The theme that pervades through the readings is that God makes all things new
A church had a man in the choir who couldn't sing.
Several people hinted to him that he could serve in other places, but he continued to come to the choir.
The choir director became desperate and went to the pastor.
"You've got to get that man out of the choir," he said. "If you don't, I'm going to resign. The choir members are going to quit too. Please do something."
So the pastor went to the man and suggested, "Perhaps you should leave the choir."
"Why should I get out of the choir?" he asked.
"Well, five or six people have told me you can't sing."
That's nothing," the man snorted. "Fifty people have told me that you can't preach!"
Stubbornness of people
Look at the stubborn attitudes of Pharisees and scribes!
The scribes and Pharisees had no regard for the woman caught in adultery and brought her to the master. They were only interested in using her to try to trap Jesus. They had no regard for the fact that she may not have initiated the sin; she may have been led into it by their own men. But Jesus is full of compassion. Jesus handles delicately this serious offence. He challenges both the accused and the accusers: he calls on both to look deep into their hearts and examine them. Jesus has his final words to the woman “go away and don’t sin any more” and these words will never be forgotten till the end of times. Jesus transforms her into a new person. Jesus places a bigger challenge before the accusers. He asks them to consider their own actions and their own shortcomings. He tells them to look into themselves before passing any judgment on others. He bends down and writes into the mud or sand. No one knows what Jesus wrote on the ground but some people suspect Jesus wrote the sins of the scribes and Pharisees. Notice also that it was the eldest who went away first. Perhaps the eldest had committed more sins; the persons who had lived longer had more to be sorry about in their own lives. Although Jesus has forgiven the woman her sin he expects her to live from now on a life of grace and union with God by not sinning any more. Jesus doesn’t say that sin does not matter because sin does matter and damages our relationship with God. He only tells her not to sin anymore and to change her life completely. He restores the woman again, in two ways. He restores her spiritually by forgiving her, telling her he did not condemn her, while also insisting that she not sin again, and he restores her to society by saving her life and grants her forgiveness. In this story, the Scribes and Pharisees are presented as sinners, perhaps worse sinners than the woman. Not in their own eyes, of course, but in the eyes of Jesus and his Gospel they are totally lacking in the virtue of compassion. Their intention was to trap Jesus and put him to shame and ultimately it is they who go away in shame. The Pharisees and the Scribes were persons proud and arrogant, and they sat in judgment on others. They had no idea how to love, how to forgive but only how to observe the Law externally. They do not love the people that God loves. However, there is another element in the story which is not explicitly mentioned but is strongly implied. The woman has been dragged before Jesus as a pawn in a game. They wanted to find fault with Jesus on the observance of the law and his application to human kindness. They tell him that Moses had ordered in the Law to condemn such women to death by stoning. What is the response of Jesus? They hoped to put the rabbi who ate and drank with sinners, on a collision course with the sacred traditions coming from Moses. They hoped to condemn him from his own mouth. But, if he agreed with Moses, he belied his own teaching and behavior with sinners; but, if he rejected the Law of Moses, he could be denounced and labeled as no man of God. Further, the Jews had no authority to pass death sentence on any one. If they did they were punishable before the Roman law and Jesus would be accused as a person breaking the law. Jesus knew the trap too well and refused to give them any answer. But his knowledge surpasses all human knowledge that tells of love and forgiveness and the nameless woman is the beneficiary. Once Jesus challenged them regarding their own sinfulness, they move away one by one and St John says very clearly, beginning with the eldest. They knew too well that they had to be honest regarding their sinfulness and they could not publicly accuse a person while they were sinful. Only person who could have thrown the stone at the woman was Jesus himself and being a kind person he would rather give forgiveness. Now only Jesus and the woman are left. Her accusers were all gone and the one person remaining is not going to accuse her. “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you? Neither do I condemn you. Go away and do not sin anymore.” Unlike the Pharisees and Scribes, upholders of the Law, Jesus refuses to condemn her. Instead he gives her an opportunity to repent, to convert and change her ways. Jesus shows that he has come not to condemn but to save, to rehabilitate and to give new and enduring life. Now let us look at Jesus in this scene. First of all, Jesus does not deny the woman’s sin and before the law this was a grievous sin. Adultery involved an intimate sexual liaison between two people, at least one of whom is already married. It is a serious breach of trust in the marriage relationship and a serious act of injustice to the innocent partner in the marriage. The seriousness is really in this breach of trust and the injustice to one’s partner rather than the sexual activities, which, in this case, are secondary. The story does not tell us whether the woman was married or not. What is admitted by all – by Jesus, the Pharisees and the woman herself – is that she sinned. He is the one who forgives her and gives her a new life. In his wisdom, Jesus acts to restore every person in the story their sacred dignity. First of all, he claims his own dignity. He refuses to become a pawn in their hand or their plotting and scheming. Secondly, he restores the dignity of his enemies. Instead of allowing them to taint their hands with blood, he leads them to introspection. Not a single person threw a single stone. Jesus keeps the possibility of conversion open for them. Thirdly, he takes this violated, abused and battered woman and restores her to God given dignity. “Neither do I condemn you. Go, and do not sin again.” Here was God, restoring a weak, sinful, abused woman her human dignity. And then he encourages her to value her own sense of worth by not sinning again. The Eucharist is an expression and experience of God’s mercy and love.
