HOMILY FOR MONDAY 5TH WEEK OF LENT – YEAR B
THEME: STARTING ANEW
BY: FR. KARABARI PAUL
“Neither do I condemn you; go, and do not sin again.”
In today’s Gospel (John 8:1-11), the Pharisees trying to trap Jesus, presented a woman caught in the act of adultery. The law of Moses was clear; she must be stoned. And the Pharisees were ready to do it. This woman probably thought that Jesus, being righteous, would agree. She had no lawyer to defend her, not even a character witness! But, suddenly, Jesus stooped and began to write in the sand. Some scholars think that perhaps He wrote down their sins, including times and places, etc. When He looked up, the woman’s accusers had gone. He said to her, ‘Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more’ (John 8:11).
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That day, Jesus lifted her from a position of undeniable guilt to one of unconditional pardon. She didn’t deserve it; she didn’t even know it was possible. And that is our story too, isn’t it? One day, Abraham Lincoln watched a plantation owner bidding for a slave girl. Figuring he was going to buy her and abuse her, Lincoln paid the price to set her free. ‘Does this mean I can go wherever I want to go?’ she asked. Lincoln said, ‘Yes, you are free!’ With tears streaming down her face, she replied, ‘Then, sir, I will go with you.’
Jesus meets us in our dark places, our sins, and our brokenness. He heals the wounds of our past because his grace is greater than our shame. There is no limit to the grace he can supply. If we are feeling the weight of our shameful past and sinful ways, Jesus is inviting us to come to him. He is ready to forgive us and set us free if we are ready to start anew. God is doing a new thing; giving hope in a hopeless situation and bringing life where the sentence of death had been passed. It is a total transformation. But if we are too attached to our hurtful past and former ways of sin, it becomes difficult for us to move ahead with the new grace supplied. We must realise that Christ has made us his own.
When we have done something wrong or even many things wrong, we can begin to think that we have made too many mistakes for God to ever want us to do kingdom work for him. We might think there is no point in confessing to him. But actually, it makes a massive difference.
When we choose to tell him, we can experience freedom from the guilt we have kept bottled up. The psalmist wrote: ‘When I refused to confess my sin, my body wasted away…My strength evaporated like water in the summer heat…Finally, I confessed all my sins to you and stopped trying to hide my guilt…And you forgave me! All my guilt is gone’ (Psalm 32:3-5). When we confess, then ask for and accept God’s forgiveness, we are taking responsibility for our actions while acknowledging that he is greater than us and far greater than our sins. It releases us from the prison of guilt and regret that we have built up around ourselves, cleanses us, and restores our relationship with him. God can use all our experiences for his purpose, even if those experiences are bad ones. In Psalm 51, after King David committed adultery with Bathsheba, he cried out to God, begging for forgiveness and asking God to purify him. Then, in verse 13, he says: ‘I will teach your ways to those who do wrong, and sinners will turn back to you.’ Think about it, who would be better placed to reach sinners and tell them about God than someone who has also done wrong and then gone on to experience God’s grace and forgiveness? So when we have done wrong, first we need to confess to God, accept his forgiveness, and then ask him how we can turn our mistake into something positive for his glory and our own salvation. GOD IS STILL ON THE THRONE. May God heal our world. God bless you and your household always through Christ Our Lord Amen. Good morning.
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