Our gospel reading brings us to yet another encounter with the Lord's mercy in the story of the adulterous woman, a story of sin meeting grace.
While the Lord Jesus was teaching at the temple area one morning, "the scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery and made her stand in the middle." Then they laid out to the Lord their case against the woman: "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?"
The sin of adultery involves two persons, yet only the woman was being publicly charged and shamed. Notice too that the scribes and Pharisees had already judged and condemned her to death by stoning in accord with Mosaic law. But their hearts were motivated not by a sense of justice and righteousness but by a ploy to test, trap and possibly charge Jesus.
Imagine how this woman felt. Her great guilt due to moral failure must have weighed heavily on her. Along with that, shame, hopelessness, isolation and fear.
The Lord's answer, "Let the one among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her" was like a bright light of truth that shone into the darkness of hearts of the woman's accusers. There was no one among them who was without sin. "All have sinned and are deprived of the glory of God" Romans 3:23. In accusing and judging the woman, these men were projecting to her their own sins which they refuse to see in themselves. We are reminded of Jesus’ words in Luke 6:41, “Why do you notice the splinter in your brother's eye but do not perceive the wooden beam in your own eye?”
The Lord Jesus, the only one without sin who can throw a stone, did not. Neither did He condemn the woman.
The scribes and Pharisees were convicted by the words of Jesus, such that they went away one by one, until only Jesus and the woman were left. Jesus asked her, "Where are they? Has no one condemned you?" She replied, "No one, sir." Jesus said, "Neither do I condemn you. Go and from now on, do not sin anymore."
The Lord's words were graceful, compassionate and merciful. By saying "Go...”, the Lord was not condoning the woman's sin. By His exhortation "Do not sin anymore", the Lord made it quite clear that adultery is a sin and that she must repent and turn her life around.
The Lord gave her an opportunity to cooperate with Him who was "doing something new" (Isaiah 43: 19) in her life, by "forgetting what lies behind but straining forward to what lies ahead... the goal, the prize of God's upward calling, in Christ Jesus" (Philippians 3:14).
The late Cistercian monk Andre Louf once wrote: “At the moment that the sinner receives forgiveness and is caught up by God and restored in grace, at that moment- wonder of wonders- sin has become the place where God enters into contact with a human being. One even may go further and say that there is no other way to encounter God and to learn to know him than by way of repentance”
What does the Gospel message mean for us who belong to the Lord's St. Elizabeth Ann Seton community?
Our life’s journey is the time of grace given us to meet, to experience, to know and to grow in God’s love and mercy.Our participation in His parish community is a grace given us to prepare today for the fullness of life with God in the future.
"The Lord has done great things for us; we are filled with joy.” Psalm 126:3.
We all need God's grace of forgiveness, continuing conversion and transformation. This grace abounds in our parish community, where Christ is in our midst and is our constant companion. Here we will not be judged or condemned but loved and nurtured. Here, we belong and are vital.
Through our own witnessing of repentant lives, let us help one another turn our lives toward the gracious mercy of God. “Even now, says the Lord, return to me with your whole heart; for I am gracious and merciful.”