PRI Reflections on Scripture • 3-18-24 - Monday of the 5th Week of Lent

Finding God In Our Hearts with Msgr. Don Fischer

Gospel John 8:1-11
Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. But early in the morning he arrived again in the temple area, and all the people started coming to him, and he sat down and taught them. Then the scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery and made her stand in the middle. They said to him, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the very act of committing adultery. Now in the law, Moses commanded us to stone such women. So what do you say?” They said this to test him, so that they could have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and began to write on the ground with his finger. But when they continued asking him, he straightened up and said to them, “Let the one among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” 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.”
Reflection I love the body language of Jesus in this story. When confronted with the law that was without mercy, and Jesus being addressed about this problem, he acts as if he's not interested.
So he sort of stoops down and just is distracting himself by writing something on the ground. What is he saying? He's trying to remind all of us that in his teaching we are freed of our sin and there's nothing a sin can ever do to separate us from the love of God. We do that kind of separation. He never leaves us because of our sins.
He knows we are going to be sinners. That's how he created us. And what I love in this story is the way he reminds those who were so rigidly caught in the law thinking as long as they did what they were told, they weren't actually ever sinning. They knew they were sinners. And those who create an unbelievable burden on all of us to not sin are always guilty of a sin.
The sin of the absence of compassion and understanding.
Closing Prayer Father, we need your compassion, your understanding. And I know we talk a lot about being forgiving to other people, but nothing is more important than looking in a mirror and forgiving ourselves for everything we feel that we have never been able to accomplish or things that we've done that we're filled with shame and guilt about. Give us this freedom with the excessive concern about our faults, and let us focus on what you long to see in us an openness, a desire for you, a desire that is longing for your love. We need to give you permission to love us as we are as a sinner. And we ask this in Jesus’ name, Amen.