Fifth Sunday of Lent, John 8,1-11

Mercy (Jn 8:1-11)
Not only to remember the mercy of Jesus but also to learn to receive it ourselves and help others come to it.

Let us examine ourselves to see if we are not among the people who claim that God is like a policeman or a spy who watches us day and night, writes down everything, our good and bad deeds. One may also ask: Why is God so strict? But He is not our enemy, and certainly not against us. We must not consider God a computer that continuously records something about us. God is not a machine.

Today’s Gospel presents Jesus to us in a very different way. It gives him to us as the most incredible mercy. To the woman caught in adultery, he says: “Neither do I condemn you. Go and sin no more.” (Jn 8:11)!

In the words of Jesus, today’s Gospel passage culminates. The Gospel shows sinners at the moment when they accuse other sinners before Jesus. We can have multiple perspectives on the passage about the woman caught in sin and the behavior of those who brought her before Jesus. It is important to remember that the gospel leads us to humble ourselves and acknowledge our sinfulness and that forgiveness of our sins comes from Jesus. The recipient of the gospel is each one of us. Through the gospel, we have a personal encounter with Jesus. For we are the blind, the lame, the deaf, the dumb, the extravagant, and today we realize that we are also the condemners of others; we do not see our sins but only the sins of others.
The Pharisees are self-confident, content with their pseudo-righteousness. But they will not receive the mercy that the woman they brought to Jesus received. The woman is aware of her situation. According to the Mosaic Law, for her weakness in which she was caught and is now accused, she faces the penalty of death by stoning. It is true that in the days of Christ, such punishments were rarely carried out. But the Pharisees were not so much concerned about the woman as they were about attacking Jesus, whom they hated because He thought differently than they did. He rebuked them for their hypocrisy and drew people after him. They tempted Jesus so they could accuse him. The response they expected from Jesus was, in their view, to be either strictly rigoristic or lax. And one answer or the other was to be used against Jesus. He found himself having to take a stand on the fate of a man dragged into accountability through the authority of power. But Jesus did not reject justice and righteousness, nor did he reject mercy, but he gave justice and mercy their true meaning. The Pharisees did not count on such a masterful response. Jesus said to them: “He among you who is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.” (Jn 8:7). In these words, the Pharisees understood that they, too, were not without sin. There are other sins than adultery. They, too, have their vices. Jesus taught them a moral lesson with a few words. By what right do you, who are also sinners, want to condemn another horribly’s sin? Who has given you the right, the power? The Pharisees knew one another. They knew of their dishonesty. Someone may immediately ask: And where was the woman’s accomplice? The Pharisees were known for their pride, spiritual insincerity, falsity, hostility, and willful blindness; suddenly, they felt it in their throats. They would not stoop to an answer. They drop from their hands the stones they wanted to use against the woman and realize they should use them against themselves. They leave. The evangelist John writes: “As they heard this, one by one – beginning with the elders – they fled away until he was left alone with the woman who stood in the midst” (Jn. 8:9). They left, but their shame had nothing to do with the woman’s humility and humiliation. They walked away and, in so doing, renounced themselves to obtain forgiveness.

It would seem that the silent demeanor of Jesus as He writes on the ground with His finger means nothing. Let us realize a painful thing. We could certainly see the pain in his face. What the apostle expressed in the words, “For God hath shut up all men in unbelief, that he might have mercy on them all.” (Rom. 11:32). The fact that no one condemned the sinful woman is not to be understood in the context of the words of the Lord Jesus, “He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.” (Jn. 8:7), but in connection with the words, “Neither do I condemn you. Go and sin no more.” (Jn. 8:11)! For Jesus suffered for all to obtain forgiveness for all, and for that cause, no one can condemn another before God any longer.

A serious memento. A reproach? The Pharisees wanted to avoid admitting their sins and didn’t want to call them by their proper name. Such behavior has not gone down in history. The present speaks of frequent and identical behavior by Christians. And in doing so, they avoid claiming forgiveness from God. Even to hear that forgiveness, sin, grace is an invention of theologians, of men. After all, they make up their ethics and tell themselves that they are ordinary people. And even when they act and behave according to what suits them, what they like, what is modern, without scruples, ignoring the principles of Christian morality. They look and consider more at the transient and material things than at the eternal and spiritual values. Thus, they realize the saying: “The crow sits by the crow, and the equal seeks the equal.” Or: “Wolf to wolves.”

One man, not a firm believer, There was one man, not a firm believer, who regularly confessed to his pastor. His confessions, he said of them himself, could be likened to a broken record. The same sins, and one grave sin, in particular, kept recurring. The parish priest-confessor said to him: “You cannot make fun of the Lord God during one confession. Remember that this is the last time I will absolve you from this sin.” Two weeks later, the sinner was again in confession and confessed as before. Then the confessor lost patience and said: “I warned you that you would no longer receive absolution. This will teach you…” With his head down and all red, the poor man walks away. Right above, the confessional hung across. The man stared at the Crucified One. The plaster Jesus on the cross came to life, lifted His hand, stretched it out over the sinner, and said: “Thy sins are forgiven thee.

The sinner in the Gospel was looked down upon until her encounter with Jesus. She was groped and insulted. Christ looked at the woman quite differently. He looked with love. Jesus teaches us to love sinners and hate sin. Let us never agree with sin and accept sin. But let us always approach sinners knowing that they need help from God and us. It is right then to keep the words in mind and in our hearts: “Neither do I condemn you. Go and sin no more.” (Jn 8:11)! This is especially so because we can quickly condemn a person for his sin and not help him. And yet, we do not know why he felt that way, what the circumstances were, the causes, etc. And we lack love.

Every sinner cannot be treated the same. Everyone is different. We need to be mindful of the situation. God uses various methods of mercy. God longs so much for us. He wants very much to rid us of our weaknesses.
The woman says: “I lost true happiness for four long years. I fell in love with a married man. We married civilly, and I talked myself into silencing my conscience. My Jesus didn’t leave me even then; they only waited, suffering, for me to return from my sinful journey. Life without God is a terrible specter. Conscience calls out to return and be reconciled to Him. I knelt to pray, my mouth going slack; I felt I was speaking into the void. I walked into the church, feeling like an unnecessary spectator. I gazed with envy at those who approached the Sacrament of Reconciliation. In those years, I began to appreciate what Jesus was giving me, the Sacrament of Reconciliation. I realized more and more that I could not and could not live without Him. Nothing made me happy, no earthly goods, no good man, no child, and no money. Until I began to pray that all this would end. And God heard me. My husband’s side of the family influenced him to leave me. He took the baby away from me too. I could never have done it. It was a horrible thing to experience at the time, and it turned into joy at the same time. I thanked God that it was over. I couldn’t deal with my shame for some time until I heard that there were missions nearby. I went to the Sacrament of Reconciliation. What I experienced after absolution is indescribable.
Yes, the Gospel tells us about the mercy of God, about love, forgiveness, but God wants our consent, our yes. And our yes is our faith in Christ. He must have the first and most honored place in our lives. He is our God. As we renounce sin repeatedly, we are strengthened in our love for Christ. And that is what we want at the end of Lent. We realize the significance of Christ’s suffering for our sins.

God is not and has not been a policeman or a spy against us, and He has no pleasure in remembering our sins. Yes, He is a righteous Judge, but He is also a merciful Savior, and we must not forget that. We already desire to make the best Sacrament of Reconciliation today. We want to part with every conscious and voluntary sin. We want to make amends for the harm we have done to someone by our sin. We want to break ties with every inclination to sin. We want to live in Christ and have Christ live in us.