March 21 – Fifth Sunday of Lent (Year C)

Isaiah 43:16-21

Philippians 3:8-14

John 8:1-11

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

In the First Reading the Prophet Isaiah uses the image of the Israelites caught between the water of the Red Sea and the Egyptian army. There was no way out. But God found a way for them to escape their dilemma. God separated the waters of the sea and the people got safely to the other side. Then the waters come together and drowned the army that was after them. The Israelites were free.

The woman caught in adultery in today’s Gospel was in a similar difficult situation. Even though she was being used to try to trap Jesus, she was still in an dangerous situation. The words of Jesus: Let the one among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her, freed her from those who were condemning and using her. One by one her accusers drifted away.

The story does not leave us with a sense that the woman got off easy. It does give us a sense that sin is real. But with Jesus there is a way out, there is someone to rescue us from our sins that get us into trouble.

It is very easy to condemn people. To be understanding, compassionate and forgiving is not so easy. Strictly speaking, we have no desire for sin. What we experience as a desire for sin is really a sick desire, a desire that seeks the wrong object.

In times of discouragement we may perhaps look around and think that we would be much happier if we would just begin to enjoy all the vices and sins of the world round us. But that is only fantasy. The strongest desire in us is the desire for good, for God.

Recall an event in St. Mark’s Gospel. Jesus’ disciples are asked why he [Jesus] eats with sinners and tax collectors. Jesus overhears this remark and replied: Those who are well do not need a physician, but the sick do. I did not come to call the righteous but sinners. And so we call Jesus the Divine Physician.

What we see in today’s Gospel is the Divine Physician at work. The Divine Physician awakens our desire for God and for the good. Most of us, I believe, have to be content to grow slowly toward God and goodness. The wound of sin is deep in our heart. It takes time to convalesce, to recover, to re-direct our life and desires. It takes time to re-discover the desire for God, to allow it to surface from deep within us. But this is much better than pretending to be healthy as we pursue sin.

St. Thomas Aquinas says desire is the capacity in us which receives. The larger our desire, the more we can receive. It is wrong to try to tame ourselves and reduce our desires and hopes. That only distorts us. We are made for God and only God will satisfy us.

The woman caught in adultery received a taste of God. Jesus’ response to her restored her dignity, her self-respect, forgave her and opened in her heart a greater desire for God and for good.

In the Second Reading we see what happens to a person who opens up their great desire and invites God to fill it. St. Paul says that in light of Christ all else is rubbish. Christ is now St. Paul’s wealth. St. Paul did not decrease his desires, but allowed them to be open to God. And God filled this with Himself. St. Paul is spiritually healthy. The Divine Physician healed him.

The woman caught in adultery met the Divine Physician. She walked away in a much healthier spiritual condition than when she was brought to Jesus as a tool to trap Jesus. I imagine her convalesce took more time, until her desires were focused on God.

In the First Reading it says: Remember not the event of the past…See I am doing something new…In the desert I make a way, in the wasteland, rivers. The woman caught in adultery received something new. Being brought before Jesus by a hostile crowd, she must have felt her life to be a wasteland. But in the end, in her heart Jesus has provided a river. He provided a river of forgiveness and grace, a river of healing, a river of renewed dignity.

Here at Mass we have the privilege of receiving the Divine Physician. Open your heart as far as you can to this heavenly and earthly person, Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen. Peace be with you.