20220403 EXPERIENCING THE RESURRECTION REQUIRES THAT WE FORGIVE OTHERS AND OURSELVES
03 April, 2022, Sunday, 5th Week of Lent
First reading | Isaiah 43:16-21 © |
See, I am doing a new deed, and I will give my chosen people drink
Thus says the Lord,
who made a way through the sea,
a path in the great waters;
who put chariots and horse in the field
and a powerful army
which lay there never to rise again,
snuffed out, put out like a wick:
No need to recall the past,
no need to think about what was done before.
See, I am doing a new deed,
even now it comes to light; can you not see it?
Yes, I am making a road in the wilderness,
paths in the wilds.
The wild beasts will honour me,
jackals and ostriches,
because I am putting water in the wilderness
(rivers in the wild)
to give my chosen people drink.
The people I have formed for myself
will sing my praises.
Responsorial Psalm | Psalm 125(126) © |
What marvels the Lord worked for us! Indeed we were glad.
When the Lord delivered Zion from bondage,
it seemed like a dream.
Then was our mouth filled with laughter,
on our lips there were songs.
What marvels the Lord worked for us! Indeed we were glad.
The heathens themselves said: ‘What marvels
the Lord worked for them!’
What marvels the Lord worked for us!
Indeed we were glad.
What marvels the Lord worked for us! Indeed we were glad.
Deliver us, O Lord, from our bondage
as streams in dry land.
Those who are sowing in tears
will sing when they reap.
What marvels the Lord worked for us! Indeed we were glad.
They go out, they go out, full of tears,
carrying seed for the sowing:
they come back, they come back, full of song,
carrying their sheaves.
What marvels the Lord worked for us! Indeed we were glad.
Second reading |
Philippians 3:8-14 © |
I look on everything as so much rubbish if only I can have Christ
I believe nothing can happen that will outweigh the supreme advantage of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For him I have accepted the loss of everything, and I look on everything as so much rubbish if only I can have Christ and be given a place in him. I am no longer trying for perfection by my own efforts, the perfection that comes from the Law, but I want only the perfection that comes through faith in Christ, and is from God and based on faith. All I want is to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and to share his sufferings by reproducing the pattern of his death. That is the way I can hope to take my place in the resurrection of the dead. Not that I have become perfect yet: I have not yet won, but I am still running, trying to capture the prize for which Christ Jesus captured me. I can assure you my brothers, I am far from thinking that I have already won. All I can say is that I forget the past and I strain ahead for what is still to come; I am racing for the finish, for the prize to which God calls us upwards to receive in Christ Jesus.
Gospel Acclamation | Joel2:12-13 |
Praise to you, O Christ, king of eternal glory!
Now, now – it is the Lord who speaks –
come back to me with all your heart,
for I am all tenderness and compassion.
Praise to you, O Christ, king of eternal glory!
Gospel | John 8:1-11 © |
'Let the one among you who has not sinned be the first to throw a stone'
Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. At daybreak he appeared in the Temple again; and as all the people came to him, he sat down and began to teach them.
The scribes and Pharisees brought a woman along who had been caught committing adultery; and making her stand there in full view of everybody, they said to Jesus, ‘Master, this woman was caught in the very act of committing adultery, and Moses has ordered us in the Law to condemn women like this to death by stoning. What have you to say?’ They asked him this as a test, looking for something to use against him. But Jesus bent down and started writing on the ground with his finger. As they persisted with their question, he looked up and said, ‘If there is one of you who has not sinned, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.’ Then he bent down and wrote on the ground again. When they heard this they went away one by one, beginning with the eldest, until Jesus was left alone with the woman, who remained standing there. He looked up and said, ‘Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?’ ‘No one, sir’ she replied. ‘Neither do I condemn you,’ said Jesus ‘go away, and do not sin any more.’
EXPERIENCING THE RESURRECTION REQUIRES THAT WE FORGIVE OTHERS AND OURSELVES
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [ISA 43:16-21; PHIL 3:8-14; JN 8:1-11]
As we come nearer to the Feast of the Resurrection, there is still an important area in our life that needs to be liberated. We might have learnt to let go of many things during this season of Lent but there is one important thing that we still need to let go before we can truly experience the Resurrected life of our Lord. And this important area is the area of unforgiveness. Indeed, one of the greatest causes of unhappiness in our lives is our inability or refusal to forgive. Not to forgive is to stubbornly cling to the past.
This problem of unforgiveness appears on two different levels. This is reflected in today’s gospel story of the adulterous woman. On the surface there appears to be only one sin involved – the sin of the woman who was caught in adultery. But there are other sins there, subtle and hidden and, in my mind, more serious. In fact, the vindictiveness of the scene, malice and moral misery are overwhelming.
Let us first focus on the sin of the woman. The woman symbolizes all those who have sinned and cannot forgive themselves. This is very true for many of us. We cannot leave our past behind. That is why one of the main obstacles in living the life of Christ is due to our past. Our past continues to have a hold on us. We continue to live in guilt. We continue to live in regret – always thinking of what might have been. But these thoughts of our past only make us unhappy and miserable.
This inability to forgive oneself also leads to the fear that God also cannot forgive us as well. Thus, these people always live in fear, thinking that God is waiting to punish them. And if anything untoward occurs in their life, they immediately are reminded that it is God who is now punishing them for some evil things that they had done in the past. Of course, when a person lives in fear, he cannot really be at peace within himself.
However, Jesus has come to reassure us that God is far from being revengeful and vindictive. Jesus’ attitude towards the adulteress demonstrates to us the unconditional and merciful love of God. Jesus did not condemn the woman. On the contrary, He was full of gentleness and compassion. He did not judge the woman at the centre of the incident. His mission was about mercy and forgiveness, not judgment and condemnation. Jesus came to reveal to us that God is love and He is all forgiving. The problem is not whether God can forgive us but whether we can forgive ourselves.
When He told the woman, ‘go away and sin no more,’ He is telling us that we are not called to be guilty for our sins but to be sorry. Guilt is self-hatred. It is to hate oneself for one’s mistakes. But to be sorry is different. It is neither a hatred of oneself nor a condemnation of oneself. It is not a regretful feeling. Rather, it is a realization that what we have done has hurt us and our fellow human beings and that if we continue we will only hurt ourselves even more. Sorrow for sins is what we call self-realization or truth-realization. It is self-realization that can set us free from our slavery to sin. Sorrow for one’s sins is a true love of self and of others. Condemnation, guilt and self-hatred will only lead to more sins since sin is always the manifestation of anti-love.
That is why Jesus did not come to expose the sores of people but to heal them. To correct the adulteress was much better than to stone her; to pardon and save her was much better than to condemn her. What is important is that the person realizes what he or she has done and stops doing it. Condemnation will only lead the person to hate himself even more and commit more sins. By not condemning her, Jesus seems to be saying again that God does not will the death of the sinner but that such a one be converted and live more fully.
It is only love that can overcome and heal our wounds. Indeed, it was Paul’s own mystical experience of the love of God in Christ that spurred him to forfeit everything for Christ. In his own words, he had “been grasped” by Christ and now he is consumed by the desire to live eternally in Christ. It was his experience of Christ’s love that enabled him to tell us that we should not look back anymore. As Isaiah in the first reading proclaims, “Remember not the events of the past, the things of long ago consider not.” Let bygones be bygones. God is doing something new in our lives. God does not keep a record of wrongs. What is important is not what we were but what we are now. That is why, Christ told the adulteress, “Has no one condemned you?” ‘No one, sir,” she replied. “Neither do I condemn you,” said Jesus, “go away and don’t sin anymore.”
The ethical consequence of experiencing the unconditional love of God is the desire to take the responsibility to live totally in Christonce we have been grasped. That is to say, we want to live a good life not because we have to but because we want to for we know that is the best kind of life we can live, a way of living that will not hurt ourselves. Like St Paul, we can confidently leave our past behind while straining ahead for what is still to come. We will live in the present, striving to perfect ourselves like Paul for we are not perfect yet.
Of course, this does not mean that we can think that we have already won the battle. No! We would have to continue to race for the finish. We must continue, as Paul tells us, to pattern our life in his death and resurrection. Faith in Christ does not mean that we no longer sin. Of course, one who has a greater faith in Jesus will sin less because he is able to see the foolishness of choosing sin and evil; that sin is ultimately anti-life and anti-love. And with His grace, he is able to act rightly at all times.
But for many of us, sometimes, we might fall back to our old selves. When that happens, we must also learn to accept our limitations. Conversion, as Paul tells us in the second reading, is a gradual process for most of us. So long as we are striving in sincerity to grow in love and perfection, we are on the right track and we can be sure that God is merciful towards us.
Unless we understand and experience the love and forgiveness of God, we can fall into a greater sin – that is to end up as people who not only cannot forgive ourselves but who also cannot forgive others. That is why the more horrible sin in today’s gospel is not the woman who in her weakness fell into adultery. No! The more horrible sin involved the way the scribes and Pharisees treated the woman. What is so important is not the meanness of it all, but the way it was done. They showed not the slightest regard for her feelings, not the tiniest shred of concern for her as a person. She was simply someone they could use in the hope of entrapping Christ. To them she was just like bait to fishermen. The bait is gladly sacrificed in the hope of catching a fish. To use another person in this way is a despicable thing. Yet this kind of thing happens all the time and is often not even recognized as being a sin at all.
Isn’t it strange that there is not a more compassionate and understanding person towards those who fall than the genuinely holy person? This is exemplified in the lives of the saints, and of course especially in the life of Christ. Jesus’ generosity might upset us. Surely, He should have waited at least until she said that she was sorry. No, He trusted in her honour to respond the right way. He believed in her sincerity. The opposite is also true: there is not a more judgmental and condemnatory person than the self-righteous phony. The latter has such high standards where others are concerned, makes such exacting demands, brooks no excuses, exceptions or slip-ups, yet when it comes to himself he can be so blind and all-forgiving. The Pharisees and scribes had no love in their lives because they were self-righteous. And self-righteous people are full of bitterness in their lives. With these people, God cannot perform the miracle of healing and liberation.
Yes, the Lord who promised to bring the exiles out of Babylon in the first reading is the one who also wants to liberate us from our self-created enemy that can eat into us – the unforgiving spirit in us. Yes, the scripture readings of today, simply want to remind us to leave our past behind and to begin anew. The stories today speak of a new beginning, a fresh start. Let us not burden ourselves with our past but let us look ahead to what the future holds for us in Christ Jesus.
Written by The Most Rev William Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All Rights Reserved.
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