The texts from Roman Catholic Lectionary today inspire hope that our journey toward spiritual maturity will be marked by humility, thanksgiving, compassion, and mercy to others.
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| Journey to maturity |
The reading from the Prophet Isaiah is an image of promises from God of redemption and restoration after the Babylonian Exile.
* [43:18] Remember not: God’s new act of delivering Israel from the Babylonian captivity is presented as so great a marvel as to eclipse even the memory of the exodus from Egypt. This comparison of the return from Babylon to the exodus from Egypt recurs throughout Second Isaiah (cf. 41:17–20; 43:18–21; 48:20–21; 49:8–13; 51:9–11).1
In Psalm 126 the people rejoice that they are in Zion.
* [Psalm 126] A lament probably sung shortly after Israel’s return from exile. The people rejoice that they are in Zion (Ps 126:1–3) but mere presence in the holy city is not enough; they must pray for the prosperity and the fertility of the land (Ps 126:4). The last verses are probably an oracle of promise: the painful work of sowing will be crowned with life (Ps 126:5–6).2
The passage from the Letter to the Philippians declares Paul’s righteousness from God and his mission to go forward in Christ.
* [3:12–16] To be taken possession of by Christ does not mean that one has already arrived at perfect spiritual maturity. Paul and the Philippians instead press on, trusting in God.
* [3:12] Attained perfect maturity: possibly an echo of the concept in the mystery religions of being an initiate, admitted to divine secrets.3
The Gospel from John details the reaction of Jesus to a Woman Caught in Adultery.
* [7:53–8:11] The story of the woman caught in adultery is a later insertion here, missing from all early Greek manuscripts. A Western text-type insertion, attested mainly in Old Latin translations, it is found in different places in different manuscripts: here, or after Jn 7:36 or at the end of this gospel, or after Lk 21:38, or at the end of that gospel. There are many non-Johannine features in the language, and there are also many doubtful readings within the passage. The style and motifs are similar to those of Luke, and it fits better with the general situation at the end of Lk 21: but it was probably inserted here because of the allusion to Jer 17:13 (cf. note on Jn 8:6) and the statement, “I do not judge anyone,” in Jn 8:15. The Catholic Church accepts this passage as canonical scripture.4
Eileen Wirth thanks God for delivering her and for the gift of Jesus. We would ever be the same again because we had found a God of mercy and compassion who cares equally for all his children.
The leaders mockingly asked him whether they should stone Miriam as some sort of test. Then the miracle happened. Jesus said that any of them who had never sinned should throw the first stone. I watched in amazement as they slowly dropped their rocks like guilty children and left Miriam with Jesus.
He was so kind when he told her that he did not condemn her. I could see how relieved she was and also how changed she was. I wanted to embrace both of them but dared not intrude. But I wondered who is this Jesus who defends a powerless woman against our leaders? Had God sent him to save all of us?5
Jack Mahoney SJ, Emeritus Professor of Moral and Social Theology, from the Thinking Faith website examines the Luke influences and the John like features of The Woman Caught in Adultery.
He straightened up again and then for the first time she was addressed as a human being rather than just a religious pawn in the plan of the scribes and Pharisees: ‘Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?’ (Jn 8:10). On this, two comments seem appropriate, the first being that the term ‘woman’ which Jesus used here was not disparaging or looking down on the woman taken in adultery. In fact, it is a typically Joannine addition, and in John’s Gospel this was the way in which Jesus addressed women with courtesy and respect, as with Mary Magdalene at his resurrection (Jn 20:15) and his mother both at Cana and from the cross (Jn 2:4; 19:26). Perhaps, then, the address ‘Lady’ would be more appropriate than ‘Woman’, as indicating Jesus’s simple respect for this woman. The other point is that when Jesus asks, ‘has no one condemned you?’ the Greek verb used, katakrinein, is often employed as a legal term to express the idea of accusing or, further, of finding guilty. So perhaps it is more accurate to understand Jesus as trumping the attempt of his departing enemies to trap him by saying, in strict accuracy, ‘So no one has found you guilty?’ since the case had collapsed against her. To which the woman replied, ‘No one, sir’ (Jn 8:11), using the term kyrie, or ‘Lord’, possibly in respect or reverence, but certainly in gratitude to this man who had saved her life or at least prevented further humiliation.6
Peter Edmonds SJ, a member of the Jesuit community at Loyola House, shares the capture of Paul by Jesus in Philippians.
The gospel reading of the fifth Sunday of Lent gives us the story of Jesus and the woman caught in adultery (John 8:1-11). As preparation for this, we return to Paul’s Letter to the Philippians (3:8-14). This is one of the rare passages in Paul’s letters where he writes about himself. His hearers would be familiar with the athletic contests of those times such as the Isthmian Games. He compares his own activities before his conversion to Christ as a participation in a race, a race to persecute Christians. But before he reached the winning post, he was overtaken by Christ and what is more, regarded everything he had striven for previously as of no more worth than rubbish. He had been captured by Christ, a name he repeats six times in our passage. Certainly, he was determined to sin no more.
Paul can be taken as a model for the sinful woman in the gospel who was told by Jesus ‘to sin no more’. With Paul in Philippians, we are ‘to forget the past and strain ahead for what is still to come’. With him, we are ‘to know Christ and the power of his resurrection’. Our own encounters with the Christ, who is our Lord, give us the confidence to press on in the world in which we live, as people of faith and hope confident in the Lord’s forgiveness.7
Don Schwager quotes “A humble examination,” by Bede the Venerable, 672-735 A.D.
"In line with our usual human way of doing things, we can understand that the reason why the Lord might wish to bend before his unprincipled tempters and to write on the ground was that by directing his look elsewhere he might give them the freedom to go away. He foresaw that as they had been astounded by his answer, they would be more inclined to depart quickly than to ask him more questions... Figuratively speaking, the fact that both before and after he gave his opinion he bent and wrote on the ground admonishes us that both before we rebuke a sinning neighbor and after we have rendered to him the ministry of due correction, we should subject ourselves to a suitably humble examination, lest perhaps we be entangled in the same things that we censure in [our neighbors] or in any other sort of misdeeds. For it often comes about, for example, that people who publicly judge a murderer to be a sinner may not perceive the worse evil of the hatred with which they themselves despoil someone in secret. People who bring an accusation against a fornicator may ignore the plague of the pride with which they congratulate themselves for their own chastity. People who condemn a drunkard may not see the venom of envy with which they themselves are eaten away. In dangers of this sort, what saving remedy is left for us except that, when we look at some other sinner, we immediately bend down - that is, we humbly observe how we would be cast down by our frail condition if divine benevolence did not keep us from falling? Let us write with a finger on the ground - that is, let us meticulously ponder with discrimination whether we can say with blessed Job, 'For our heart does not censure us in all our life' (Job 27:6), and let us painstakingly remember that if our heart censures us, God is greater than our heart and he knows all things." (excerpt from HOMILIES ON THE GOSPELS 1.25)8
The Word Among Us Meditation on John 8:1-11 invites us to try to imagine what happened next for this woman.
Jesus’ refusal to condemn her must have affected her to the core. His act of mercy saved her life, not just physically, but spiritually as well. Maybe she was so grateful to Jesus that she became one of his followers. Maybe she went back to her husband to be reconciled. One thing we can’t imagine is that she went back to living the way she had in the past.
This is what happens when we have an encounter with God’s mercy. Our gratitude for what Jesus has done for us leads us to follow him more closely. It softens our heart and helps us be more merciful toward other people. And we receive the grace that strengthens us against further temptation to sin.9
Friar Jude Winkler comments on the words of Second Isaiah that assure the people Yahweh had not “lost the war”. Paul surrendered to the Lord things that were no longer important. Friar Jude observes that Jesus choice was not to play the game of those who sought to confront Him. (Year C starts at middle of broadcast)
Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, cites Genesis 28:10-19 and he believes the Scriptures say that reality was christened or anointed from the very beginning, from the first moment of its inception.
The trouble is that many Christians have limited that anointing to the unique person of Jesus. Saying God’s presence is only here and not there, deciding what is anointed and what is not, is not our call to make. This entire world is soaked through and through with Christ, with divinity, like an electron planted in every atom. As Paul writes, “Creation retains the hope of being freed . . . to enjoy the same freedom and glory as the children of God. . . . We are all groaning in one great act of giving birth” (Romans 8:21-22). Unfortunately, most of us were not taught to see it that way. We thought we could torture animals, pollute the earth, kill people who we deemed not Christ-soaked because we thought it was up to us to decide: “She’s got the anointing and he doesn’t.” Only God decides what to anoint—which, thank God, is all of creation and all of humanity from the beginning. No exceptions. Our Christian word for all anointed reality is “Christ.”10
As we mature in our relationship with Christ, we are invited to live with trust in the plan of God that draws us toward truth, beauty and goodness that we may choose to reflect in our humility, compassion and mercy.
References
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(n.d.). Isaiah, chapter 43 - usccb. Retrieved April 7, 2019, from http://www.usccb.org/bible/isaiah/43
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(n.d.). Psalms, chapter 126 - usccb. Retrieved April 7, 2019, from http://www.usccb.org/bible/psalms/126
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(n.d.). Philippians, chapter 3 - usccb. Retrieved April 7, 2019, from http://www.usccb.org/bible/philippians/3:17
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(n.d.). Creighton U Daily Reflections - OnlineMinistries - Creighton University. Retrieved April 7, 2019, from http://onlineministries.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/daily.html
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(2010, March 17). The Woman Caught in Adultery | Thinking Faith: The online journal of .... Retrieved April 7, 2019, from https://www.thinkingfaith.org/articles/20100317_1.htm
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(2019, March 6). Preparing for Easter with St Paul | Thinking Faith: The online journal of .... Retrieved April 7, 2019, from https://www.thinkingfaith.org/articles/preparing-easter-st-paul
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(n.d.). Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations. Retrieved April 7, 2019, from https://dailyscripture.servantsoftheword.org/
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(n.d.). 5th Sunday of Lent - Mass Readings and Catholic Daily Meditations .... Retrieved April 7, 2019, from https://wau.org/meditations/2019/04/07/
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(n.d.). Daily Meditations Archive: April 2019 - Daily Meditations Archives .... Retrieved April 7, 2019, from https://cac.org/category/daily-meditations/2019/04
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