Breaking Open the Word - 5th Sunday of Lent, Year C
5th Sunday of Lent, Year C - April 3rd, 2022
This Sunday, we began the time traditionally known as “Passiontide” – those days leading up to the great feasts of our Redemption during Holy Week. How fitting, as we turn to a greater focus on Our Lord’s suffering out of love for us, that Mother Church offers us a beautiful Gospel about Christ’s love and mercy towards a particular sinner. The story of the adulterous woman is one of the most beloved passages in John’s Gospel, a little glimpse into the abyss of mercy that is the Heart of Jesus.
The Adulterous Woman — Christ Writing Upon the Ground by James Tissot
We began our Scripture sharing with a question many commentators have asked throughout the ages – what is Jesus writing on the ground? A number of theories have been put forward, but one of the most intriguing is that Our Lord is fulfilling a prophecy. In Jeremiah chapter 17, the prophet speaks of the “sins of Judah” being “written in the earth” because they have “forsaken the fountain of living water, the LORD.” By writing on the ground (perhaps even writing out their personal sins!) Jesus is equating the accusers with the stubbornly sinful people of Jeremiah’s time. The problem with the Pharisees and scribes in this scene is not so much that they are sinners – after all, the woman herself is obviously a sinner, and Christ treats her with great tenderness. Rather, the problem is their stubbornness and hardness of heart, their obstinate refusal to listen to God’s grace, their determination to “catch” Jesus by any means possible. It is easy to look on this as “their problem,” but Sister pointed out that we ourselves need to be cautious about having a similar attitude. Hopefully none of us are seeking to kill someone, but we can still be guilty of looking for faults in others, of waiting in judgment, of refusing to listen to what God might be saying to us through this person who annoys us. Perhaps this could be a good examination of conscience for each of us in these final Lenten days!
Another Sister shared how she was moved by considering the woman in this story as a symbol of all humanity. We are guilty, unquestionably so, and we stand before God with no ability to excuse or hide our sins. Just as the Pharisees are accusing the woman, so Satan (Hebrew for “accuser”) is blaming us before God. And yet, to our astonishment, we hear this judgment pronounced: “Neither do I condemn you.” We who deserved death are pardoned by a miracle of God’s mercy! But this forgiveness is not without cost. Next Sunday we will read how this same God incarnate takes our place, standing before Pontius Pilate to receive the judgment that we deserved: “Let Him be crucified!” As the Church will sing with awe on Holy Saturday night, “O wonder of Your humble care for us! … to ransom a slave, You gave away Your Son!” How can we respond to this unfathomable gift except by a total gift of ourselves in love to Him?
We also delved into the riches of the Second Reading from St. Paul’s letter to the Philippians. One Sister shared her insights on the line, “depending on faith to know Him and the power of His Resurrection …” According to St. John of the Cross, faith is the means by which we truly touch God. While our senses and imagination can bring us to the Lord, they can do so only indirectly, by means of created realities. Faith, on the other hand, is a direct contact with the Divine, and as such it is the surest way “to know Him and the power of His Resurrection.” In prayer, faith helps us to realize that we are speaking with a real Person, Who is not bound by our limited concepts – and the more open we become to the action of this transcendent Other, the deeper we will grow in our knowledge and understanding of His mysterious ways. Paul’s imagery of “attaining perfect maturity” underlines this truth. Maturity is not something we can just “get” overnight; it is a gift that must unfold slowly over time, like the opening of a rosebud.
Finally, we discussed the First Reading from Isaiah – specifically, God’s question: “See, I am doing a new thing … do you not perceive it?” At times we can feel “stuck,” discouraged by an apparent lack of progress in our own lives or in the world as a whole. Yet even in the midst of these spiritual “deserts,” the Lord gently asks us, “do you not see that I am at work in this, too?” Over and over again throughout salvation history, Church history, and our personal history, He has shown that no obstacle is too great for Him, and that He is marvelously able to bring good out of every situation. So next time we are faced with such a challenging time, why don’t we ask the Lord to activate the prophetic charism of our Baptism, so that we can truly see and understand the “new thing” that He is doing – and communicate this good news to others!