New Life Through Forgiveness

𝐌𝐀𝐑𝐂𝐇 𝟐𝟑, 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟔: 𝐅𝐈𝐅𝐓𝐇 𝐖𝐄𝐄𝐊 𝐎𝐅 𝐋𝐄𝐍𝐓

𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝟏: 𝐃𝐚𝐧 𝟏𝟑:𝟏-𝟔𝟐

𝐑𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐏𝐬𝐚𝐥𝐦: 𝐏𝐬𝐚 𝟐𝟑:𝟏-𝟔 “𝐄𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐈 𝐰𝐚𝐥𝐤 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐚𝐫𝐤 𝐯𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐲 𝐈 𝐟𝐞𝐚𝐫 𝐧𝐨 𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐥; 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐭 𝐦𝐲 𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞.”

𝐆𝐎𝐒𝐏𝐄𝐋: 𝐉𝐧 𝟖:𝟏-𝟏𝟏

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

        Adultery which is at the center of today’s Gospel passage refers to sexual sins or what is commonly known as the physical act of entering in a sexual relationship outside the marriage covenant.

        Jesus, however, extended the definition of adultery to include lustful intent which simply means that looking at someone with lust is adultery in the heart. But adultery per se has another dimension which we will refer to as spiritual adultery or that act of being unfaithful to God which take the form of idolatry that begins from turning away from faith or what the church calls apostasy.

         In layman’s terms, adultery is often defined as 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 (𝐯.𝟒) 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.”

        𝐃𝐞𝐮 𝟐𝟐:𝟐𝟐 𝐚𝐥𝐬𝐨 𝐬𝐚𝐲𝐬: “𝐈𝐟 𝐚 𝐦𝐚𝐧 𝐢𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐥𝐞𝐞𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐚𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐦𝐚𝐧'𝐬 𝐰𝐢𝐟𝐞, 𝐛𝐨𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐚𝐧 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐬𝐥𝐞𝐩𝐭 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐦𝐚𝐧 𝐦𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐝𝐢𝐞.” And in 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.

         With Gomer being unfaithful to Hosea (𝐇𝐨𝐬 𝟏:𝟏-𝟏𝟏), Israel also had been unfaithful to God and the idolatry to which they fell into was like adulterous relations with idols as the people at that time sought political relationships with other nations and they mixed Baal worship with the worship of God.

         Like Gomer, man in this modern time and age could fall into these idols such as power, pleasure, money, fame and positions and the temptations in the world we now live in can be very seductive especially when it comes with a  P1-Trillion tag relative to the flood control scandal.

         It may be that the 62 Congressmen who were tagged as recipients of billions of pesos stacked in suitcases may not be aware that they have committed spiritual adultery and what they committed becomes graver since they committed these acts with their full knowledge and deliberate consent. 

         As we go to our parishes and churches to join the celebration of the Holy Eucharist on this Monday of the Fifth Week of Lent let us remind ourselves that our spiritual journey is one of forgiveness and repentance so that we may ourselves be restored to the fullness of God’s 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 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 – 𝘔𝘢𝘳𝘤𝘩 23, 2026)