Homily on the Fifth Sunday of Lent; 6 April 2025, Caritas Sisters of Jesus Chapel, Fairview
Have you ever been to Operation Second Chance (OSC) in Kalunasan, Cebu? That place is a jail facility which houses over a hundred teenagers (15 up to 17 years old) who are in conflict with the law accused of having committed serious crimes even at their tender age. Many of them are street kids driven to participate in illegal activities due to lack of good parental guidance. When caught they are considered “in conflict with the law” and when convicted, they are imprisoned separately from adult criminals. I have visited OSC many times in the past and had “moving” conversations with those teens. I have tried to imagine myself to be in their situation. And I just thought how miserable life inside could be– no home, no family; no hope, no future. If only someone could have compassion on those kids and give them a second chance after their rehabilitation, I believe their life will never be the same again.
We are now celebrating the Fifth Sunday of Lent. We recall that last Sunday Jesus narrated to us the parable of the prodigal son in order to give us an idea of God’s unimaginable compassion towards us sinners. Today’s gospel reveals more clearly the same amazing compassion of God but this time seen in real life, in the very person and ministry of Jesus. Again the Scribes and Pharisees appear in the story, watching every move and every statement of Jesus. They have actually been following Jesus not as devoted disciples but as critics, investigators, and accusers, dragging along with them a woman caught in the act of adultery and asking him for his verdict on the matter.
What did Jesus do? How did he respond? Did he immediately believe the statement of the Pharisees and allowed them to stone the woman to death? Or did he first try to interrogate the woman to establish whether she would own up to the crime or not? Or did he inquire whether the eye witnesses were willing to testify in defence of the woman or in support of their accusation? No! Jesus did nothing of these things. But I guess it must have been for Jesus a very challenging situation that needed more time to weigh the pros and cons. So he bent down to write something on the ground, and only then was he able to give a reply to the woman’s accusers. Jesus said “Let the one among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.”
In an instant, the accusers became the accused. Since none of them could claim to be without sin, one by one they dropped their stones and rocks and walked away, leaving the woman unhurt. She must have been in tears, trembling with fear for her dear life. And to her big surprise no one, not even Jesus dared to cast a single stone at her. Then she heard Jesus gently saying “Neither do I condemn you. Go, and from now on do not sin anymore.” Those tender words must have given her a sudden rush of relief and a strong surge of joy.
What does this story tell us about us sinners and God’s compassion? There may be times when we feel we are like that adulterous woman, shameful, embarrassed, humbled and helpless; we feel so guilty that we do not even have the strength to express how sincerely sorry we are perhaps due to the gravity of our sin or our repeated faults and failures. And the only thing we could do is to turn to Jesus silently pleading for help, and then, to bow humbly down in silence, surrendering our fate with utmost resignation.
Today and these coming days this could be our disposition too (especially on the day we go to confession). Like the sinful woman we kneel down before the cross surrendering everything to the mercy of God. And while our eyes continue to be cast down in shame for our sins, Jesus goes down to the ground with us not to strike us to death, but to offer his hand to lift us up and give us a second chance… no questions asked, no conditions imposed except the challenge not to commit sin again. Similar to what he said to the woman he also would say to us using the voice of the priest confessor “I absolve you from your sins. Go, and from now on do not sin anymore.” I believe this can be our best experience of God’s UNLI and BOTTOMLESS compassion this Lenten season within the Jubilee Year.
Before I conclude, there is one more twist I would like to highlight in the story of the adulterous woman. And it is the fact that she had been saved from being stoned to death. This is actually the most dramatic part of the story which only very few are able to notice. If she had been pardoned and absolved from the death penalty that she deserved, someone else would have to die in her place. And who would that person be? It would be no other than Jesus.
The same Jesus who let her go away scot free would later be put to death by the same Scribes and Pharisees who could not have the adulterous woman stoned to death. Jesus’ death by crucifixion is precisely the Gospel narrative we shall hear next Sunday which is also known as the Passion Sunday. His death on the cross had saved not only the adulterous woman but all of us sinners from being condemned to death. Isn’t this God’s compassion at its best?
All throughout Lent we have been hearing much about God’s compassion. But what do we really understand by the word compassion? Compassion comes from the Latin verb “pati” which means “to suffer”, and the Latin preposition “cum” which means “with”. Hence compassion, originating from compati, literally means “to suffer with.” Therefore when God shows compassion he does not only forgive our sins, he also comes to suffer with us in our misery. Compassion is sympathy raised to the level of empathy. In Jesus’ passion and death, we see God’s compassion at its best.
Brothers and sisters, in this Holy Mass, Jesus is telling us that God is not the kind of God whom most people know as a punishing God like in Old Testament times. On the contrary he is truly an amazingly compassionate God, as Jesus revealed him to us – slow to anger and rich in mercy. He would rather forgive us a hundred times, or a thousand times rather than see us die because of our sins.
Moreover he is telling us that he is really present here in our midst both in the Eucharist and in Confession. Through these sacraments he welcomes us back to God’s loving embrace offering us a second chance, or a third chance and many more chances in the future.
Let us keep in mind that our sins are but a drop of tainted water that quickly disappears in the vast ocean of God’s mercy. In the sacraments God takes us by the hand and embraces us so tightly as if immersing us into the vast ocean of his infinite mercy and compassion, so that in synodality with the entire Church we can celebrate Easter with an explosion of joy. GiGsss!