Fifth Sunday of Lent, (C)
1 April, 2001
By: L J O’Donnell
There is a shift in the liturgy today; no longer are we
looking at preparing for the Easter Mysteries, but in fact we are today
beginning them as we begin this last week before the Great Holy Week. Before the reforms of Vatican II, today was
traditionally named and known as ‘Passion Sunday.’ – and so traditionally we
began Passiontide. In some ways
its sad that we keep Passion Sunday the same as Palm Sunday, but
in another sense it is good because we have kept much of the remnants of
Passion Sunday. We can see this in the
prayers and preface of today’s Fifth Sunday of Lent Eucharist. In the Collect for this Mass we prayed: “Father,
help us to be like Christ your Son, who loved the world and died for our
salvation.” Likewise in the Preface
for this Mass entitled ‘The Power of the Cross’ we will pray that the “…suffering
and death of your Son brought life to the whole world…the power of the cross
reveals your judgement on this world and the kingship of Christ crucified…”
Another aspect understood and taken into action by many churches; is the removal or covering of statues, pictures and crosses, during this Fifth Week of Lent. I suppose it is a way of drawing us into the Passion, which we are ever so close to. Actually the rubric in the Roman Missal gives some leeway when discussing this action. It says: “The practice of covering crosses and images in the church may be observed, if the Episcopal conference decides;” the bishop’s conference of England and Wales have not decided that this practice be observed and so used at one’s discretion. Also we can see a slight shift in the music of the Mass today as we end with the Passiontide hymn “When I Survey the Wondrous Cross.” So, although the norms of Passion Sunday (previously today) and Passiontide have been removed since the installation of Vatican II, we still see bits and pieces of Passiontide cropping up throughout this Fifth week of Lent.
Another aspect of change today is that we hear our Gospel
reading taken from St John amidst this liturgical year of St Luke. The story of the adulterous woman was never
part of John’s Gospel, in fact – although it may have belonged to some other
ancient but non-canonical gospel, it finally found its way into the Fourth
Gospel during the fourth century (I believe!).
One reason, stated in a certain Catholic Journal, says: “…this may
be that Jesus’ rather easy way of forgiving conflicted with the stringent
penitential practices of the early Christian community. In any event, it is a priceless story
demonstrating both Jesus’ forgiveness and his wisdom.”
So what does the Gospel tell us? The first point is that the
scribes and Pharisees identify the woman as “being caught” in the
act. Now, this could mean that her
husband walked in on her; or the menacing way in which the scribes are testing
Jesus, leaves open the possibility that they were lying in wait for the woman
as well. Now Jesus’ reaction to the
scribes and Pharisees is rather laidback and cool. He does not respond to his questioners, he does not question the
woman but just bends down and writes in the sand. When he does respond: “If there is one of you who has not
sinned, let him be the first to throw a stone at her,” he does not wait for
their response of protest, but goes back to writing in the sand.
The whole episode must have seemed quite puzzling to the woman, who might at least have expected Jesus to speak to her. But it is only after everyone has left that he does speak to her. There are two points to note here:
(a) he would appear to be unconcerned with the offence;
(b)
he sees the woman as a person, rather than a case.
This is not to suggest that Jesus does not see her actions as sinful, for he says to her “don’t sin anymore,” but rather, it demonstrates that the burden of our own guilt is greater than God’s condemnation of our sins. This is at the root of the First Reading when Isaiah urges his audience to forget the past.. The fact that Jesus sees the woman as a person rather than a case is a matter linked to the Second Reading today for Jesus is concerned with bringing us to holiness rather than condemning us for our sinfulness. It is only through Christ’s power that we can hope to reach perfection, not through our own efforts. And that is our Lenten duty – to allow God’s grace to touch us, through faith.
Whilst awaiting his execution by the Nazis, Dietrich Bonhoeffer prayed the following, which succinctly links our allowing of God’s grace to come into our lives through our own faith.
- O God, early in the morning I cry to you. Help me to pray and to concentrate my thoughts on you: I cannot do this alone. In me there is darkness, but with you there is light; I am lonely, but you do not leave me. I am feeble in heart, but with you there is help; I am restless, but with you there is peace. In me there is bitterness, but with you there is patience; I do not understand your ways, but you know the way wherein I shall walk. Restore me to liberty and enable me so to live now that I may answer before you and before me. Lord, whatever this day may bring, your name be praised.
(Comments to Luke at lodonnell@gtonline.net.)