From the responsorial psalm: “Although they go forth weeping, carrying the seed to be sown, They shall come back rejoicing, carrying their sheaves. The Lord has done great things for us; we are filled with joy.”
A reading from the holy Gospel according to John (Jn 8:1-11, today’s readings)
Again he bent down and wrote on the ground. And in response, they went away one by one, beginning with the elders. So he was left alone with the woman before him. Then Jesus straightened up and said to her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” She replied, “No one, sir.” Then Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you. Go, and from now on do not sin any more.”
The scribes and Pharisees bring a woman accused of adultery to Jesus. When they first bring her to him, it isn’t because they don’t understand what Mosaic law prescribes as punishment; it’s because they want to accuse Jesus by using his judgment of the woman’s sin as an either-or trap. Would he agree to stone her or dismiss the law? But Jesus teaches the accusers, first in silence as he writes on the ground with his finger and then to expose their own sins as he straightens up and says, “Let the one among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” Again he bends down in silence and writes on the ground. The accusers eventually walk away one by one, first the elder ones and then the others. Are the elders wiser? He speaks to all of us as sinners when he says, “Neither do I condemn you. Go, and from now on do not sin any more.” True God and true man, Jesus reveals truth and forgives the wickedness and snares of sin.
God, give me the courage to live in your truth and to be just and merciful as Jesus is just and merciful. Help me take responsibility for the ways I have been hypocritical. When I recognize it in others, give me the grace of a discerning heart to live in the truth and name wrongdoing for what it is and at the same time offer mercy. The verse before the Gospel reminds me of this: “Even now, says the Lord, return to me with your whole heart; for I am gracious and merciful.” You are gracious, Lord, because you bring your truth and light to sin yet remain merciful when mercy is not deserved. Jesus easily silenced the Pharisees because he brought to light their hypocrisy in setting a trap for him. Jesus doesn’t play their game but instead says, as in Isaiah, “See, I am doing something new . . . for the people whom I formed for myself, that they might announce my praise.”
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.