“Thus says the Lord, I am doing something new! Now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?” Isaiah is addressing the exiles of Judea who had been deported to Babylon. This was a dark time in their history. Jerusalem and the temple had been destroyed. God’s people were forced off their land. In the midst of such despair, the prophet becomes God’s voice of consolation and hope, assuring them that God will make a path through the wilderness to aid their journey.
Do you perceive what the Lord is doing in your life? The Pharisees and scribes didn’t. He was interrupted when they dragged a woman who had been caught in adultery. The gospel doesn’t provide any details but that doesn’t matter. In Jewish law, grave sins like adultery, murder and idolatry warranted the death penalty by stoning.
With mock reverence for the teacher, her accusers put the case to Jesus. “So what do you say?” If Jesus argued that the woman should not be stoned, he violates the Mosaic teaching and the community tradition. If he says she should be stoned, he would violate his own compassionate teaching and hence be regarded as a charlatan who didn’t practice what he was preaching.
Eager to throw their stones, her accusers demanded, “So, what do you say?” Bent over, Jesus silently began writing on the ground. In response to their callousness, he finally stood up and said, “Let the one among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” When he resumed writing, the Pharisees and scribes realized that they, not the woman, were the ones on trial. None dared to claim they were sinless in front of the crowd, so one by one they dropped their stones and drifted away.
After the crowd dispersed, Jesus and the woman were left alone. With compassion, Jesus asked her, “Has no one condemned you?” When she replied, “No one, sir,” Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you. Go, and from now on do not sin any more.”
Imagine how she felt being treated with such respect by this revered teacher, such tenderness and kindness overturning the scorn of her accusers.
As you can see, this was no moralizing lecture. Jesus cared about her as a person, while her accusers did not. Instead of condemning her to death or condoning her wrongdoing, he showed her great respect yet admonished her to move on and sin no more. “Thus, I am doing something new.” Jesus empowered his followers to experience God’s forgiveness in a way that had not been felt before.
Pope Francis has commented that Jesus is the human face of the Father’s mercy. Imagine God saying to you, “Even now, says the Lord, return to me with your whole heart, for I am gracious and merciful.”
Like the Pharisees and scribes, we are all sinners but how do we deal with that aspect of our lives? Do we brush it under the carpet, focusing instead on the sins of others like the angry mob did? Or do we claim that we don’t sin? The saints didn’t do that. We can’t be forgiven for something that we don’t acknowledge as our sin. The first step in seeking forgiveness is to honestly examine our conscience, which I wager every saint did often.
Blessed are those who do so nightly, reflecting on their activities of the day and the times they were not as loving toward others as they should have been. Some of us do so during the penitential rite at Mass when we ask the Lord to have mercy on us. When preparing to confess our sins to a priest, we examine our conscience beforehand. Humbly, we admit our wrongdoing with the intent to sin no more.
Jesus comes to save and rehabilitate us and to give us new life, which we experience when we hear the words of absolution. Those words spoken by a priest give us the human objective assurance of God’s forgiveness. They are soothing to any troubled sinner who feels guilt and yearns to be set free.
Such is the good news I heard from my confessor a few days ago. “Your sins are forgiven, go in peace.” How freeing it is to hear the words of absolution. No longer need I remember the events of the past that shamed me. Instead God places before me the opportunity to do something new by resolving not to sin anymore.
God desires to forgive even the worst sin for our salvation. He sent his son to aid us on our life long journey to the promised land of his kingdom. His son reveals God’s mercy in countless ways through the sacraments, scripture, prayer, and words of wisdom, such as what the woman heard, “Go, and from now on, do not sin anymore.” Repentance means turning away from sinful behavior because one has encountered the author of truth and holiness, Jesus.
When God forgives us, he “shuts and seals the book” on our past wrongs. Assured of that, we can relate to what Paul tells us, “I give no thought to what lies behind but push on to what is ahead. My entire attention is on the finish line as I run toward the prize to which God calls me, life on high in Christ Jesus.”