Let's discuss seriously the sunday's gospel

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Here there are the readings for today, the psalm, the gospel and a brief explanation or a reflexion of a Church Father.
Feel free to write your commentarys, or your explanations about it.

Sunday, 25 March 2007
Fifth Sunday of Lent
Today the Church celebrates : The Annunciation of the Lord,

Book of Isaiah 43,16-21.
Thus says the LORD, who opens a way in the sea and a path in the mighty waters, Who leads out chariots and horsemen, a powerful army, Till they lie prostrate together, never to rise, snuffed out and quenched like a wick. Remember not the events of the past, the things of long ago consider not; See, I am doing something new! Now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? In the desert I make a way, in the wasteland, rivers. Wild beasts honor me, jackals and ostriches, For I put water in the desert and rivers in the wasteland for my chosen people to drink, The people whom I formed for myself, that they might announce my praise.

Psalms 126(125),1-6.
A song of ascents. When the LORD restored the fortunes of Zion, then we thought we were dreaming.
Our mouths were filled with laughter; our tongues sang for joy. Then it was said among the nations, “The LORD had done great things for them.”
The LORD has done great things for us; Oh, how happy we were!
Restore again our fortunes, LORD, like the dry stream beds of the Negeb.
Those who sow in tears will reap with cries of joy.
Those who go forth weeping, carrying sacks of seed, Will return with cries of joy, carrying their bundled sheaves.

Letter to the Philippians 3,8-14.
More than that, I even consider everything as a loss because of the supreme good of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have accepted the loss of all things and I consider them so much rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having any righteousness of my own based on the law but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God, depending on faith to know him and the power of his resurrection and (the) sharing of his sufferings by being conformed to his death, if somehow I may attain the resurrection from the dead. It is not that I have already taken hold of it or have already attained perfect maturity, but I continue my pursuit in hope that I may possess it, since I have indeed been taken possession of by Christ (Jesus). Brothers, I for my part do not consider myself to have taken possession. Just one thing: forgetting what lies behind but straining forward to what lies ahead, I continue my pursuit toward the goal, the prize of God’s upward calling, in Christ Jesus.

Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint John 8,1-11.
while Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. But early in the morning he arrived again in the temple area, and all the people started coming to him, and he sat down and taught them. Then the scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery and made her stand in the middle. They said to him, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the very act of committing adultery. Now in the law, Moses commanded us to stone such women. So what do you say?” They said this to test him, so that they could have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and began to write on the ground with his finger. But when they continued asking him, he straightened up and said to them, “Let the one among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” Again he bent down and wrote on the ground. And in response, they went away one by one, beginning with the elders. So he was left alone with the woman before him. Then Jesus straightened up and said to her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” She replied, “No one, sir.” Then Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you. Go, (and) from now on do not sin any more.”
 
Commentary of the day :

Saint Augustine (354-430), bishop of Hippo (North Africa) and doctor of the Church
Tractate 33 on the Gospel of John, 5-8

« Neither do I condemn you. Go, and from now on do not sin any more »

“One after another all withdrew.” The two were left alone, the wretched woman and Mercy. But the Lord, having struck them through with that dart of justice, deigned not to heed their fall, but, turning away His look from them, “again He wrote with His finger on the ground.”
But when that woman was left alone, and all they were gone out, He raised His eyes to the woman. We have heard the voice of justice; let us also hear the voice of clemency…she expected to be punished by Him in whom sin could not be found. But He, who had driven back her adversaries with the tongue of justice, raising the eyes of clemency towards her, asked her, “Hath no man condemned thee?” She answered, “No man, Lord.” And He said, “Neither do I condemn thee;” by whom, perhaps, thou didst fear to be condemned, because in me thou hast not found sin. “Neither will I condemn thee.”
What is this, O Lord? Dost Thou therefore favour sins? Not so, evidently. Mark what follows: “Go, henceforth sin no more.” Therefore the Lord did also condemn, but condemned sins, not man…Let them take heed, then, who love His gentleness in the Lord, and let them fear His truth…The Lord is gentle, the Lord is long-suffering, the Lord is pitiful; but the Lord is also just, the Lord is also true (Ps 85,15). He bestows on thee space for correction; but thou lovest the delay of judgment more than the amendment of thy ways. Hast thou been a bad man yesterday? Today be a good man. Hast thou gone on in thy wickedness today? At any rate change tomorrow.
Thus therefore said He to the woman, “Neither will I condemn thee;” but, being made secure concerning the past, beware of the future. “Neither will I condemn thee:” I have blotted out what thou hast done; keep what I have commanded thee, that thou mayest find what I have promised.
 
For those who may interested, there is a discussion of this going on at my website, found at the link below.🙂
 
Our priest in his homily noted something very interesting. In all my years as a Christian, I’ve always heard it asked, “What what Jesus writing in the dirt?” Never, until today, have I heard a possible answer to that. The priest referred us to Jeremiah 17:13:
O LORD, the hope of Israel, all who forsake you shall be put to shame;
those who turn away from you shall be written in the earth, for they have forsaken the LORD, the fountain of living water.
Click to expand...
The priest hypothesized that Jesus was writing this verse in the dirt. I’ve not heard any better idea, and this one is really good 🙂

Jeremy
 
If the woman was caught in adultery, where was the man she was with? Wasn’t be caught as well? The “Law” also said the witnesses should be the first to stone her and stone the man (Dt 17:7); then the rest of the community was to join in. The crime of adultery was no longer an enforceable offense under Roman Law. If caught, the man usually got off but the woman was abused and reviled. The old double standard.

The second point is that he wrote* twice.* What did he write the second time that caused them to go away one-by-one? I imagine Jesus writing the first time the 10 Commandments, and the second time the names of those around him, one-by-one.

This is also where Jesus does away with the death penalty.
 
jemfinch said:
In all my years as a Christian, I’ve always heard it asked, “What what Jesus writing in the dirt?”
Click to expand...
Our priest at Mass today gave an interpretation of this different from what I have heard before. He attributed significance to the gesture itself. He connected it to the other place in Scripture where someone was writing with His finger: when God gave the Commandments to Moses, He wrote them on the tablets with His finger. (See Exodus 31:18: “When the LORD had finished speaking to Moses on Mount Sinai, he gave him the two tablets of the commandments, the stone tablets inscribed by God’s own finger.”)

What Jesus seemed to be indicating is that the One who was interpreting the law in this situation (woman caught in adultery) is the same One who is the author of the law.
 
Eileen_T said:
This is also where Jesus does away with the death penalty.
Click to expand...
With all due respect, Eileen, that’s quite a stretch. Jesus makes no such definitive statement. The most one can say from this passage is that Jesus showed this particular rabble of people that they had no right to condemn this woman and carry out execution on her. St. Paul – and the Catechism of the Catholic Church-- on the other hand, says the State (but not me and you, personally) can and does have the right and obligation to make such a determination and carry it out:
Let every person be subordinate to the higher authorities, for there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been established by God. Therefore, whoever resists authority opposes what God has appointed, and those who oppose it will bring judgment upon themselves. For rulers are not a cause of fear to good conduct, but to evil. Do you wish to have no fear of authority? Then do what is good and you will receive approval from it, for it is a servant of God for your good. But if you do evil, be afraid, for it does not bear the sword without purpose; it is the servant of God to inflict wrath on the evildoer. Therefore, it is necessary to be subject not only because of the wrath but also because of conscience. (Romans 12:1-5)
Click to expand...
2267 Assuming that the guilty party’s identity and responsibility have been fully determined, the traditional teaching of the Church does not exclude recourse to the death penalty, if this is the only possible way of effectively defending human lives against the unjust aggressor.
Click to expand...
If, however, non-lethal means are sufficient to defend and protect people’s safety from the aggressor, authority will limit itself to such means, as these are more in keeping with the concrete conditions of the common good and are more in conformity to the dignity of the human person.
Click to expand...
Today, in fact, as a consequence of the possibilities which the state has for effectively preventing crime, by rendering one who has committed an offense incapable of doing harm - without definitely taking away from him the possibility of redeeming himself - the cases in which the execution of the offender is an absolute necessity “are very rare, if not practically non-existent.”
(CCC 2267)
Click to expand...
 
jemfinch said:
Our priest in his homily noted something very interesting. In all my years as a Christian, I’ve always heard it asked, “What what Jesus writing in the dirt?” Never, until today, have I heard a possible answer to that. The priest referred us to Jeremiah 17:13:

Quote:
O LORD, the hope of Israel, all who forsake you shall be put to shame;
those who turn away from you shall be written in the earth, for they have forsaken the LORD, the fountain of living water.

The priest hypothesized that Jesus was writing this verse in the dirt. I’ve not heard any better idea, and this one is really good 🙂

Jeremy
Click to expand...
Loved the connection your priest made with the Jeremiah passage. Thanks for sharing it.
Nita
 
Fidelis said:
With all due respect, Eileen, that’s quite a stretch. Jesus makes no such definitive statement. The most one can say from this passage is that Jesus showed this particular rabble of people that they had no right to condemn this woman and carry out execution on her. St. Paul – and the Catechism of the Catholic Church-- on the other hand, says the State (but not me and you, personally) can and does have the right and obligation to make such a determination and carry it out:
Click to expand...
Sorry, I should have inserted a smilie, it was meant ‘tounge in cheek’. 😛
 
Today’s Gospel reading hit home with me, as I’m in the process of returning to the fold. I did a spiritual inventory, so to speak, and actually made a list of the things I wanted to confess. I attended Mass this morning, but did not receive the Eucharist, and then asked the priest afterwards to hear my confession.

When I realized what the Gospel reading was, I nearly wept in anticipation of “go, and sin no more.”

During the homily, Father spoke of Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn’s account of a close friend of his who became an interrogator in the Soviet state police. Solzhenitsyn’s commentary was, essentially, that had he been in the same place at the same time and under the same pressures as his friend, he, too, may have ended up an interrogator. Father used this to illustrate that there are not good people and evil people in the world, but people who have good and bad in them, which results in some doing good and some doing evil. For this reason, we cannot judge others, as we ourselves are sinful.

Pretty basic, but effective.

Peace,
Dante
 
jemfinch said:
Our priest in his homily noted something very interesting. In all my years as a Christian, I’ve always heard it asked, “What what Jesus writing in the dirt?” Never, until today, have I heard a possible answer to that. The priest referred us to Jeremiah 17:13:
Click to expand...
My priest mentioned this as well. Are they reading out of the same homily helper or are we from the same parish? Indiana here.

Michael
 
I found this very interesting reflection on today’s gospel
catholica.com.au/peregrinus/036_pere_210307.php

Especially “… Jesus takes care that the woman feels better before he calls her to be better.”

As to what he was writing, my pastor put forth the possibility that Jesus was listing the sins of all her accusers

These do give me a new focus on a well-known gospel.

Go with Love, Go with God
 
While no one knows what he actually wrote in the dirt, it did have the effect of causing everyone to leave.
I have heard it said that the first time he wrote in the dirt, it was the word"Adultery" to represent the womans sin.
The second time he bent down and wrote in the dirt, he wrote such words as “Liar, Thief, Idolater, coveter, murderer” to represent the sins of those standing around her in the crowd. Once convicted by their hearts of their own sins, they skulked away.
That’s a good story and until a better one comes up, I’m sticking with it!!
 
Just sharing the thoughts I gave on Fidelis’ Bible Study on this gospel.

The Pharisees hope to eliminate Our Lord’s popularity and influence. If he says she should be let go, he can be accused of contradicting the Law and lose the respect of the people. If he says to stone her, He can be accused of sedition to the Romans.

With His words in verse 7, *“Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her”, *the Pharisees find themselves in the very trap they had set for Jesus! If they stone her, they will be arrested; if they don’t, they fail to carry out the law and in addition look like sinners in the eyes of the people, thereby losing respect.

First heard the above insight from Scot Hahn. Have read it in an earlier source since then, but can’t remember where or by whom.

The gospel passage brought to my mind the following Scripture passages:
  1. Psalm 57:6 *They set a net for my steps; my soul was bowed down. They dug a pit in my way, but they have fallen into it themselves. *
  2. Mt. 10:16 It also seemed to me a live demonstration by of the advice Jesus would later give to His disciples: *“be wise as serpents and innocent as doves”. *
Nita
 
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