{"id":1787,"date":"2016-03-13T13:28:43","date_gmt":"2016-03-13T17:28:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/?p=1787"},"modified":"2016-03-13T13:28:43","modified_gmt":"2016-03-13T17:28:43","slug":"5th-sunday-in-lent-year-c-homily","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/5th-sunday-in-lent-year-c-homily\/","title":{"rendered":"5th Sunday in Lent, Year C – Homily"},"content":{"rendered":"

5th<\/sup> Sunday of Lent, Year C<\/a>
\nIsaiah 43:16-21
\nPsalm 126:1-2, 2-3, 4-5, 6
\nPhilippians 3:8-14
\nJohn 8:1-11
\nMarch 13, 2016<\/p>\n

Many people come to hear Jesus speak.\u00a0 Some may simply be curious.\u00a0 Others come with a deep faith while others come to test him.<\/p>\n

We see this in the scribes and the Pharisees who bring the woman caught in adultery to him.\u00a0 They would say that their interest is in upholding the law.\u00a0 There can be no disputing that she has broken the commandment against adultery.\u00a0 The punishment called for by Moses is clear, stoning.<\/p>\n

I have to wonder if these scribes and Pharisees are beginning to understand that Jesus would not be in favor of stoning but it doesn\u2019t really matter to them.\u00a0 If Jesus says to go ahead with the stoning, they will say the Romans do not allow them to do it and criticize Jesus for upsetting the Romans.\u00a0 If Jesus says not to stone him, they can say he doesn\u2019t follow the Mosaic Law.<\/p>\n

Of course, Jesus knows what they are thinking but he is not deterred.\u00a0 He takes their question about stoning and turns it into a moment of reflection and instruction.<\/p>\n

His first response could have anger or correction.\u00a0 Instead, Jesus first response is to say nothing.\u00a0 He writes something on the ground but we are never told what He writes nor does it seem to have any effect on the Pharisees and the scribes because they continued to ask Him about stoning her.<\/p>\n

So Jesus replies, \u201cLet the one among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.<\/em>\u201d\u00a0 Of course, the scribes and the Pharisees would like to respond that they are without sin because they claim to follow and uphold the Law.\u00a0 Yet, they do not respond.\u00a0 They know that if they cast the first stone, Jesus will point out their sins.<\/p>\n

Nobody says anything but they go away one by one till it is just Jesus and the woman left.\u00a0 He tells her he does not condemn her and for her to go and sin no more<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Jesus does not change the law.\u00a0 He never says that adultery is now ok.\u00a0 The commandment remains to not commit adultery.\u00a0 Likewise, He does not argue what Moses said about stoning such people.\u00a0 He never tells the woman that her sin was ok.\u00a0 He says go and sin no more.\u00a0 That means she sinned or He won\u2019t have said no more.<\/p>\n

Jesus does not condemn her or us.\u00a0 If Jesus simply wanted to condemn sinners, He did not need to come into the word.\u00a0 The Law was already in place.<\/p>\n

Jesus came to do something \u201cnew\u201d.\u00a0 Jesus came to show us the way of forgiveness.\u00a0 Yes, she sinned and so has everyone else.\u00a0 So stop judging!<\/p>\n

When I say \u201cnew\u201d I need to make a clarification.\u00a0 To the people the forgiveness that Jesus shows could be seen as new as opposed to the punishment from God in the Old Testament.\u00a0 However, forgiveness is not new.\u00a0 For instance, remember how when the people made a molten calf as an idol to worship.\u00a0 God could have punished them but He forgive them.\u00a0 The Old Testament has numerous stories of God\u2019s forgiveness.<\/p>\n

It is easy for us to judge!\u00a0 We have the Bible that helps us to identify sins.\u00a0 We know, well we should know, what the Bible teaches.\u00a0 We could look at people and say they are terrible for breaking the commandments.\u00a0 They we can get self-righteous and start judging them for anything they do differently than the way we would.\u00a0 We put ourselves on the pedestal of pride.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve mentioned in recent weeks that one of the spiritual works of mercy is to \u201cadmonish the sinner\u201d but this is not a call to judge.\u00a0 It is a call to help others turn their lives to Christ.\u00a0 It is meant to be an act of compassion, not judgment.<\/p>\n

Who are we to judge?\u00a0 What is to be gained by judging?<\/p>\n

Which is more helpful to the woman who had been caught in adultery?\u00a0 To stone her, which meant death, leaving her no chance to repent or to acknowledge her sin with compassion and mercy and to hope that leads her to repent?<\/p>\n

God wants us to repent and receive his mercy.<\/p>\n

Do we see the Sacrament of Reconciliation as judgment or mercy?\u00a0 The penances given in years long past used to be very rigorous, lasting weeks sometimes.\u00a0 We were motivated more by guilt to confess than seeking mercy.<\/p>\n

When I sit in the confessional, I choose not to judge.\u00a0 I think of my own sins and am motivated to mercy.\u00a0 The goal of anything I say in the confessional is not judge.\u00a0 The goal is to help people live as Jesus teaches us.\u00a0 Jesus teaches us to forgive.<\/p>\n

We need God\u2019s forgiveness.\u00a0 We want <\/em>God\u2019s forgiveness.\u00a0 That\u2019s why I was in the confessional for seven hours this past Wednesday.\u00a0 The only reason I could do this was the grace of the sacrament.\u00a0 In the Sacrament of Reconciliation, the one confessing receives the grace of forgiveness.\u00a0 In being the one hearing the confessions, I receive the grace to be God\u2019s instrument in the sacrament.\u00a0 That\u2019s how I went for seven hours without a break.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t take a break because I didn\u2019t need a break. Honestly, it was probably the best day so far this year for me.<\/p>\n

God\u2019s forgiveness and mercy is a powerful thing for the one receiving it and for the one offering to others.\u00a0 Who do you need to forgive?\u00a0 Who can you bring God\u2019s mercy to?\u00a0 Doesn\u2019t it feel good to forgive?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

5th Sunday of Lent, Year C Isaiah 43:16-21 Psalm 126:1-2, 2-3, 4-5, 6 Philippians 3:8-14 John 8:1-11 March 13, 2016 Many people come to hear Jesus speak.\u00a0 Some may simply be curious.\u00a0 Others come with a deep faith while others come to test him. We see this in the scribes and the Pharisees who bring …<\/p>\n

Continue reading ‘5th Sunday in Lent, Year C – Homily’ »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[82,150],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pMTPk-sP","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1787"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1787"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1787\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1788,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1787\/revisions\/1788"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1787"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1787"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1787"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}