Homily Lent 5C: RSVP both compassion and conversion for heaven

Homily for 5th Sunday of Lent Year C 2019 

Isaiah 43:16-21; Philippians 3:8-14; John 8:1-11

Introduction 

For many Christians, choosing between good and evil, while challenging, is something we can do with relative ease.  The more difficult choice is that between two good things or two between imperfect things. 

Take this example; when I first came to this country, I was invited to a fancy wedding dinner.  The RSVP card required a choice of entrée, between chicken or steak.  Now you have to understand that at weddings in Uganda, we usually have a buffet, and you get a bit of this and a bit of that.  So I thought, I will have both; and so I checked off both chicken and steak.  As you can imagine, because of this faux pas, I was never invited to another wedding by that family. 

Scripture and Theology 

The incident in today's gospel, shows the complexity that exists in the spiritual life.  While my difficulty was to choose between two goods, Jesus is presented with a situation of avoiding two evils.  The Pharisees and scribes have set a trap for him, by bringing him a woman, who is clearly guilty of the serious sin of adultery, and asking him if she should condemned to death, according to the Law of Moses.  Jesus is caught between a rock and a hard place. 

• On the one hand, the rock is that should he stop them from stoning her to death, Jesus would be going against the Law of Moses that prescribed death for this and others sins; as a rabbi he would appear weak on sin. 
• But on the other hand, the hard place is that if Jesus agrees with them that she should be stoned, he would not only be going against the Roman law that reserved capital punishment to itself as the occupying government, but he would also be contradicting his teaching about the mercy of God.   

So, how does Jesus escape the horns of this dilemma, this trap? 

We heard that Jesus began to write on the ground with his finger.  St. Augustine suggests that Jesus was writing down the sins of the accusers.  Others suggest that he was simply doodling, as a strategy to give the accusers time to think about their own sinfulness.  Whatever it was, it did not seem to work, for the men urged him to stop dilly-dallying and take a stand on the matter. 

This is where Jesus went to the heart of the matter and asked them: “Let the one among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.”  And as he continued writing on the ground, they begin to leave one by one, starting with the oldest.  Having lived the longest, the older men probably had more sins.  And so Jesus was left alone with the accused woman.  And after establishing that nobody had condemned her, he told her: “Neither do I condemn you.  Go, and from now on do not sin any more.” 

With these words Jesus resolved the dilemma, without taking one side or the other, but choosing both goods.  He teaches that God is both a God of compassion and a God of righteousness.  God's compassionate side tells her “Go, I have forgiven you for your serious sin; I am not going to condemn you."  And the righteous side of the same God tells her: "But do not sin again; I challenge you to live an upright life from now on.” 

It is with this double-barrelled approach of both compassion and commitment, forgiveness and righteousness, mercy and justice that Jesus also encounters the Samaritan woman at the Well, Zacchaeus the tax-collector, and other sinners. 

Christian Life 

Unfortunately today, this double-barrelled approach is not very popular.  Many people want clear, either . . . or situations, black and white answers.  For example, President Harry Truman was exasperated by his economists whose advice to him often consistent of "on the one hand . . . . but on the other hand"; so finally a frustrated Truman said: “GIVE me a one-handed economist." 

But surely the complexity of moral life or even of life itself does not lend itself to one-handed advice, or these black or white categories. 

• Good parents, for example, know that they must be both loving to their children, but at the same time teach them discipline, not one or the other. 
• Successful football coaches are both drill sergeants and also sympathetic mentors to their athletes, not one or the other. 
• The teachers who leave a lasting impact on their students are those who both encouraged but also challenged their students, not one or the other. 

It should then not surprise us that the teaching of Jesus on many moral issues often takes the form of Truman's two-handed economists, "both . . . and," essentially saying: "Go you are free, but also do not sin again."   

Take the teaching of the Church on some of the hot-but social issues of our society, and you will realize that it reflects this both . . . approach of Jesus. 

• The US Bishops, for example, asks for an economic policy and system that both encourages industry, hard work, and personal responsibility but also provides for workers and the needy members of society. 
• They also are asking for an immigration policy that is concerned both with security of the nation and care for the needy stranger.  That is why they support a path for citizenship for children brought to the US illegally and law-abiding hard working undocumented people. 
• They ask for a criminal-justice policy that both punishes the criminal and also gives him an opportunity to turn his life around; that is why they teach against draconian sentencing guidelines and obviously against the death sentences, even though it is no longer done by stoning like the woman. 
• Regarding sexual morality, the Church teaches that marriage is a lifelong union between one man and one woman, but also accompanies with spiritual support those who somehow fall short of this ideal. 
• And how can we forget the overtures of both Pope Benedict and Pope Francis to non-Catholics, even non-Christians, Muslims; for while we disagree with them on practice and doctrines, we can also dialogue and work together on other areas, especially regarding morality and peace. 

And granted in some situations, it is important that things are clearly black and white like the binary system of computer technology, like in a court of law where the judge must decide whether someone is "guilty" or "not guilty," and certainly for a woman and her husband, who want to know whether she is pregnant or not pregnant, for she can't be both.  But life itself and the spiritual life is far more complex, and needs to hear Jesus say to our various situations: "Neither do I condemn you. Go, and from now on do not sin any more." 

Conclusion 

And so, coming as it does towards the end of the Lenten season, today's gospel is a serious challenge to us, to practice both mercy and righteousness. 

• When we are like the Pharisees and scribes that brought the woman, Jesus tells us: “be merciful just as your heavenly father is merciful.” 
• But when we are caught up in sin like the woman, Jesus says to us: “be perfect as your heavenly father is perfect.” 

For the invitation card to heaven requires you to RSVP, not one entree, not one choice, but both: mercy and righteousness, love and justice, compassion and conversion, repentance and perfection.