5th Sunday Lent C - Homily 6

Homily 6 - 2022

I wonder if the woman in today’s story learnt anything from her close shave with death? I wonder if she learnt anything from her encounter with Jesus? I wondered myself during the week what I could learn from my pondering on the story.

Jesus told the woman to “sin no more”, so he seems to have presumed that her adultery was voluntary on her part, and that she was not a victim of abuse [though it is interesting that her male accusers, scribes and Pharisees, did not seem concerned about bringing her accomplice to justice.]

The text noted, “Jesus was left alone with the woman, who remained standing there. He looked up …”. Can we assume from his remaining bent down and so choosing to look up at the woman that he was prepared to take her human dignity seriously, rather than stand up straight and look down on her, to threaten or to dominate her?

The conversion incident of St Paul on the road to Damascus, where he had a mysterious encounter with the risen Christ, comes to my mind. Not long before that incident, Paul had been an accomplice in the lynching by stoning of St Stephan. The fact of Paul’s obvious sinfulness was irrelevant to Jesus — who went on to call Paul to conversion and to greatness.

Jesus said two interesting things to the woman, the first of which was, “I do not condemn you”. That’s fascinating! But before we get carried away, he also said, “Don’t sin any more”. Jesus does not “condemn” anyone — but he is prepared to name and challenge sinful behaviour. The Gospel is full of that. Sinful behaviour is always destructive, either of others’ dignity or of our own. But Jesus maintains his wonderful respect for us, whatever our sin. That can seem quite confusing to us if we take the trouble really to think about it.

In instructing the woman to “sin no more”, Jesus was challenging her to mature. He did not say, as the scribes and Pharisees may have been inclined to say, “Do not break the law again”. So much of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount was about going beyond law to the values that laws are meant to protect. But to recognise and appreciate value is a call to grow up, to move beyond mere conformity. We are not called to march thoughtlessly in step but to become the individual persons we have been made to be, by using our minds, our hearts and our wills. More than that, the issue of “sin” assumes that we are able to recognise that who we are and how we act in this world bring us into relationship with God. Our behaviour resonates into eternity.

Paul went on to a profound insight into God and a deep relationship with Jesus, the Christ. Today’s Second Reading illustrated that beautifully, “All I want is to know Christ ,,,”; “I believe that nothing can outweigh the supreme advantage of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord ...”; “I am no longer trying for the perfection … that comes from the Law, but I want only the perfection that comes through faith in Christ…”.

I hope that the woman in today’s Gospel story went on, like Paul, to a deep, life-changing relationship with Jesus.