5th Sunday of Lent Year C

It is interesting to observe the attitude of some people when they come for confession. Instead of confessing their sins, they begin a litany of condemnation of other people's faults, shortcomings or sins. When asked why they come for confession in the first place, I sometimes get amusing responses such as: "Oh, but you see Father, such and such a person is like this or like that" or "Wait Father, I am not finished yet..." or "I am ok Father, it is such and such a person who needs to change" and many other strange responses. We call such people self-righteous, since they seem to think that they are faultless and everyone else who do not measure up to their standards or expectations is wrong.

In today's Gospel, we come across a group of people who have an attitude of being self-righteous. We call these group of people the Scribes and the Pharisees. In the Gospel, we are told that a woman had been caught committing adultery. For the Jews, adultery is a big sin for which there is no tolerance and the penalty is death. It is also interesting to note that only the woman had been caught; what about the man, since it takes two to tango? These Scribes and Pharisees knew about Jesus' teaching on forgiveness, and they thought they had finally found an inescapable excuse to trap Him when they asked: “What have you to say?” If He granted her freedom, He would be undermining the law. If He observed the law and permitted her death, His preaching on God's mercy and forgiveness would be meaningless. It appeared as if the Scribes and the Pharisees had finally won. It is obvious that these religious leaders were using this woman for their own selfish reasons; they only wanted to put her down instead of helping her get up; and they were more interested in punishing sin than in preventing it. When pressed to give an answer, Jesus simply replied: "If there is one of you who has not sinned, let him be the first to throw a stone at her." Bam! What an answer. The so called trap had been knocked out. Jesus was not telling them that the woman was innocent; instead He was challenging them: "Being sinners yourselves, do not be so quick to condemn others." Like the woman, they too were in need of God’s mercy and forgiveness. After hearing Jesus' words, the Scribes and the Pharisees knew that they themselves had been caught, and "they went away one by one, beginning with the eldest, until Jesus was left alone with the woman, who remained standing there."

What can we learn from this "drama minggu ini or this week's drama"? Jesus reminds us: "Judge not and you shall not be judged." Also, the Scribes and Pharisees only saw the woman's sin and her sinful past, and refused to give her another chance to change her life. On the other hand, Jesus saw in the woman not her sinful past but her saintly future. Jesus is urging us to learn to forgive others, instead of focusing only on their wrongdoings, their past failures, and making sure that everyone knows about them. When we pray the Our Father or the Lord's Prayer, may we truly and sincerely mean what we say, when we come to the part: "Forgive us our trespasses, just as we forgive those who trespass against us."