Fr. Richard Ver Bust

Those who have sinned may repent

April 1, Fifth Sunday of Lent

In today's Gospel reading we have a situation in which Jesus faces the opposition of the Jewish authorities. They want to challenge him upon a point of law. In the end, Jesus shows them up for the harshness of their attitude.

The setting of the courtyard of the temple is a very public one. People are walking through the area. Jesus sat down and began to teach those who would listen. The scribes and Pharisees suddenly appear with a woman that they say they caught in adultery. The scribes and Pharisees pretend to be innocent of any trick and ask what Jesus would do, in the light of the Law of Moses, which prescribed stoning the woman. Would Jesus challenge the Law of Moses? They would have a cause then to bring charges against Jesus. The law at the time was controversial but they were looking for an excuse to put Jesus in difficulty. If he approved he also would be in trouble with the Roman authorities who apparently had said they alone had the right to sentence someone to death. Wouldn't the people see too that Jesus was not as merciful and full of compassion as he had taught?

No one suggests that the woman is innocent. She is only a pawn in the story being acted out. Jesus ignored their question and began to write something in the soft ground. What he was writing we will never know nor does it matter. They again challenged him. He then stood up and responded. He told them that as witnesses they, if they were without sin, should cast the first stones. He did not contest the Law. Again he bent down and began to write.

Jesus had refused to be caught in the test. Beaten, they retreated one by one until no one but Jesus and the woman remained. We can imagine that they were angry for the crowd probably would have treated them with contempt. They were the ones who were shamed.

Jesus treated the woman with compassion and said he would not condemn her. He did not excuse her sin but gave her an opportunity to change her life. We probably don't realize that in speaking to the woman he was breaking custom for a man did not speak to a strange woman especially in a public place. Remember the Samaritan woman who was surprised when Jesus spoke to her. So what Jesus had taught about mercy was something he lived in action. Those who have sinned always have an opportunity to repent and change their lives.

The prophet Isaiah teaches the same in the first reading. God was merciful to the people of Israel. God would bring them back from exile. Even though they had merited punishment God would rescue them once more. He would help them through the desert. The responsorial psalm repeats this thought and says that people who experienced the mercy of God would rejoice. They would laugh and sing for joy because God would do great things for them.

Finally Paul expresses the wonders of God's mercy that he has experienced. Once he had persecuted the Church but God did not hold that against him. God gave him the opportunity to serve that same Church. He would use it to continue his mission trusting in the mercy of God. We too should rejoice in God's forgiveness as we proceed through Lent. Our joy is in knowing a God who is so good.

(Fr. Ver Bust holds the title of professor emeritus in religious studies at St. Norbert College, De Pere.)