Both compassion and conversion

Homily for 5^th Sunday of Lent Year C 2016

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

Introduction

When I first came to this country many years ago, 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 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

Aside from wedding invitations, the “both . . . and” rather than “either . . . or” mentality is a good way of looking at things, as we see in today's gospel story.

We heard that the Pharisees and scribes set a trap for Jesus, by bringing him a woman, who is clearly guilty of the serious sin of adultery.  After reminding him that the Law of Moses prescribed the death penalty for this crime, they ask him: "So what do you say?”

This seems like a no-win situation for Jesus:

·        If on the one hand, he says that she should not be stoned, he would be going against the Law of Moses and he would appear weak on sin.

·        But on the other hand, if Jesus agrees that she should be stoned, he would then be contradicting his teaching elsewhere about the mercy of God. 

So, Jesus is between the proverbial rock and a hard place. What does he do?

We are told that Jesus begins to write on the ground with his finger.  But what was Jesus writing?  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 does not seem to work, for the men urge him to stop dilly-dallying and take a stand on the matter at hand.

This is where Jesus goes to the heart of the matter and asks them: “Let the one among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.”  And as he continues writing on the ground, they begin to leave one by one, starting with the oldest.  Having lived the longest, the older men probably had tonnes of sins.

Anyway, the gospel story finishes by telling us that in the end Jesus is left alone with the woman.  After establishing that nobody had condemned her, he tells her: “Neither do I condemn you.  Go, and from now on do not sin any more.”

With these words Jesus resolves the apparent dilemma, without taking one side or the other on the case.  He teaches that God is neither a carefree clown nor a merciless tyrant; he is both a God of compassion and a God of righteousness.  The compassionate side tells her “Go, I have forgiven you for your serious sin; I am not going to condemn."  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.”

With these words, "Go, and from now do not sin any more" Jesus is telling us that the gospel message of salvation is not "either [this] . . . or [that]" but is "both . . . and."  We see this "both . . . and" mentality elsewhere in the gospels:

·        In the story of the Samaritan woman at the well, Jesus both forgives her for her serial marriages and also challenges her to set her life right with God.

·        As for the lepers, Jesus both heals them and then sends them off to the priests, to fulfil the requirements of the Law.

·        And when he invites himself to dinner at the house of Zachaeus as a sign forgiving him, Zachaeus anticipates the Lord's challenge to conversion, by deciding to make restitution for his sins.

And so, today's gospel and the whole gospel, set the example, of how we are to deal with sin in ourselves and others.  We must approach sinners with a double-barrelled approach of both compassion and commitment, forgiveness and righteousness, mercy and justice.  It is not a black or white world.

Christian Life

Let me offer three ways in which we can apply this message to our lives: educating children, discussing public policy, nourishing our spiritual lives.

When I look back in my own life, I see how I have grown as a person, as a Christian and as a priest, only because of this tough-love approach.

·        I can think of the coach in soccer, who worked us like a drill sergeant, but also consoled us when we lost a game.

·        I can think of my ninth grade teacher, who caught me reading a novel in class, and had me write 200 times, "I will always pay attention in class;" but when I took the work to him, he forgave me and offered me a treat.

·        I can think of my mother patting me on the back when I brought home my report card and at the same time urging me to do better.

Beyond the family and school, this double-barrelled approach can help us our public policy.  That is why the Catholic Bishops of the United States support:

·        An immigration policy that is concerned both with security of the nation and care for the needy stranger.

·        A criminal-justice policy that both punishes the criminal and also gives him an opportunity to turn his life around.

·        An economic policy that both encourages industry, hard work, and responsibility, and also cares for the truly needy members of society.

A Christian society like ours, must be both just and merciful, not one or the other.

But it is in our spiritual life, that this mentality of "both . . . and" bears most fruit.  Those of us who are older perhaps remember a time when our Church was all doom and gloom.  We focused so much on the cross that we forgot about the joy of the resurrection of the Lord.  Like the men in the gospel story, we considered sinners as unredeemable and having no place in the Church.  But in doing this, we chose to focus only on the part where Jesus says to the woman “Do not sin again;” we forgot the part where he actually forgives her.

But in the last 50 years, we seem to have swung the pendulum to the other extreme.  We have replaced an obviously flawed approach of fire and brimstone, with an equally defective approach of anything-goes, I-am-okay-you-are-okay. We want to throw out all the rules and commandments, stop talking about sin and repentance.  After all the isn't Lord  kind and merciful?  But in this way, we have focused only on the part of where Jesus forgives the woman and ignored his challenge that she avoid sin.  We must focus both on mercy and right-living.

Conclusion

And so, today's gospel, coming as it does towards the end of the Lenten season, tells us: "Neither do I condemn you. Go, and from now on do not sin any more."

·        When we are like the merciless Pharisees and scribes that brought the woman, Jesus tells us: “be merciful just as your heavenly father is merciful.”

·        And when we are caught up in sin like the woman, Jesus says to us: “be perfect as your heavenly father is perfect.”

I hope that, when I die and show up at the gate of heaven and St. Peter asks to see my invitation card, I can show him that throughout my life, I have always checked off on RSVP section for myself, God's mercy and God's call to righteousness; and that for others in my life, I have showed both compassion as well as calling them to conversion.