Word to the Wise
Sunday, April 6, 2025 - 5th Sunday of Lent - C
[Isa 43:16-21; Phil 3:8-14; John 8:1-11]And in response, they went away one by one, beginning with the elders. So [Jesus] was left alone with the woman before him. Then Jesus straightened up and said to her: "Woman, where are they? 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]
In Mel Gibson's popular motion picture, THE PASSION, the dramatic scene of the adulterous woman accused by the mob of scribes and Pharisees is depicted. What I remember particularly from it is a brief shot of a hand behind a back with a stone in it slowly letting go of that stone. There is a legend that when Jesus, in response to the accusation of the scribes and Pharisees against the woman, bends down and starts writing on the ground, he was writing the sins of the scribes and Pharisees! Perhaps we could add to the legend by saying that once he dismissed the lady that he could have erased what he had written, as well!
Pope Francis created quite a stir in some Catholic circles when he responded in an interview on the plane to a reporter's question about gender identity, "Who am I to judge?" He created another stir when he published an apostolic exhortation after a Synod on the Family entitled Amoris laetitia [the Joy of Love] which urged accompaniment and dialogue with those who feel excluded from the family of the church because of their marital or sexual identity. Were any hands with stones loosened, or were they tightened?
The fifth Sunday of Lent was once known as "Passion Sunday." Purple drapes began to appear on statues in the church as a reminder that Holy Week is just ahead. It can be a useful meditation in Lent to remember that Christ died for all people and if we are concerned about the writing on the ground, letting go of the stone is a good place to start. AMEN