Second Chance!

Fifth Sunday of Lent

Sunday, April 6, 2025

Is 43:16-21; Phil 3:8-14; Jn 8:1-11

The fifth Sunday of Lent prompts our reflection on God showing faith in the human ability to change and transform our lives. The readings highlight the goodness of God, who is willing to bless us with a second chance to course-correct ourselves. 

While the Gospel leads the way, other readings fall in line with its theme. 

In the Gospel, the initial silence, final response, and dialogue of Jesus to the accusation made against the woman caught in adultery help us understand the sort of questions that Jesus must have processed in his mind.

At first, the scribes and Pharisees who bring the woman caught in adultery claim to represent the law of Moses, which commands the stoning of those caught in adultery. However, the question is, ‘If they were sure of the Mosaic law, why would they need Jesus’ validation?’ Beyond the question of their faithfulness to the law, they intend to trap Jesus if he contradicts the Mosaic law. 

Secondly, where is the man with whom the woman could have committed the sin of adultery?

Thirdly, why is their sense of justice so partial and twisted as it aims to punish only the woman while privileging the man with total immunity? 

While these questions help us understand the context better, we need to examine Jesus’ divine justice as it treats even those who sinned with respect and dignity, profoundly believing in their ability to turn a new leaf in their lives. God does not judge if He has not exhausted every means aimed at helping the person realize his/her mistake and correct themselves. 

In his response to the woman, Jesus shows what constitutes real forgiveness and what can lead to reconciliation. This is why writing on this passage, St. Augustine commented that when everyone was gone after Jesus said, ‘Let the one among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her,’ ‘The two of them alone remained: mercy and misery.’ 

1.At first, Jesus wants the woman caught in adultery to know how the loving God operates. Hence, when Jesus wants to show her who God is, he shows her mercy against those who want her punished in the name of God. By this, Jesus demonstrates that her accusers have only represented a false God. The crowd of accusers does not throw stones because they are sinful, but Jesus does not because he is holy, and his holiness is reflected in his mercy.  

2. When Jesus assures, ‘Nor do I condemn you,’ Jesus helps the woman realize the unconditional nature of God’s forgiveness. In other words, if we are merciful, we can only show it in the unconditional forgiveness that we are willing to practice. Jesus extends forgiveness unconditionally because he strongly believes that it is more powerful than punishment in terms of helping the person realize his or her mistake and reform their life. 

3. Thirdly, Jesus is not interested in the details of the woman’s story because he knows that asking, ‘Did you do it?’ would mean an oblique accusation and amount to holding her guilty. However, when Jesus is not interested in her past, he is certainly interested in her future. We forgive not to hold someone chained to their past but to allow them to spread wings into the future. That is the real meaning of forgiveness. It is only with the intention of helping her move on in life, without traces of the past but, of course, learning from it, that Jesus says, ‘Go, and from now on do not sin anymore.’ 

When Jesus emphasizes the newness of life in the Gospel, the two readings from the Old and New Testament show the idea of newness from God’s perspective. In the first reading, God infuses hope into the exiled people by reminding them of His ability to renew and recreate. Here, God wants them to forget their past and be prepared to witness something unprecedented, which would symbolize restoration, renewal, and hope. In the second reading, Paul emphasizes shedding the past and embracing the future through the words ‘pressing forward’ in the context of a race. We become new when we renounce our past and embrace the ways of Christ. 

In sum, the readings of the day help us evolve into new people that God wants us to be. 

We are divine if we act from unconditional love and forgiveness. We are divine if we ensure our neighbor’s future without calling on their past. We are divine if we want them to turn a new leaf by offering them a second chance, believing in the inherent human longing to seek goodness as God Himself does. 

Let us pray that we may imitate the divine attributes of Jesus!

Fr. Dhinakaran Savariyar