April 4, 2022
Paulist Fr. Rich Andre preached this homily on the Fifth Sunday of Lent (Year C) on April 3, 2022, at St. Austin Catholic Parish in Austin, TX. The homily is based on the day’s readings: Isaiah 43:16-21; Psalm 126; Philippians 3:8-14; and John 8:1-11.
The word “Lent” comes from the German word for “springtime.” At this point in Lent, we have come from the barrenness of Ash Wednesday to a time when spring is inevitable. And when we hope, we learn, once more, that we will not be disappointed. We’ll approach the gospel today in a more meditative way than usual. We’ll use an ancient prayer technique from the Christian tradition called simple contemplation.
Contemplation requires us to sit in silence together, perhaps even with our eyes closed. It helps to sit up straight, with our feet flat on the floor, and take slow, deep breaths. We will surely get temporarily distracted. Perhaps a baby will cry, loud traffic will rumble by, a cell phone will ring, or our minds will wander. Let’s not get upset. God is in the distractions, too. Let’s just say to ourselves, “Oh well,” and gently guide ourselves back to prayer.
Simple contemplation invites us to insert ourselves into the scene of the gospel story. Perhaps we’re an unnamed bystander in the scene. Perhaps we try to see the viewpoint of one of the characters in the narrative. What do we see? What do we hear? Let’s explore deeply with our hearts. The most important questions to ask, as we insert ourselves into the scene, are: What do we notice? What do we feel? To what does God invite us?
Throughout today’s Liturgy of the Word, we will hear the gospel passage proclaimed three times. Each time, I will give some guidance on how to enter the scene, and then, we’ll sit quietly in simple contemplation for a few minutes.
Let us open ourselves to God’s healing love.
[After the opening prayer, but before the first reading:]
We will now hear our gospel passage proclaimed for the first time. This time, imagine that you are one of the Pharisees bringing the woman in front of Jesus.
- What do you see?
- What do you hear?
- What do you feel as one of the Pharisees in this scene?
Jesus went to the Mount of Olives.
But early in the morning he arrived again in the temple area,
and all the people started coming to him,
and he sat down and taught them.
Then the scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman
who had been caught in adultery
and made her stand in the middle.
They said to him,
“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?”
They said this to test him,
so that they could have some charge to bring against him.
Jesus bent down and began to write on the ground with his finger.
But when they continued asking him,
he straightened up and said to them,
“Let the one among you who is without sin
be the first to throw a stone at her.”
Again he bent down and wrote on the ground.
And in response, they went away one by one,
beginning with the elders.
So he was left alone with the woman before him.
Then Jesus straightened up and said to her,
“Woman, where are they?
Has no one condemned you?”
She replied, “No one, sir.”
Then Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you.
Go, and from now on do not sin any more.”
Again, what do you experience as a Pharisee in this story? What do you feel? What do you notice? We’ll sit in contemplation for a while. [Pause for 60 seconds. Then ask:] To what is God inviting you? [Pause another 30 seconds before going on.]
[After the resporial psalm:]
We’ll now hear the gospel passage proclaimed a second time. This time, imagine that you are Jesus.
- What do you see?
- What do you experience, as Jesus?
Jesus went to the Mount of Olives.
But early in the morning he arrived again in the temple area,
and all the people started coming to him,
and he sat down and taught them.
Then the scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman
who had been caught in adultery
and made her stand in the middle.
They said to him,
“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?”
They said this to test him,
so that they could have some charge to bring against him.
Jesus bent down and began to write on the ground with his finger.
But when they continued asking him,
he straightened up and said to them,
“Let the one among you who is without sin
be the first to throw a stone at her.”
Again he bent down and wrote on the ground.
And in response, they went away one by one,
beginning with the elders.
So he was left alone with the woman before him.
Then Jesus straightened up and said to her,
“Woman, where are they?
Has no one condemned you?”
She replied, “No one, sir.”
Then Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you.
Go, and from now on do not sin any more.”
Again, what do you experience as Jesus in this story? What do you feel? What do you notice? We’ll sit in contemplation for a while. [Pause for 60 seconds. Then ask:] To what is God inviting you? [Pause another 30 seconds before going on.]
[After the gospel acclamation:]
For this third time, imagine that you are the woman in this story.
- What do you hear?
- What do you feel?
Jesus went to the Mount of Olives.
But early in the morning he arrived again in the temple area,
and all the people started coming to him,
and he sat down and taught them.
Then the scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman
who had been caught in adultery
and made her stand in the middle.
They said to him,
“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?”
They said this to test him,
so that they could have some charge to bring against him.
Jesus bent down and began to write on the ground with his finger.
But when they continued asking him,
he straightened up and said to them,
“Let the one among you who is without sin
be the first to throw a stone at her.”
Again he bent down and wrote on the ground.
And in response, they went away one by one,
beginning with the elders.
So he was left alone with the woman before him.
Then Jesus straightened up and said to her,
“Woman, where are they?
Has no one condemned you?”
She replied, “No one, sir.”
Then Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you.
Go, and from now on do not sin any more.”
We’ll sit in contemplation one final time. What do you experience as the woman forgiven by Jesus? What do you feel? What do you notice? We’ll sit in contemplation for a while. [Pause for 60 seconds. Then ask:] To what is God inviting you? [Pause another 30 seconds before going on.]
We could argue that all the characters in this story were motivated by love, but they had wildly different ideas of what love was.
The scribes and Pharisees were motivated by love of the Law. They were trying to trap Jesus because they felt that he was undermining the Scriptures. But their love of the Law took a back seat to vengeance. The Torah called for the testimony of witnesses and for punishing both people engaged in the act of adultery. The scribes and the Pharisees were more interested in tripping up Jesus than fulfilling the Law.
We know next to nothing about the woman in this story. Even if she loved the man with whom she committed adultery, she did it at the expense of the man to whom she was married. Where was her lover now? He apparently made little attempt to defend her as she was being dragged to her death. She was now an object, subject to a game of brinksmanship among religious authorities.
Jesus of Nazareth shows us another vision of love, a love that treats every person as a beloved child of God. Not only was the woman’s life at risk, so was his. The scribes were looking for ways to entrap him, to condemn him for violating the Law. Yet, facing the pressure to respond, Jesus disengages from the debate.
When our lives seem to be in chaos… when we feel abandoned by everyone we know… when we feel that we’re going to die in a precarious situation… it just might be that we are about to experience God’s mercy, presence, and love beyond our imagination. The scribes and the Pharisees sought blame, but they found humility. The woman sought love in the wrong places, but she found it in Jesus’ merciful heart. No matter how terribly we have been treated by others, no matter how gravely we have sinned, Jesus gives each of us the opportunity for a new beginning, a new springtime, if you will. When we acknowledge our pain, our sins, and our loneliness, we allow them to be transformed by the warmth of the Son of God’s unearned, unmerited, unconditional love.
“The Rose” by Amanda McBroom
Some say love, it is a river that drowns the tender reed.
Some say love, it is a razor, that leaves your soul to bleed.
Some say love, it is a hunger, an endless aching need.
I say love, it is a flower, and you its only seed.
It’s the heart afraid of breaking that never learns to dance.
It’s the dream afraid of waking that never takes the chance.
It’s the one who won’t be taken who cannot seem to give,
And the soul afraid of dying that never learns to live.
When the night has been too lonely and the road has been too long,
and you think that love is only for the lucky and the strong,
Just remember, in the winter, far beneath the bitter snows,
lies the seed that with the sun’s (Son’s?) love,
in the spring, becomes the rose.
Podcast photo credit: Robert Hensley via Flickr / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0