The Best Part
Monday the Fifth Week of Lent
Dn 13:14c-62
Psalm 23
John 8: 1-11
I begin this reflection with an apology to those of you who attended the Penance Service in Advent. This Gospel is the reading I used at the service for the reflection. No doubt, you will recognize a familiar theme.
The Gospel is the story of the Pharisees, bringing a woman caught in the act of adultery to Jesus. They are trying to trap Jesus into contradicting the Law of Moses. The story goes, Jesus is teaching in the synagogue, the Pharisees bring a woman caught in adultery to him. They toss her on the ground in front of Jesus. They remind him that the Law of Moses says such women should be stoned. They ask what he thinks should be done.
Jesus doesn’t answer, and when they push him for an answer, he tells them to go ahead and stone her, but one of them who is without sin should cast the first stone. The story says they all went away one by one until no one was left.
These men came ready to stone a woman for a sin. They were them forced to look into their own hearts and see their sins. Their sins were like the rocks they carried.
But the Pharisees left before the very best part of the story. They missed the best part!
Jesus asks the woman where they all are, have they not condemned her? She answers, no. She was alone with Jesus when the best part came. He looked into her eyes and said: “Neither do I condemn you.”
The Pharisees left with their hands and their pockets filled with rocks, and their hearts filled with their sins. They left and kept their stones and their sins with them. They never experienced forgiveness. They never saw the look of love that the woman saw in Jesus’ eyes.
Our own sinfulness is like those rocks they carried. I tried an experiment not so long ago. I picked up a small stone early in the morning when I was walking my dog. I carried that stone in my hand all day, no matter what I was doing. Sometimes it was an annoyance, and sometimes just a bother. It is hard to take a shower, wash your hair, cook a meal, to speak nothing of typing with a rock in your hand.
But at the end of the day, I realized the saddest part was the times during the day when I completely forgot about the stone, and it didn’t annoy me at all.
Our sins should bother us. They should annoy us. We should never allow ourselves to become complacent and ignore or fail to remember their presence. But our remembering is not to assure we hold on to guilt or beat ourselves up for our failings.
We remember so we can place our sins where they really belong. Our sins belong at the foot of the cross. Jesus died so we could have the best part. So, unlike the Pharisees who left carry their sins with them, we leave our sins at the feet of Jesus. Then we do receive the best part. We look into Jesus’ eyes like the woman did, and hear his words, “I do not condemn you.”
As we approach Holy Week, I hope you will join me as I spend some time remembering the sins I carry, that burden me, and hold me back. I invite you to spiritually, join me as I place them at the feet of Jesus and look up into his loving eyes and hear his words, “I do not condemn you.”
That is the very best part, don’t miss it.
