Year C - Jn. 8:1-11
by
Father Daniel Meynen
"Jesus went to the Mount of
Olives. Early in the morning he came again to the temple; all the
people came to him, and he sat down and taught them.
"The scribes and the
Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery, and placing
her in the midst they said to him, « Teacher, this woman has been
caught in the act of adultery. Now in the law Moses commanded us to
stone such. What do you say about her? » This they said to test
him, that they might have some charge to bring against him.
"Jesus bent down and wrote
with his finger on the ground. And as they continued to ask him, he
stood up and said to them, « Let him who is without sin among you
be the first to throw a stone at her. » And once more he bent
down and wrote with his finger on the ground. But when they heard it,
they went away, one by one, beginning with the eldest, and Jesus was
left alone with the woman standing before him. Jesus looked up and said
to her, « Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?
» She said, « No one, Lord. » And Jesus said, «
Neither do I condemn you; go, and do not sin again. »"
Homily:
"Jesus went to the Mount of
Olives. Early in the morning he came again to the temple; all the
people came to him, and he sat down and taught them."
Jesus was in the temple and
he taught the crowd: "All the people came to him." Jesus teaches the
crowd: he is the doctor of the law of love! Jesus is the incarnated
Word, he is the Word of God become a Man! It is he to whom we must
listen, because he has the words of eternal life. Saint Peter said it
thus: "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life;
and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One
of God." (Jn. 6:68-69) Let us imitate the Jewish people who rushed to
listen to the Lord, let us listen with the ear of our heart to the
breath of the Spirit of God who inspires us to live in virtue and to
flee sin. The Spirit is pure, because he is Holy, and his dearest
desire is to inspire in us purity of heart and body!
"The scribes and the
Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery, and placing
her in the midst they said to him, « Teacher, this woman has been
caught in the act of adultery. Now in the law Moses commanded us to
stone such. What do you say about her? »"
While Jesus, the doctor of
Heaven, inspires purity through his Spirit of Love, the doctors of the
earth, the scribes and the pharisees, wished to imitate him by
repressing vices of all kinds in their own way. But the intention of
the these earthly doctors was itself not pure! How unfortunate! To want
to fight impurity with an impure intention! What imposture! What deceit
and what duplicity! And Saint John concludes: "This they said to test
him, that they might have some charge to bring against him." That is
truly something that is typical of false and lying minds: to pretend to
do what is good with the intention of doing what is perverse! Yes!
Jesus is attacked by his enemies. Let us see how he defends himself...
"Jesus bent down and wrote
with his finger on the ground."
Jesus wrote: he didn't say
anything. But what did he write? Simply the truth! It is clear that the
scribes and the pharisees who interrogated Jesus had deceitful minds.
So Jesus wrote the truth, because only the truth can save us from sin.
Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life! And in Jesus, there is no
sin. The truth saves us from sin! When the scribes and the pharisees
looked at what Jesus wrote, they understood immediately that what he
wrote accused them of sinning! Their conscience was not clear, but
perhaps they still had enough honesty to have the courage to withdraw
in the face of the truth which Jesus put before their eyes. Perhaps it
was also due to fear of public opinion that they withdrew, confused and
ashamed to be publicly accused by the doctor of Heaven!
"Jesus looked up and said
to her, « Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?
» She said, « No one, Lord. » And Jesus said, «
Neither do I condemn you; go, and do not sin again. »"
The adulterous woman was
alone with Jesus. Those who wanted to condemn her had run away!
Definitely, while Jesus wrote on the ground, many things occurred in
the soul and in the mind of this woman! Would she have believed a short
while before that it would all end in this manner? Probably not. But
now, she had discovered the heart of Jesus: she saw someone defending a
sinner, and, in her heart, she turned to the one who wanted to save her
at any cost. She was converted while Jesus accused the scribes and the
pharisees. So Jesus, who knows all things, and who knows what happened
within the soul of this woman, does not condemn the one who is before
him; he merely says to her: "Go, and do not sin again."
This is also what Jesus
says to us today. "Go, and do not sin again." Let us desire in our
heart to live good lives, in the purity of heart and body. Let us
appeal to Mary, so that she intercedes for us: may Mary give us the
graces that we need in order for us to listen and to follow the voice
of the Spirit of God, her Spouse! May, Jesus-Eucharist, through Mary,
be our strength and our succor today and always!
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