Fifth Sunday of Lent: C: April 3, 2022

 FORGIVENESS FOR THE ERRANT DAUGHTER

First Reading : Isaiah 43: 16-21

Second Reading : Philippians 3: 8-14

Gospel Reading : John 8: 1-11

   *First reading is from the book of Prophet Isaiah. Isaiah assures the Jews who were exiled in Babylon that there will be a new exodus and the Lord God will bring deliverance for them. He encourages them and invites them to concentrate on the present and trust in the promises of the Lord God who is always with them and cares for them.

  *Second reading is from the letter of St. Paul to Philippians. Paul explains to the Christian community at Philippi that holiness is not something that we can achieve by our own efforts. Instead we should try to see holiness as something that comes through faith in Jesus and in the power of His resurrection. Paul came to the realization that although he led a zealous life as a Jew it had no apparent effect with regard to his eternal life. 

Neither do I condemn you, go and do not sin again                                                        Last Sunday in the Gospel reading we listened to the parable of the prodigal son which expressed God's love and mercy for the repentant sinner. In today's Gospel we have the real life story of the prodigal daughter - a woman caught in the act of adultery. Some people brought this unfortunate woman to Jesus. Practically everyone present at the scene wants her to be  condemned to death by stoning according to the law of Moses. But Jesus shows her mercy and forgives her and gives her a new life. Jesus grants her forgiveness not because what she did was not against the commandment of God but because He loves her in spite of her sinful past. Jesus forgives her and tells her to go in peace and from now on she should not be enslaved by sin. Hence Jesus the Son of God dispenses the generosity of God's forgiveness. The woman's many sins which the public condemned and others wanted to kill her for are totally and dramatically forgiven by Jesus. Jesus' generosity might upset some of us. But Jesus tells not only the sinful woman but each one of us to go in peace and not to sin again. Jesus shows us that the greatest law is the law of love and every other law should be complementary to it. During this Lent let us too respond to the forgiving love of the heavenly Father positively and decisively. 

"In the end only two persons remained representing misery and mercy and mercy won that day." - St. Augustine