God Does Something New in Us 5th Sunday of Lent, Year C (2025)
5th Sunday of Lent, Year C – Reflection
Isaiah 43:16-21
Psalm 126:1-2, 2-3, 4-5, 6 (3)
Philippians 3:8-14
John 8:1-11
April 6, 2025
Once again, we hear that Jesus is teaching. Teaching for him is not simply lecture. He uses the situations that come before him as opportunities to teach how our faith is applied to our experiences.
The scribes and the Pharisees brought to Jesus, “a woman who had been caught in adultery.” There is no question of her guilt because she was caught in the act. They present Jesus a question about her punishment. They refer to the mosaic law that said to stone those who were caught in adultery (see Deuteronomy 22:22-24, Leviticus 20:10).
Justice must be served but what is justice. They made the woman “stand in the middle.” She did not commit adultery alone but now she stands alone as a seemingly condemned woman.
We are called to admonish the sinner. However, it is unchristian to shame a person. Our admonishing of sinners is to be an act of mercy. We are called to love, not judge.
It turns out the scribes and the Pharisees were using the woman caught in adultery as a pawn in their plan to get rid of Jesus. “They said this to test him, so that they could have some charge to bring against him.”
In shaming the woman the scribes and the Pharisees rely on their knowledge of the law. However, they have an incomplete knowledge of the law. The law comes from God. Knowledge and understanding of the Law starts with human knowledge but it goes beyond that. We need to seek a relationship with God. When Paul writes of the “supreme good of knowing Christ Jesus”, knowing Jesus is not knowing about Jesus. It is knowing him in the sense of having a relationship with him.
Jesus does not condemn the scribes and the Pharisees for their actions. Instead, He uses it as a teaching moment. He says to them, “Let the one among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” Not a single stone is thrown at her. Why? Because we are all sinners.
As they stand there, Jesus “bent down and wrote on the ground.” We are not told what He wrote. The common speculation is that He wrote the names of their sins. Why? Because in response to what He wrote, “they went away one by one.”
After they leave, Jesus speaks to the woman, “Neither do I condemn you. Go, and from now on do not sin any more.” Jesus does not come to condemn us. He comes to save us (see John 3:16-17). However, the salvation He offers is not a “get out of jail free card” that lets us do whatever we want. Jesus does not say it is okay to sin. In fact, his words confirm that she was a sinner. How so? Because He said to her, “do not sin any more.” The “any more” means she has sinned. Jesus calls her to conversion from her sin. He calls us to the same conversion.
We confess our sins in the Sacrament of Reconciliation. In our act of contrition, we “firmly resolve to sin no more.” Do we hold to our word?
Unfortunately, we tend to sin again. Is it possible for us to stop sinning? Jesus answers, “For human beings it is impossible, but not for God. All things are possible for God” (Mark 10:27). That’s why we say we “firmly resolve to sin no more,” we include “with the help of your grace.”
God wants us to stop sinning. He will open a way for us to stop sinning. When the Israelites were in exile for their sins, God opened a way for them to return home. The way is his forgiveness.
When we sin we are not doomed without hope. God gives us hope for as soon as we confess our sins, God remembers “not the events of the past.” God forgets the sins we have confessed, “doing something new” in us.
Are you ready to let God do “something new” in you?
Peace,
Fr. Jeff