5th Sunday of Lent
(Sunday, 13th March 2016)
Love the sinner but hate the sin – (John 8:1-11)
Have you ever heard someone say “Don’t judge. It says so in the bible!”
This statement is true. In Matthew 7:1 it says, “Do not judge or you too will be judged”. None of us like being judged or being made feel like we have made a mistake. Some of us might retaliate with the “Don’t judge” line to shield ourselves from all correction. But if we can’t judge at all then we can’t say that what Hitler did is wrong. Nor can we say that the recent terror attacks in Paris or Turkey are wrong. We can’t say it’s wrong to kill, abuse, enslave or beat someone. Yet we know that these things are wrong and should not be tolerated or simply ignored. So what is the deal? What can we judge and what can’t we? How do we maintain the balance between justice and mercy?
In this Sunday’s Gospel a woman who had committed adultery is brought to Jesus. It doesn’t say she was accused of adultery but that she was “caught in the very act of committing adultery”. She is guilty. That would be a one of those whoppers called a mortal sin. They refer the case to Jesus not because they were interested in justice or mercy but rather to find “something to use against him”. They wanted Jesus dead. If he had said, “let her go” then he is saying adultery is ok, making him guilty of ignoring the 6thcommandment. If he had said, “follow the law,” he would have been an accomplice in her being stoned to death.
So Jesus writes on the sand the only words the bible tells us that he ever wrote and asks the one without sin to cast the first stone. Genius! He is not saying adultery is ok. He is not saying it doesn’t matter want we do as long as we are nice people and recycle. But he is saying that we can’t make ourselves judge and jury of another person. He is also not saying that it is ok to stone someone. Good move Jesus!
The accusers leave without casting even a pebble and Jesus says those most profound and beautiful words “Neither do I condemn you. Go and sin no more”.
There are 2 very important points in that one simple phrase for our meditation.
- The Lord does not condemn us. (Ezekiel 33:11) But we can separate ourselves from him by serious sin (mortal sin). Mortal sin is when we commit a sin that is serious in God’s eyes, freely (not forced), knowing that it is wrong.
- He tells her to sin no more. This means that sin matters! Sin cost Jesus his life!! Our debt created by our sin has been paid by Jesus dying on the cross.
So what does this teach us about judging? We have to make judgements every day to decide what is good for us, for our families and for society. If someone offers us illegal drugs, we judge that to be bad for us. If someone offers you a collection of pornographic or satanic movies you would judge that as inappropriate for anyone’s viewing. If the government want to legalise abortion we would judge that as bad for women and society. We MUST judge actions but NOT people. What a murderer did is wrong but we try to save him. (Moses was a murderer but turned his life around and lead the people out of slavery in Egypt.) If someone behaves immorally, the action is wrong but we don’t write the person off. Jesus shows us in the gospel that sin is sin. It’s wrong and we shouldn’t do it. It hurts us, others and our relationship with him. But if we do sin, there is a way back. We are never abandoned by the Lord. He teaches us the age old expression used in the Church, “love the sinner but hate the sin”. Pay attention to that. We are all sinners. Nobody can judge because they presume to be perfect. But we must judge actions as good or bad in great love for the people involved. We judge what they do not who they are. If parents don’t correct their children for stealing, bullying or being disrespectful that would be irresponsible of them. If the state didn’t do anything when the law was broken there would be chaos.
In summary: we judge what people do but not who they are. We must judge actions but not people, all the while being motivated by love. This make us more Christ-like and maintains the balance between justice and mercy.
Fr. Patrick Cahill