5th Sunday of Lent

By Jack Chui

I'm behind in posting these reflections --- and I don't even have to think about what to write...

We arrive at the fifth Sunday of Lent. The shops have been full of eggs and hot cross buns for weeks now. Amongst all the busyness of preparing for your Easter break and catching up with family and friends, has this Lent been a time of preparation of a different kind for you? What have you been preparing for? As you have read the Lenten readings for the four previous Sundays, have there been any challenges? If not, the reading from John this week challenges us.

It comes from the beginning of Chapter 8 in John’s gospel. Jesus was a teacher and had been teaching in the temple when a woman caught in adultery was brought to him. The people who brought the woman knew the laws, and knew that the law stated that the woman should be stoned to death. They ask Jesus ‘What do you say?’

This is where the story gets interesting. What could Jesus do? He could abide by the law and see the woman stoned, which would be against all that he had been teaching, or he could tell the crowd that she should be forgiven and not receive a punishment, thus condemning himself. The woman was used as a ploy as they wanted to trap Jesus – it seemed that he was in a no-win situation. He needs to come up with a solution where the law is kept intact – he doesn't want to reject it, or change it.

He bends down and writes in the sand – we don’t know what he wrote. Maybe he was listing in the sand all the sins of those who were condemning the woman; others think he was buying time as he didn't want to be rushed as he thought out a solution. We know that he provides a brilliant solution – he invites those without sin to throw the first stone. They all leave!

The woman’s dignity is left intact and Jesus tells the woman that he does not condemn her, but he doesn't just leave it at that. He tells her to sin no more. Is Jesus judging her? Has she done the wrong thing? Does he forgive her?

Jesus is making a judgement – he is not saying that what she has done is OK. He challenges her to start afresh, to realise what she has done is wrong, and to change her life.

How can we relate this to our lives? How many times have you wanted to throw a stone at someone? Especially when they deserved it? Jesus did not throw stones at the woman, and he won’t at us. The woman made a mistake, as we do. Jesus didn't leave the woman, and he won’t leave us. Jesus knows that we all make mistakes, as the woman did. His challenge to her was to ‘sin no more’. This is our challenge too.