topleft05.jpg (18208 bytes)HOMILY
 The Fifth Sunday in Lent (C)
28 March 04


 

I recently experienced Mel Gibson’s movie, “The Passion of the Christ.”  I hope you did, too.  You don’t just “see” this  movie, you “experience” it.  If you haven’t experienced “The Passion of the Christ,” I’d highly recommend that you do for moral and spiritual reasons not for the purpose of being entertained.

As I’ve said to many people since experiencing “The Passion of the Christ,” I don’t think I’ll ever be able to participate in Good Friday services without recalling the pain, suffering, and agony Jesus endured.  It’s one thing to read about the Passion in scripture (which I have) and it’s another thing to study about the tools of Roman torture in graduate course in ancient history (which I also have).  But, it’s an entirely different matter to see with one’s eyes and to experience in one’s soul what is, in my estimation, a very credible, non-fictional accounting of the historical facts surrounding the last twelve hours of Jesus’ life.

I’ve also remarked to several priests with whom I’ve talked about Gibson’s movie that I don’t think I’ll ever be able to celebrate “Mass” again without consciously reflecting upon what we used to call “The Sacrifice of the Mass.”  Each Sunday, the celebration of the Eucharist should draw us back to the awful reality Good Friday and draw us forward as well to the awesome reality of Easter Sunday both of which made possible the forgiveness of sins and everlasting life.  Gibson's “The Passion of the Christ” was important, I believe, for restoring that sense of balance which may have gotten lost in the typical post-Vatican II parish.

I introduced “The Passion of the Christ” not because I fancy myself a movie critic but because today’s gospel reminded me of one scene in that movie which was a flashback to the moment capturing Jesus writing something into the dirt as the woman caught in adultery stood between him and the religious leaders.  What I found particularly striking about this scene—especially when I compare it to the explicit realism Mel Gibson used to depict Jesus’ passion and death—is how highly sanitized this particular flashback is, in much the same way our memories of Jesus’ passion are highly sanitized if we just read the gospels or gaze upon the typical crucifix found in most Catholic churches or homes.  The gruesome reality of these matters is much more grim than our minds can possibly conjure up.  And yet, the sight of what most likely is historically accurate, as painful as it is to behold, teaches us not only what Jesus offered in the sacrifice of the Cross but also what Jesus offers us in the Sacrifice of the Mass.

Like Jesus’ cruel torture and execution in “The Passion of the Christ,” we need to behold the scene of the woman caught in adultery as it most likely unfolded in all of its explicit detail.

For example, the Jewish religious leaders—the Scribes and the Pharisees—quite likely had sent some of their “thugs” to the house of a well-known adulteress.  The gospel texts relates what happened, but it doesn’t capture the experience: “Then the scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery and made here stand in the middle.”  This wasn’t a bunch of nice fellows who were sent to the woman’s house.  No, they were marauders and mercenaries, paid to do the bidding of the religious authorities who were “too holy” to sully their hands in these and other such matters.  More than likely, these thugs had been instructed to pull both the woman as well as someone else’s husband from her bed and, then, to drag both of them to the place where the Scribes and Pharisees had conspired to confront Jesus.

In addition, the woman caught in the act of adultery had to be either completely naked or just barely covered, in contrast to being fully clothed as Gibson’s movie portrayed this scene.  Having been caught in the sinful act, she stood there both embarrassed and humiliated before the crowd of people the Scribes and Pharisees had gathered to witness the event they were orchestrating so that they could prove that Jesus was a fraud.  Don’t forget: the Scribes and the Pharisees didn’t give one whit about that woman or her salvation; they were using her as a prop to advance their political power and theological agenda.

Moreover, the woman’s feelings of embarrassment and humiliation probably had very little to do with her nakedness.  No, more likely than not, her feelings had very much to do with having been caught in flagrante dictu (a very durable Latin phrase, meaning, “in the flagrant act” or the more sanitized word “sin”).  What probably proved to be most embarrassing and humiliating for the woman was being exposed in public as the adulteress she knew herself to be and, now, everyone else knows her to be.  All of us know that it’s one thing to know that we’ve sinned; but, it’s quite another thing for us to expose our sin to another person; yet, it’s an altogether different matter to have our sin exposed in public for all to behold.  Those of us who have been embarrassed and humiliated when our sin has been made public know first-hand the powerful emotions of embarrassment and humiliation that certainly had to be coursing through the woman’s body as the truth of her sin was made public.

“Let the one among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her,” Jesus said in response not to the Jewish religious leaders political power and theological agenda but, instead, as Jesus addressed their more sinister motives.  In effect, Jesus challenged each of those pointing the finger of blame at the woman to look very carefully within themselves in order to make sure that they weren’t condemning themselves at the same time they were condemning her.  After all, maybe some of the Scribes and Pharisees had themselves been with this woman!  They may have known that they were as guilty of adultery as she was.  Be that as it may.  What we do know is that slowly, with their own consciences condemning them, the religious leaders—to a man—turn and leave, one by one, beginning with the elders.  Turning to the woman, Jesus said: “Woman where are they?  Has no one condemned you?”  And she replied, “No one, sir.”

Reflecting upon this exchange almost four hundred years following these events, St. Augustine cautioned his congregation to take heed of Jesus’ words.  St. Augustine was speaking to those in his congregation who might excessively hope in the idea of God’s mercy but forget the truth by which God will judge them.  St. Augustine was also speaking to those in his congregation who excessively despair because of their sinfulness yet belittle or forget the idea of God’s mercy.

First: about those who hope excessively in the idea of God’s mercy.

These people are correct in believing that, yes, God is merciful, God is good, and God is kind.  Unfortunately, their excessive hope allows these people to dupe themselves into believing they can do what they desire to do whenever they please.  People who follow along this pathway are in grave spiritual danger, St. Augustine notes, because their exaggerated hope in God’s mercy leads them to become forgetful of the fact that God’s love is balanced by His truth.  By overestimating the power of God’s love, these people mistakenly take comfort in the idea they can always change and amend their ways…tomorrow.  Then, with the dawn of each new day, people who possess an exaggerated hope in God’s mercy are more grateful for the delay of God’s judgment than they are for the new day’s opportunity to convert from sin and to amend their ways.

About these people in his congregation, St. Augustine warned:

The Lord is gentle, the Lord is long-suffering, the Lord is pitiful; but the Lord is also just, the Lord is also true.  He bestows on you time for correction; but you love the delay of judgment more than amending your ways.  Have you been bad yesterday?  So you think: “I’ll be good tomorrow.” Have you continued to sin today?  So you continue to think: “I can change tomorrow.”  And so it goes, day in and day out.  You are always expecting, and from God’s mercy you make exceedingly great promises to yourself.  In your mind, it is as if God, who has promised you pardon through repentance has also promised you a longer life.  How do you know what tomorrow will bring?  Rightly you say in your heart: “When I will have corrected my ways, God will put away all of my sins.”  I cannot deny that God has promised pardon to anyone who amends his ways and converts from sin.  But, even if every prophet has told us of God’s promise to pardon anyone who amends, there is no prophet who has told us that God has promised any one of us a longer life. (Tractate on the Gospel of John, XXXIII:7)
 

Yes, God is merciful, God is good, and God is kind.  God bears with sinners in order that they will convert from sin and amend their ways…today.  However, sinners who neglect to remember God’s truth and put off converting from sin and amending their ways do so in their false belief that there will always be a tomorrow.  But, Augustine argues, when those who hope excessively in God’s love are exposed to the light of truth on the day of judgment, these persons will—like the woman caught in adultery—not only be embarrassed and humiliated.  They will also have earned the righteous judgment of God Who will render to each of them according to their deeds.

Second, there are those whose excessive despair in the truth of their sinfulness leads them to forget the idea of God’s mercy.  Having fallen into grievous sin, these people believe that God cannot possibly pardon them, even if they are to repent.  Convinced they are doomed to condemnation, these people think to themselves: “Since I’m already destined to be condemned, why not just go ahead and do as I please?”

These people are also in grave spiritual danger, St. Augustine notes, because their exaggerated emphasis upon God’s truth hardens their hearts to the power of God’s love.  Lacking inner peace, the fear of God’s truth makes them desperate to avoid being exposed to the light of truth when they will be—like the woman caught in adultery—both embarrassed and humiliated.  What these persons should fear is the unimaginable grief they will experience not for having sinned but for having underestimated and turned their backs on the power of God’s love.

Those two types of people continue to be present in congregations like ours just as they were present in St. Augustine’s congregation almost sixteen hundred years ago.  Undoubtedly, times change but people don’t.  As the Romans used to say, “Nihil novum sub soli” (“Nothing’s new under the sun”).

“How then does the Lord treat those who are in danger from both of these maladies?” St. Augustine rhetorically asked his congregation.  His response was:

To those who are in danger from hope, the Lord says, “Be not slow to be converted, neither put it off from day to day; for suddenly His truth will come, and in the day of judgment, will utterly destroy you.”  To those who are in danger from despair, what does He say?  “No matter what the day you are converted, I will forget all of your sins.”  Accordingly, for the sake of those who are in danger by despair, the Lord has offered us a refuge of pardon; and because of those who are in danger by hope, and are deluded by delays, He has made the day of death uncertain.   Are you ungrateful because you have today during which you may improve? (Tractate on the Gospel of John, XXXIII:8)
 

Turning to the woman, Jesus said: “Woman where are they?  Has no one condemned you?”  And she replied, “No one, sir.”  Then Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you.  Go, and from now on do not sin any more.”  The power of God’s love has blotted out the past deeds of the woman caught in adultery.  God is merciful, God is good, and God is kind.  However, at the same time, Jesus reminds the woman caught in adultery to keep God’s truth always before her so that, when her days end, she will experience the fulfillment of all that God has promised.

These are the words St. Augustine wanted the members of his congregation to contemplate and these are words we should contemplate as well.  This scene is not just about the woman caught in sin but is also about all of us who sin.

But, at the same time, we must not deceive ourselves by overemphasizing our hope in God’s mercy or fear of God’s truth.  Each of today’s scripture readings beat this message over our heads time and again by reminding us that God has given us today to repent from our sins and to amend our ways.  “Remember not the events of the past, the things of long ago consider not; see, I am doing something new!” is what God told the prophet Isaiah to announce to the people of ancient Israel.  And, in today’s epistle, St. Paul reminds us:  “Just one thing: forgetting what lies behind but [strain] forward to what lies ahead….”  And, as Jesus said to the woman caught in the act of adultery: “Neither do I condemn you. Go, and from now on do not sin any more.”  On Easter Sunday morning, when we celebrate the forgiveness of sins and gift of eternal life that Jesus won for us through his passion, death, and resurrection, we will say with the Psalmist, “This is the day the Lord has made, let us rejoice in it and be glad.”  The fears associated with yesterday no longer count; hope for tomorrow doesn’t matter.

That we are guilty of sin, not one of us can deny.  Perhaps we first sinned because we wanted to be happy.  However, all of our ensuing choices have conflicted with God’s law as well as that of our conscience.  And, our concessions to sin and our failure to convert from sin and amend our ways have left us either too hopeful or too fearful to pursue the pathway God has created us and called us to pursue.  So, our desire to be happy and the compromises we’ve made have eroded our self-respect.  Now, we find ourselves lacking the inner peace we so deeply desire.  And, that is what bothers us.  But, when we overemphasize the power of God’s love, we put off what we know we should do...today.  And, when we overemphasize the fear of God’s truth, we delude ourselves into denying the power of God’s love because of what we did...yesterday.

As we heard in today’s gospel, when Jesus straightens himself up and looks at sinners like these, he will say: “Where are the people?  Has no one condemned you?”  Amazingly, no one will because all of us have sinned.  So, we also will reply like the woman caught in adultery, “No one, sir” and Jesus will say to us, “Neither do I condemn you.  Go, and from now on do not sin any more.”

When the crowds leave and we find ourselves standing there before Jesus—just as the woman caught in the act of adultery stood before Jesus—our lives will also be changed.  Who we truly are and what we have done in the past will no longer be hidden.  Yes, we will be both embarrassed and humiliated.  But, at the same time, we will experience the power of God’s love forgiving our sins.  All of those yesterdays won’t matter.  Then, armed with hope in the power of God’s love as well as fear of His truth, we will turn from sin.  And, instead of loving ourselves to death, we will choose to love God and neighbor as we love the person God has created each of us and called us to be…both today and into eternal life.  No longer will we need to hope in tomorrow.  “Today is the day the Lord has made.  Let us rejoice and be glad.”

 

 

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