Fifth Sunday of Lent Year C (The Adulterous Woman) - Gospel Reflection

John 8:1-11

            As March has just come to a close and April is opening up before us, the signs of new life are bursting forth as spring awakens, and bids farewell to the last touches of winter. Gray skies turn bright blue; cold grounds grow soft and green; flowers pop up to welcome the warm sunshine. Our armor of winter wear can finally be removed, for we no longer have any need of it. Moods are light and spirits are lifted. With the anticipation of something new and the freedom of forgetting the bitter cold, it is easy to feel at peace.

            Sin has much of the same effects on our souls as winter has on our bodies. As the cold numbs are limbs, sin numbs our conscience. But, just as spring brings new life and arouses what winter puts to sleep, so too does forgiveness awaken in our souls what sin had killed. This is the effect of God’s mercy on us, in our wounded and sinful nature. Perhaps the woman in today’s Gospel would have felt as we do each spring. Having been caught in the act of adultery, it was the law that she and the man with her be stoned. Ponder how you would feel if caught in the act of committing some sin. If you would not already feel guilty (as many do, whose conscience is alive and well) being caught would probably have been enough to stir up some remorse, and now you must pay the price. The woman must have been feeling this, knowing full well what her punishment would be. Imagine her astonishment, when upon being brought to Jesus, the great teacher that she probably would have more or less heard about, not one stone was cast at her. One by one, she must have watched in awe (and maybe a bit of confusion) as the crowd departed. What an immense feeling of freedom she felt when Jesus turned and said to her, “Go, and from now on do not sin any more.”

            What He said to her, He says to us all; what He did for her, He does for us all. Jesus spared her from death, physically and spiritually, having diminished the crown and having forgiven her sins. He offers this freedom to all of us in the sacrament of Reconciliation. Furthermore, during this season of Lent, we are invited into the preparation for the new life of His Death and Resurrection. Soon, on Good Friday, when we remember our Lord’s death upon the Cross, we too can die to ourselves, through prayer and sacrifice, and leave behind the sins of our past. We can join St. Paul in saying “I continue my pursuit toward the goal, the price of God’s upward calling, in Christ Jesus,” and hope in God’s word through Isaiah, “see, I am doing something new!”