Homily for 5th Sunday of Lent

Homily for the
5th Sunday of Lent

April 6, 2025
John 8: 1-11
Scouts NYLT, Putnam Valley, N.Y.
Our Lady of the Assumption, Bronx                    
St. Francis Xavier, Bronx

by Bruegel

“Early in the morning, Jesus arrived again in the temple, and all the people started coming to him, and he sat down and taught them” (John 8: 2).

We’re not surprised by the patience and the mercy Jesus displays in today’s gospel story.  That’s one lesson for us to take from it.

The 1st lesson, tho, is that all of us are sinners.  He tells the woman’s accusers, “Let the one among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her” (8:7).  Even they had to admit they were not guiltless.  Most of us are quick to form judgments about the faults of others, and many of us voice those judgments. I’m not talking about things like evaluating a job performance or sitting on a jury, but about criticizing someone’s words, actions, lifestyle, or character when it’s not our responsibility.  Our judgments might be correct; often they aren’t, a failing called rash judgment, which is itself a sin.  We’d be less prone to faulting others, correctly or rashly, if we kept in mind our own failures, our own sins, and constantly asked Jesus to pardon us rather than to punish others.

The 2d lesson, obviously, is Jesus’ reluctance to condemn sinners.  “Neither do I condemn you,” he says to the unhappy woman (8:11).  He came to redeem us, to draw us into God’s love and to keep us there.  Thus St. Paul writes today:  “For Christ’s sake, I’ve accepted the loss of all things and I consider them so much rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him” (Phil 3:8-9).  Jesus founded the Church and bestowed the Holy Spirit upon her to forgive sins and bring people into God’s family for eternity.

The 3d lesson, however, is a caution.  He warns the woman, “Go, and from now on do not sin any more” (8:11).  The 1st words of Jesus’ public ministry were a call to conversion:  “Jesus came to Galilee proclaiming …, “This is the time of fulfillment.  The kingdom of God is at hand.  Repent, and believe in the gospel” (Mark 1:14-15).  Turning away from sin is necessary for admission to God’s kingdom, for membership in his family.  Yes, we are sinners.  Those who admit that and seek with the help of Jesus to overcome their sins will be saved.  Those who relish their sins and want to remain in them, will not be saved because Jesus doesn’t, and can’t, compel us to come to God.  He respects our free will and lets us decide whether to “repent and believe in the gospel,” whether to accept forgiveness and follow Jesus as our Lord.