In today’s Gospel we have the encounter between Jesus and the woman who was caught committing adultery. At the time the punishment for such an act was death by stoning. The scribes and the Pharisees treated her as an outcast and made her stand in front of the whole assembly of the temple, fully expecting Jesus to condemn her. But Jesus rebuked them saying ‘If there is one of you who has not sinned, let him be the first to throw a stone at her’, forgiving the woman completely and renewing her in the life of faith ‘go away, and don’t sin any more.’
The Gospel challenges us to leave behind all that holds us back on our walk of faith and to embrace the message of the forgiveness of God in our lives. Many obstacles prevent us from encountering Jesus. We live in a world where the message of the media dominates, promising us happiness and success through the acquisition of material things. Often it’s difficult to listen for the Good News among the many other messages we need to hear in our lives. Sometimes it can be easier for us to find faults in others rather than recognising our own mistakes.
We all need to say sorry and continue to try our best to be caring and loving to each other. ‘Go and sin no more’ is what Lent calls us to do. While Jesus sees our faults, he does not weigh us down with them. Rather he invites us to turn away from our old ways and to go back to him with all our heart. He wants to lift us up with his grace and renew us with his forgiveness just like he did for the woman in the Gospel. We can bring to him the broken areas of our lives, all of our struggles, emptiness and pain. He meets us just as we are and always loves and forgives us.
Perhaps in this final week of Lent we can take a step back from the busyness of the world we live in to spend some time in the company of the Lord. Jesus never grows weary of listening to us and invites us to encounter him as we would any friend. Knowing that life is given ultimate meaning by the resurrection, we can ponder the great love Jesus has for us by dying on the Cross at Calvary and can bring to him the areas of our lives which are in most need of his healing love.
