Boundless Love of God

“𝑮𝒐 𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒍𝒊𝒇𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒔𝒊𝒏.” (𝒗.11)

𝐀𝐏𝐑𝐈𝐋 𝟔, 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟓: 𝐅𝐈𝐅𝐓𝐇 𝐒𝐔𝐍𝐃𝐀𝐘 𝐎𝐅 𝐋𝐄𝐍𝐓

𝐅𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠: 𝐈𝐬𝐚 𝟒𝟑:𝟏𝟔-𝟐𝟏

𝐑𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐏𝐬𝐚𝐥𝐦: 𝐏𝐬𝐚 𝟏𝟐𝟔:𝟏-𝟔 “𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐋𝐨𝐫𝐝 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐝𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐮𝐬, 𝐰𝐞 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐟𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐣𝐨𝐲.”

𝐒𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐝 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠: 𝐏𝐡𝐢 𝟑:𝟖-𝟏𝟒

𝐆𝐎𝐒𝐏𝐄𝐋: 𝐉𝐍 𝟖:𝟏-𝟏𝟏

𝑲𝒆𝒚 𝑽𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒆: “𝑮𝒐 𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒍𝒊𝒇𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒔𝒊𝒏.” (𝒗.11)

Adultery is often defined as fornication, concubinage, sexual immorality, unfaithfulness and or betrayal and this is a tag that I’m sure no one would want for himself unless you would want the wagging tongues of the entire neighborhood to feast on you.

And for us to be able to fully grasp the gravity of such an immoral act we must go back in time and see how the Jews in the time of Jesus treat anyone who accused of adultery. The Jews regard adultery as a serious crime especially when one was caught in the act as with the woman in this Gospel in 𝐉𝐧 𝟖:𝟏-𝟏𝟏 and the punishment was death by stoning.

What may come as a surprise when you read through this passage was why the man with whom the woman was caught in the act was not even mentioned. Surely you will think that if the woman was guilty the man should be equally guilty, and this is expressly mentioned in the laws of Moses: 𝑬𝒙𝒐 20:14 “𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒔𝒉𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒎𝒊𝒕 𝒂𝒅𝒖𝒍𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒚.” 𝑫𝒆𝒖𝒕 22:22 “𝑰𝒇 𝒂 𝒎𝒂𝒏 𝒊𝒔 𝒇𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒅 𝒔𝒍𝒆𝒆𝒑𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒂𝒏𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒎𝒂𝒏'𝒔 𝒘𝒊𝒇𝒆, 𝒃𝒐𝒕𝒉 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒎𝒂𝒏 𝒘𝒉𝒐 𝒔𝒍𝒆𝒑𝒕 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒐𝒎𝒂𝒏 𝒎𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒅𝒊𝒆.” 𝑳𝒆𝒗 20:10 “𝑰𝒇 𝒂 𝒎𝒂𝒏 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒎𝒊𝒕𝒔 𝒂𝒅𝒖𝒍𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒚 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒂𝒏𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒎𝒂𝒏'𝒔 𝒘𝒊𝒇𝒆 – 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒊𝒇𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒏𝒆𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒃𝒐𝒓 – 𝒃𝒐𝒕𝒉 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒂𝒅𝒖𝒍𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒓 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒂𝒅𝒖𝒍𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒔 𝒎𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒃𝒆 𝒑𝒖𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒅𝒆𝒂𝒕𝒉.”

Let us not go to great lengths to find out what happened to the man and let’s just zero in on the beautiful repartee that followed when the woman caught in the act was brought before Jesus who of course knew that the Pharisees were simply trying to trap him in order to accuse him before the Sanhedrin (𝐯.𝟔).

Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground but there was no reference in the Scriptures as to what he wrote about. The Exegetes, however, believed that what Jesus wrote was the list of sins that the oldest leader of the Pharisees who was there had committed in his life and this was the reason why the Pharisees and the crowd left when Jesus said: “𝑰𝒇 𝒂𝒏𝒚𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒊𝒔 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒔𝒊𝒏, 𝒍𝒆𝒕 𝒉𝒊𝒎 𝒃𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒇𝒊𝒓𝒔𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒓𝒐𝒘 𝒂 𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒂𝒕 𝒉𝒆𝒓.” (𝒗.7).

Today’s Gospel reading is not only a lesson in forgiveness when Jesus told the woman: “𝑾𝒐𝒎𝒂𝒏, 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒚? 𝑯𝒂𝒔 𝒏𝒐 𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒎𝒏𝒆𝒅 𝒚𝒐𝒖?” 𝒕𝒐 𝒘𝒉𝒊𝒄𝒉 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒐𝒎𝒂𝒏 𝒔𝒂𝒊𝒅 “𝑵𝒐 𝒐𝒏𝒆, 𝒔𝒊𝒓.” “𝑻𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒏𝒆𝒊𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒅𝒐 𝑰 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒎𝒏 𝒚𝒐𝒖.” (𝒗.11) but it also provides us with the opportunity to know that being forgiven of our sins opens the way towards a new life altogether and again we see this when Jesus said: “𝑮𝒐 𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒍𝒊𝒇𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒔𝒊𝒏.” (𝒗.11) We must look at forgiveness not only in terms of our relationship with God being restored but we must regard forgiveness as a blessing that allows us to bask in the fullness of Grace.

As with the woman in this passage, anyone of us who sins and are forgiven must decide to use the opportunity to live a new life because forgiveness is the process by which we are brought back into the path of righteousness. And we can draw on this scenario as Jesus didn’t condemn the woman but neither did he ignore or condone her sin.

Jesus stands ready to forgive any sin our lives, but confession and repentance should lead us to a change of heart and with God’s help we can accept Christ’s forgiveness and bring us to a new life especially as we step deeper into the Lenten Season.

More too often also, we look at adultery as the sin of the flesh but there is also such a thing as spiritual adultery. Spiritual unfaithfulness is as serious as adultery, and we may not be aware of it but we can be guilty of spiritual adultery if we turn to other gods besides Our One True God.

As we go to our parishes and churches to join the celebration of the Holy Eucharist on this Fifth Sunday of Lent let us remind ourselves that our spiritual journey as Pilgrims of Hope is one of forgiveness and repentance so that we may ourselves being restored to the fullness of Grace.

Let the forgiveness that we will receive from God propel us towards a new life that is lived in the love of God Our Father and who by the power of the Holy Spirit will transform us into the image and likeness of Christ.

Like the woman in the Gospel, let the forgiveness we receive move us to take part in the building up of the Mystical Body and Kingdom of God on earth. With the gift of the Holy Spirit that we received through the Sacrament of Baptism, let us remember that we have the power and authority to choose not to sin for if we choose to sin, we will find ourselves to be without excuse.

This Gospel narrative is a fitting preparation for Holy Week when we see Jesus making the ultimate sacrifice to grant us forgiveness. As we prepare for Holy Week, let us all express our gratitude to Jesus for his mercy and love and let us make a solemn vow that we shall commit ourselves to doing what he is telling us: “𝑮𝒐 𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒍𝒊𝒇𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒔𝒊𝒏.” (𝒗.11) (𝘌𝘥 𝘔𝘢𝘭𝘢𝘺 – 𝘈𝘱𝘳𝘪𝘭 6, 2025)