5th Sunday of Lent, Year C, 17.03.2013

Isaiah 43: 16-21/ Philippians 3:8-14/ John 8:1-11

The past week had been a time of anxiety as well as rejoicing for the Church.

And that was because on Tuesday, the 115 cardinals entered into the Sistine Chapel for the conclave to begin the process of electing a new pope for the Church.

It was certainly not an easy and pleasant task of having to vote for the next pope as it was mentally and spiritually taxing.

But on Thursday, after five rounds of intense voting, the Church was greeting with white smoke from the chimney and the good news of “Habemus Papam!” – “We have a pope!”

Argentinian cardinal J.M. Bergoglio was elected as the new pope and he took the name of Francis for his pontificate.

And as it is, the media is already putting him under the microscope to find out more about him, his lifestyle, his background, his whatever.

Certainly they will try to find some juicy stories about him. But may they also tell us some inspiring and edifying stories about him.

Well the same thing happened to Pope John XXIII who was elected in 1958. Not long after he became pope, he went to the Regina Coeli prison to visit the prisoners there.

And as he was talking to them, he also told them, as a matter of fact, that he had a relative who was jailed for committing some petty crime.

Of course the media was there and they picked up this little piece of juicy news and it was published in the news the very next day.

Well, at least they said that the pope had a relative who had been in prison, and not that the pope had been in prison.

Whatever it is, it goes to show that in everyone’s life, there is some darkness lurking around. Whether it is exposed or not, that is another story.

The renowned preacher and tv evangelist of the 1950s the Archbishop Fulton Sheen, was giving a talk to a group of prisoners.

He said this to them: The great difference between you and me is that you were caught; I was not!

And indeed, what a great difference it was. Yet, to have done something wrong, or committing a crime and not getting caught for it does not mean that no wrong was done or that no crime was committed!

In the gospel, we heard that the scribes and Pharisees brought before Jesus a woman who had been caught committing adultery.

And they made her stand there in full view of everybody.

And there, they asked Jesus, as a test, what kind of judgement He would pronounce on her.

Would it be death by stoning? Or what? The response of Jesus was rather strange – He bent down and started writing on the ground with His finger.

What He wrote on the ground the gospel did not say. Why He did it the gospel did not say either.

But the scribes and Pharisees were certainly irritated by what He did and by His silence.

So they persisted with their question and they were demanding an answer from Him.

Then came the ground-shaking reply – 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.

Maybe that might explain why in the first place Jesus bent down to write on the ground.

It was not so much about what He wrote but why He did it.

He was telling the scribes and Pharisees, and the crowd, and as well as the guilty woman, to “get down to it”.

But of course the scribes and Pharisees didn’t get it because they persisted with their question.

And the reply of Jesus was sharp, pointed and it cut right through their hearts.

Jesus was telling them to get down to it – if there is one of you who has not sinned, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.

And this time round, they got it, and they got down to it. One by one they went away, beginning with the eldest, until Jesus was left alone with the woman.

At least, it must be said that the scribes and Pharisees were honest enough to acknowledge that they had sinned and they did not argue that they were lesser sinners than that woman.

It also must be said that they knew the truth about their sinfulness and hence they walked away without pursuing the matter further.

And who among us can ever say that we have not sinned, regardless of whether it is minor or major sins.

The question is whether our sins are exposed or not.

As Archbishop Fulton Sheen said : The great difference between you and me is that you were caught; I was not!

There is a story of a beggar who was caught for stealing bread, and as a punishment and a deterrent to others, he was sentenced to death.

As the officer lead the beggar to his execution, the beggar told him that he knew a secret of how to make a mango tree grow overnight and bear fruit immediately.

It would be a pity that the secret would be lost if he got executed.

The officer decided to halt the execution and he brought the beggar to the judge, who in turn brought him to the king.

So the king asked the beggar what the secret was.

The beggar replied that for such a miracle to happen, the mango seed must be planted by someone who had not stolen anything before.

So he turned to the officer and said: Would you want to plant the seed?

The officer immediately refused saying that he had shoplifted before.

Then the beggar turned to the judge and asked if he would plant the seed.

The judge declined saying that he had taken things that belonged to others and kept them for his own use.

So the beggar turned to the king and said: O king, then it is left to you to plant the seed.

But the king excused himself by saying that he had taken things without paying for them.

And then the beggar said : So all of you had stolen some things before, and now you want to execute me just because I stole some bread because I was hungry.

Just a story to remind us to get down to it. Yes, we have all sinned, just that we were not caught nor were we exposed for it.

But Jesus did not want to catch us in our sins or expose the wrong we have done to shame us.

He only wants us to be reconciled with Him. Just as He didn’t condemn the adulterous woman, He won’t condemn us either.

Jesus bends down to write on the ground again. Let us also get down on it.

Let us acknowledge our sins and seek forgiveness in the Sacrament of Reconciliation.

Let us be healed by Jesus so that we too won’t judge and condemn others.