I will try to give a little bit of practical applications and some sort of Christian teachings that can be deduced from that particular narrative read in the Sunday mass. And to begin, here is today's Gospel
| John 8: 1 - 11 | |
| 1 | but Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. |
| 2 | Early in the morning he came again to the temple; all the people came to him, and he sat down and taught them. |
| 3 | The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery, and placing her in the midst |
| 4 | they said to him, "Teacher, this woman has been caught in the act of adultery. |
| 5 | Now in the law Moses commanded us to stone such. What do you say about her?" |
| 6 | This they said to test him, that they might have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground. |
| 7 | And as they continued to ask him, he stood up and said to them, "Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her." |
| 8 | And once more he bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground. |
| 9 | But when they heard it, they went away, one by one, beginning with the eldest, and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him. |
| 10 | Jesus looked up and said to her, "Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?" |
| 11 | She said, "No one, Lord." And Jesus said, "Neither do I condemn you; go, and do not sin again." |
REFLECTION
To understand these Bible passages in accordance to the Season, let us try to review the Gospel readings from the first to the fourth Sunday of Lent.
On the first Sunday, Jesus was tempted by Satan in the desert as He spent forty days and nights for spiritual solitude. Jesus triumphed over Satan and his three temptations. but the next Sunday Jesus was tempted once again by Peter after seeing his transfiguration. Peter said "Let us build three tents here..." as if saying "Do not go to Jerusalem because you don't need to suffer" Crucifixion is only for criminals but you are a God in splendor and majesty as presented by the metamorphosis. You don't deserve to be crucified. But Jesus answered back on the third Sunday of Lent with the statement "Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered thus? I tell you No. Or those eighteen upon whom the tower in Silo'am fell and killed them, do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who dwelt in Jerusalem".
Jesus would like to tell us that suffering is not only for punishment but also for a test. His audiences from third Sunday up to now are the pharisees and scribes. Because they focus on the faults of others rather than themselves. A concrete story was given on the fourth Sunday still addressed to the pharisees and scribes. The tale of two prodigal sons. Yes! Two sons who are both in need of conversion. And since that story is for the phrs. and scribe, the stress is on the older brother who cannot forgive the younger son. Questioning his father why he prepared a banquet for the lost son, the same thing that the scribes are doing when they asked why Jesus dine with tax collectors and sinners. And so a follow up scenario is now presented by St. John.
The Gospel of John is full of Jesus encounter with women. I remember when I was still studying New testament under Fr. Gil we are dissecting the differences of the four Gospels from one another and John is full of female characters. Chapter 2 is the first scene of Jesus in Mary doing a ministry together at Cana. The Fourth chapter is about Jesus and the encounter with the Samaritan women at the well. Now here is Jesus with the sinful woman. Another is the encounter of Jesus and Martha during the raising of Lazarus and lastly the encounter of Mary Magdalene with the Risen Lord which is the reading during Easter Sunday.
The pharisees are full of condemnation in their hearts. But Jesus is full of compassion.
there is a great difference between planting and burying. the acts are the same. You put an object on the ground and leave it there. But the results are different. When you bury the object decays while when you plant, the object grows to life. Both are called "buto" in Filipino but one buto decays and another grows to life. The pharisees wants to bury the woman, Jesus wants to plant her and let her live. For as long as there is life, there is a hope for a person to change. And that Jesus is so aware of. So He gives a chance to all of us to go and bear fruit as we turn away from our evil past. The second reading tells us "Forgetting what lies behind but straining forward to what lies ahead" Hope so that we can change and by changing ourselves we will find more and more hope to bear much fruit.
Application
-- Have you ever felt like you are a failure? Jesus is here, telling you "I do not condemn you" Bury your sins but let the sinner live so that you can change because there is hope for you to change. Jesus loves you today more than your past!
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