Posted on abril 4, 2025 View all Gospel Reflection
“straining forward to what lies ahead, I continue my pursuit toward the goal.” (Phil 3:14)
Here we are in the last week of Lent before Holy Week. St. Paul’s words encourage us to press on with our Lenten resolutions and practices. In particular, he emphasizes that what we are striving forward towards is so much better than anything we have ever seen. Everything we have attained, honors secured, possessions accumulated, power bestowed, all this is rubbish that we might gain Christ and be found in him.
If we have stumbled during Lent, we should also take heart from St. Paul and finish strong. In our readings for today we hear about different people who have stumbled, sinned and fallen. In Isaiah this passage is taken from the time after their Babylonian exile and so the people express joy in the recollection of the power of the Lord. They also remember their sinfulness and how it led to their downfall and exile. But now in Isaiah, the Lord tells declares to them that what is coming soon is even greater than everything that had come beforehand. “Remember not the events of the past, the things of long ago consider not; see, I am doing something new!” (Isa. 43:18-19)
In the Gospel we see the encounter between Jesus and the scribes and Pharisees who bring the woman caught in adultery to him for judgement. This encounter is no doubt set up by the temple officials to trap Jesus. If he agreed to condemn her to stoning, they could denounce him before the Roman authorities. If he forgave her instead, they would declare him as refusing to follow the law of Moses. They thought they had come up with the perfect trap. A commentary I was reading on this Gospel speculated that it is quite likely that the woman was paid to play the part of one committing adultery. After all, why is she the only one “caught”. They said she was caught “in the very act of committing adultery.” Where is the man? Both were liable to the same punishment under the Law.
Jesus seeing the hypocrisy in their hearts bent down and began to write on the ground with his finger. In some writings it is thought that Jesus was writing their sins in the sand. For Jesus said to them “Let the one among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” And in fact, that might have been the case. But the commentary I was reading also said that it is quite probable that the elders went away not so much because they recognized their own sinfulness, but because they did not want to be seen by the Roman authorities as having initiated a stoning which would make them liable under Roman law.
When Jesus turned to the woman, he said to her “’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.’” (John 8:10-11) Here it can be seen that Jesus is telling her to repent and sin no more. because of the adultery, but it is also possible to understand it as Jesus saying, sin no more in bringing false testimony against another. Both of which are against the Law.
As we draw closer to Holy Week, we are invited to reflect on those moments when we have let our pride put us in positions where we have lied or caused others to sin. Let us repent of that sin, take advantage of the Sacrament of Confession, and be strengthened by Jesus Christ so that we can continue to have the grace and strength to walk with him on the Way to the Cross.
