Jesus: Condemn sin, not sinner

	Answering summons Summoned to Serve is the diocesan theme for 2000-2002. The theme is an outgrowth of Renew 2000 and the Jubilee Year. It invites Catholics to put their faith and spirituality into action by serving others through charity and justice. This series will look at ways to do that.

If you look at TV Guide you will see shows entitled: Judge Judy, Judge Hatchet, Power of Attorney and many other "live" courtroom scenes. Why are these shows so popular?

I believe part of the reason is that there's a part of us that likes to see people punished. Is it a sense of self-righteousness on our part? Do we think we are any better than those being punished on TV?

This Sunday's gospel (John 8:3-11) is a live courtroom scene. We know the story but do we really understand it?

A woman is caught in the act of adultery and is brought to Jesus by the scribes and the Pharisees. They said to him, "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?"

It should be noted that in the Book of Deuteronomy (Dt 22:23f), it is decreed that a betrothed virgin caught in the act of adultery is to be stoned. But in Leviticus (Lv 20:10) and Deuteronomy (Dt 22:22), an adulterous wife is also to be executed but it does not say how. Was Jesus being asked to decide which penalty would fit this crime?

Who really is on trial? I would suggest that the scribes and Pharisees are putting Jesus on trial, while Jesus is putting the scribes, the Pharisees, and you and me on trial.

First, let us look at the Pharisees and scribes. If their purpose was only to obey the law, the woman would have been stoned to death already. Therefore, they did not bring this woman before Jesus out of respect for Jesus' wisdom. They were there to trap Jesus. Would he defend the law (stone the woman) or oppose the law?

If he defends the law, he would be an accomplice to a horrifying death, which probably would be seen by his disciples. If he chooses against the law he looks like he condones the woman's sin and is forgiving a grave sin. Of course, Jesus took the third way, the higher road. He dismisses her wrongdoing, and universalizes the reality of sin in the scribes and Pharisees and everyone who reads or listens to this message.

So let's go back to the story. Who is going to throw that first stone? Is there anyone free of guilt in Jesus' world or ours? We are trapped just like they were 2,000 years ago. If they throw the stone, it would be a wild claim of holiness on their part. Yet if they do not throw a stone they have just confessed their guilt and their sins publicly. It is checkmate by the Lord on all of us.

The beauty of this story is that we see Jesus' readiness to forgive the woman's sin. He does not condone the sin of adultery, nor does he condone our sins. Sin is not trivial to God. But more important is forgiveness, a healing of our soul, so as to begin again with a new outlook. Jesus literally gave this woman a future. His only advice, "Go and sin no more." She was not to look back, but instead move on as she was given a new lease on life.

Lent is a time for us to be renewed and a time for us to be instruments of God's forgiving touch. Jesus tries to give us new life through his mercy and forgiveness and asks us to pass his mercy and forgiveness on to others. Like the woman caught in adultery, we too can only stand in silence before the Lord in our own sinfulness. Yet what Jesus did for that woman, he can also do for us. He condemns the sin, but not the sinner.

The crowd asked Jesus in this story, "What do you say?" He turns the question back to us with the people we believe are caught doing wrong, "What do you say?" There will be an opportunity soon where you and I will answer that question.

It could be our Easter moment.

(Fr. Kabat is pastor of St. Mary Parish, Greenleaf, and officialis of the Green Bay Diocese's Marriage Tribunal.)