“Neither do I Condemn YOU”

 Reflection for Monday of the 5^th Week of Lent

(Dan 13:41-62; Jn 8:1-11)

The readings today tell the story of two women in the face of their accusers. Susanna, who was innocent, was accused by two unrighteous elders. The woman in the Gospel was caught in the every act of adultery by the self-righteous Scribes and Pharisees. Susanna remained faithful to God, and would not compromise her moral standard. Daniel, with divine wisdom, saved Susanna from the false accusation, and the two elders received the punishment they prepared for her. They laid a snare for me in my path, but fell in it themselves (Ps 57:6). When people have made a sinful act their way of life, they wittingly and aggressively lure others to their side. Those who resist are persecuted.

  

But the woman caught in adultery was guilty as charged. For the self-righteous Scribes and Pharisees, her sin was her immediate condemnation. And exposing her would hide their own guilt. So while they conserve the sin, they sentence the sinner. It is more important to them that the sinner is stoned than the sin eradicated. Thus they dragged the woman along...This always the approach of the unrighteous and secularism.

  

“And placing her in their midst they said to him, ‘Teacher, this woman has been caught in the act of adultery.’”  Their concern is about This woman, not The act of adultery! Their interest is not to promote righteousness but to institutionalize their hypocrisy, which Jesus had condemned severally and openly. So they used the woman as bait to catch the bigger fish! Their intention was to stone the woman for adultery and stone Jesus for contravening the law...

But Jesus gave them a surprise response: silence! “Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground.” His holy presence permeated through to their hearts. They found themselves summoned and ‘arrested’ by such powerful presence, yet calm and silent. “I, the Lord, search the heart, test the motives, to give each person what his conduct and his actions deserve” (Jer 17:10). Jesus raised His head and said to them, “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.” “For God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but so that through him the world might be saved” (Jn 3:17). Seeing how unfit they were to judge and condemn, Jesus gave an opportunity to repent and be saved. Instead they choose to drop the stones and walk away. Oh, how I wish they dropped the stones and remained with him, sitting side by side with the woman!

“And Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him.” The unrighteous woman standing before the Righteous One... It was a great moment of expectation. She had seen those heavy stones targeted at her, received insults and abuses and felt her end had come. This kind of fear and desolation describes the life of a sinner until he meets Jesus. And Jesus said to her, “Neither do I condemn you; go, and do not sin again.”

Therefore, Jesus condemned the sin but saved the sinner, unlike the hypocrites that saved the sin but condemned the sinner. It was as if the woman got her life back from the grave like Lazarus! After the encounter, both Susanna and this woman would live in gratitude to God, who becomes the centre of their lives. Jesus saves!

Fr Jude Nwachukwu, C.Ss.R

Saints Peter & Paul Catholic Church,

Tedi-Muwo, Ojo, Lagos.

Monday, March 30^th, 2020.