5th Sunday of Lent, March 17, 2013 (Isaiah 43:16-21; Philippians 3:8-14; John 8:1-11) Each week I celebrate

Mass with about fifty inmates at Chillicothe Correctional Institute. After Mass, I enter Death Row where I celebrate Mass with about ten guys. Our numbers on Death Row have diminished by two since last March because the state killed them. Often I use a ping pong table for the altar which I set up on one side of the net while the guards place the shackles of the men they bring in for Mass on the other side of the net. I never cease to be amazed as I stare at those shackles on one side while I set up the other side, knowing that it is the Bread of Life that sets them truly free from sin and shackles. I think of this in connection with Sundays Gospel in which a woman caught in the very act of committing adultery is brought to Jesus. The scribes and Pharisees did this to test him, so that they could have some charge to bring against him. The womans guilt was not in question. What Jesus had to say about their understanding of law and punishment was in question. Jesus refused to play their game and, instead, doodled on the ground. When they press him he finally says: Let the one among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her. Deuteronomy 22:23-24 requires stoning to death for an adulterous betrothed virgin. Leviticus 20:10 and Deuteronomy 22:22 simply say that the married adulteress shall die, without mentioning stoning. So, adultery called for death according to these religious laws. Jesus refuses to condemn the woman and challenges her accusers to look at their own lives before taking up a stone. Jesus silence in the face of this womans adultery was not to allow it to go on but ultimately led to her release.

We must ask what our silence in the face of the death penalty means? Does our silence mean that we tacitly allow the death penalty to continue because we do not want to become involved? Is it somebody elses problem? Do we wash our hands of the violence and pretend like the deaths of those condemned by the state will somehow bring back those who have died at their hands? The example of Jesus here is one that many have found difficult to accept. Many still find it difficult to accept. But because it is difficult is not a reason to ignore it. Only Johns Gospel reports this encounter. Fr. Raymond Brown in his Anchor Bible commentary on John cites St. Augustine on this passage: relicti sunt do, misera et misericordia (two were left: the miserable [woman] and Mercy). Fr. Brown adds; And the delicate balance between the justice of Jesus in not condoning the sin and his mercy in forgiving the sinner is one of the great gospel lessons. (p. 337) If we, as members of the Church, refuse to acknowledge the mercy of Jesus and insist only on his judgment we miss the heart and soul of Christian faith. Last week we reflected on God as a forgiving Father, waiting for us to regain our senses and return. Nothing could illustrate that point better than what Jesus does in todays Gospel with this poor woman, whose adultery he does not condone but whom he refuses to condemn. He also rejects what Law condones and applies what mercy demands. If we are serious about being Christian we have a lot to learn about the need for mercy and forgiveness. Otherwise, we bounce back over the net and stay shackled to violence and death. Fr. Lawrence Hummer