We
are nearing the conclusion of the Lenten season. Next Sunday marks Palm Sunday,
and following that, we will commence the Easter Triduum.
After
reflecting on the parable of the prodigal sons—yes, sons, not son, because it's
not just the younger one who was lost outside the home, but also,
significantly, the elder one who was lost within the home, close to the
father—today we turn our focus to a daughter of the same merciful father.
Even some of the biblical scholars argue that this
gospel passage that we have just heard from the John’s gospel, could have very
well fit inside the luke’s gospel, for its message of mercy, forgiveness, and
the attention to the last of the society like this woman character.
The woman is caught in adultery. And the jews are bringing
her to Jesus. They are asking him his opinion on the Moses’s law of stoning her
to death.
The fact that stoning is the demanded punishment
indicates that this woman is in the initial phase of marriage. In Israel,
marriage occurred in two stages. The first, when the girl was twelve and the
boy eighteen, was called the betrothal phase. A year later, cohabitation would
begin, and this second phase was the wedding.
If a woman committed adultery during the first phase,
the betrothal, she would be stoned. If, on the other hand, the adultery
occurred during the second phase, she would be strangled. The demand for this
girl, this young girl, to be stoned indicates that she is between twelve and
thirteen years old.
According to the law, the eye witness should be the one
who throws the first stone. And as soon as Jesus says, ‘anyone who has no sin, may
throw the first stone’ no one remains there. Everyone goes away. Maybe there
was no witness there for her act of adultery. And it is not important for them.
For the trap is not for her, but for him. After all, according to them, she is
only a girl, and she is in her early teenage. He is the prey and for that the
young lady is made use of.
In front of this cruelty, Jesus does not utter a word.
He is speechless and frozen. He is writing something on the ground with his
fingers.
Anyone without sin among everyone there, and everyone
here, was and is only one, that is Jesus himself. And if at all, anyone can
throw a stone on her, it was Jesus. But he is writing a new law. A law of forgiveness
and a law of mercy and a law that gives hope to the sinners, all of us, to come
back and restart a life of children, leaving away the life of the prodigal
children.
Pope Francis's recent catechesis on the conversion of Zacchaeus helps us understand this moment between Jesus and the young girl. In both cases, an encounter between mercy and misery is experienced.
"It is the joy of feeling seen, recognized, and above all forgiven. The gaze of Jesus is not one of reproach, but of mercy. It is that mercy which we sometimes find hard to accept, especially when God forgives those whom we think do not deserve it. We murmur because we want to set limits to God's love."
Brothers and sisters, this
is the heart of the Gospel: an invitation to live according to the law of mercy
that surpasses that of condemnation. May we bring this mercy into the world,
witnessing in our lives the forgiveness and hope we have received. Amen.
