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Lent V

THE past sixty years in Britain and the West have seen societal change on a scale arguably never witnessed before in the history of humanity. The world in which we live has changed, and people have become used to the changes. On the whole, despite becoming more permissive, society is still judgemental. We put people on pedestals, and then we are surprised when they fall off. More than that, the media constantly encourages us to be critical of others. This is deeply corrosive, because it sets us up to think that we are somehow better than others. However, we too make mistakes. We all, each and every one of us, myself included, say and do things which we should not, which hurt others, and for which we need forgiveness.

Thankfully, we can ask God and each other for this forgiveness. Because of what Christ did for us, taking our sins upon himself, on the Cross, we are forgiven. God loves us. In turning to God for forgiveness, we are turning away from sin and trying to live our lives in a new way. The Christian life is, like the season of Lent, a constant repetition of this process: failing and trying again, and keeping going. So that bit by bit, gradually, we let God be at work in us, to transform us. This helps us to be less judgemental, more loving, and more forgiving. Drawing on God’s love, we can build up a community that is filled with this radical transforming love. We can become a force for good, a beacon of hope, sharing Christian love with the world around us.

Today’s Gospel finds Jesus is in the Temple in Jerusalem for the Feast of Tabernacles. According to the law of Moses the woman caught in adultery should be punished by being stoned to death. However, the Roman occupiers had taken from the Jews the power to put anyone to death. Jesus’ response shows the world that there is another way: a way of love and not of judgement. Interestingly, this passage is the only time when the Gospel writers record Jesus writing. After the Scribes and Pharisees have brought the unnamed woman to Him:

‘Plygodd Iesu i lawr ac ysgrifennu ar y llawr â’i fys.’

‘Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground.’ (Jn 8:6) 

This verse has puzzled people for centuries. What exactly did Jesus write? We cannot know for certain. An answer to this intriguing question may come from Scripture. A few verses earlier in John’s Gospel, Jesus talks of rivers of living water. In the prophet Jeremiah we find the following words:

‘O Arglwydd, gobaith Israel, gwaradwyddir pawb a’th adawa; torrir ymaith oddi ar y ddaear y rhai sy’n troi oddi wrthyt, am iddynt adael yr Arglwydd, ffynnon y dyfroedd byw.’

‘O Lord, the hope of Israel, all who forsake you shall be put to shame; those who turn away from you shall be written in the earth, for they have forsaken the Lord, the fountain of living water.’ (Jer 17:13)

We can speculate that at least part of this verse from Jeremiah is what Jesus wrote in the earth. Writing these words would both fulfil the prophecy of Jeremiah, and shame the woman’s accusers. Jesus is showing that the Scribes and Pharisees have turned away from God, towards legalism and judgmental behaviour. Those gathered would know the prophecy of Jeremiah, and also that Jesus has recently mentioned streams of living water. This verse is the key to understanding what is going on. Jesus is fulfilling Scripture, and demonstrating that God should be characterised by love, mercy, and forgiveness. 

The Religious Authorities have not quite understood the situation. They continue to press Jesus for an answer, which He does not give. Instead Jesus challenges them:

‘ymsythodd ac meddai wrthynt, “Pwy bynnag ohonoch sy’n ddibechod, gadewch i hwnnw fod yn gyntaf i daflu carreg ati.”’

‘he stood up and said to them, “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.”’ (Jn 8:7)

Jesus’ position is non-judgemental, and highlights the hypocrisy of the accusers. Christ then returns to His writing:

‘Yna plygodd eto ac ysgrifennu ar y llawr.’

‘And once more he bent down and wrote on the ground.’ (Jn 8:8)

It is possible that Jesus was finishing the verse from Jeremiah. We cannot be sure, but what we do know is that the combination of His words, both written and spoken have a profound effect:

‘A dechreuodd y rhai oedd wedi clywed fynd allan, un ar ôl y llall, y rhai hynaf yn gyntaf, nes i Iesu gael ei adael ar ei ben ei hun, a’r wraig yno yn y canol. Ymsythodd Iesu a gofyn iddi, “Wraig, ble maent? Onid oes neb wedi dy gondemnio?” Meddai hithau, “Neb, syr.” Ac meddai Iesu, “Nid wyf finnau’n dy gondemnio chwaith. Dos, ac o hyn allan paid â phechu mwyach.”’

‘But when they heard it, they went away one by one, beginning with the older ones, and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him. Jesus stood up and said to her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more.”’ (Jn 8:9-11)

It is interesting that the older (and wiser) ones are the first to grasp the full implications of what Jesus is saying. Christ does not condemn the woman: God is a God of mercy. However, Our Lord does say, ‘Dos, ac o hyn allan paid â phechu mwyach’ ‘go, and from now on sin no more’ (Jn 8:11). Forgiveness goes hand-in-hand with contrition and repentance. We are loved, healed and restored by God, but with forgiveness comes a challenge. As Christians we are to turn away from wrongdoing, from the ways of the world, and instead find life in Christ.

Lent gives us the opportunity to take a long, hard look at ourselves and at our lives. It is a time to recognise that we need to become more like Jesus — to live, and think, and speak like Him. We need to be nourished, healed and restored by Christ, so that we can live lives which proclaim His love and His truth to the world. Lent is also a time for us to realise that we are loved by God, and that God is merciful, forgives our sins, and longs for us to experience life in all its fulness.

It is interesting that today is Passion Sunday when we begin in earnest our commemoration of Jesus’ death and Resurrection. This morning’s Gospel speaks of a different type of passion (sexual desire) which when uncontrolled could lead to death — either of a person condemned for committing adultery or a relationship between a husband and wife.

As we pray today for couples preparing for marriage we also pray for those whose relationships are under strain and for all who have experienced marital breakdown. Let us be slow to judge, and quick to show compassion and mercy to those whose lives are not perfect.

Let us, as followers of Jesus, rejoice in the generous love of God and prepare ourselves to celebrate Christ’s Passion. Let us give thanks for our families and relationships and give glory i Duw Dad, Duw y Mab, a Duw yr Ysbryd Glân. I’r hwn y priodoler pob gogoniant, arglwyddiaeth, a gallu, yn awr, ac yn oes oesoedd. Amen.

Christ and the sinner, A Mironov 2011
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Homily for the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity: 1 Peter 2:9-10

Hold me worthy , O Lord, to behold your mercy in my soul before I depart from this world; may I be aware in myself at that hour of your comfort, along with those who have gone forth from this world in good hope. Open my heart, O my God, by your grace and purify me from any association with sin. Tread out in my heart the path of repentance, my God and my Lord, my hope and my boast, my strong refuge, by whom may my eyes be illumined, and may I have understanding of your truth, Lord. Hold me worthy, Lord, to taste the joy of the gift of repentance, by which the soul is separated from co-operating with sin and the will of flesh and blood. Hold me worthy, O Lord, to taste this state, wherein lies the gift of pure prayer. O my Saviour, may I attain to this wondrous transition at which the soul abandons this visible world, and at which new stirrings arise on our entering into the spiritual world and the experience of new perceptions.

St Isaac of Nineveh

The Apostle Peter is writing to a church which is undergoing persecution on account of their faith in Our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. While you could argue that this is not happening to us here, now, openly, it does nonetheless happen to our brothers and sisters in Christ around the world who are called to bear witness to Christ regardless of the cost. If anything the persecution in this country is more to do with apathy, ignorance, and our dismissal from public discourse unless we are in agreement with popular whim or sentiment: such is the tyranny of secularism, which we must, as Christians resist, as we are called to conform the world to the will of God.

We are called to be a holy nation and a chosen race, not in exclusive ethnic terms, like the people of Israel, but rather because we are one in Christ, through our common baptism, having passed through that water greater than the Red Sea, which gives freedom to all the world: we can look beyond the simplistic divisions of the world to something greater, and far more wonderful, and while we are certainly not there yet, we are all nonetheless travelling on a journey towards unity, because it is the will of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, and his prayer to the Father in the garden of Gethsemane before his arrest in John 17.

Our highest allegiance then is not to the powers of this world, for we recognise a higher power, the King of Heaven and Earth, which is Christ. He makes us royal, he gives us entry into that greatest of palaces, that is heaven, through His Precious Blood which was shed to heal us and restore us, there is as the hymn puts it power, power, wonder-working power in the precious blood of the Lamb. It is through Christ’s priesthood, a priesthood of the new covenant in His Blood, after the order of Melchisedech, that the church continues a cultic priesthood to offer continually that one perfect and sufficient sacrifice for the sins of the whole world, so that the people of God may be made holy, by being fed with His Body and Blood so that our human nature may be transformed into his divine nature: Αὐτὸς γὰρ ἐνηνθρώπησεν, ἵνα ἡμεῖς θεοποιηθῶμεν· ‘He became human so that we might become divine’ Athanasius De Incarnatione Dei Verbi 54.3.

We are holy, set apart for God’s service and the proclamation of His Kingdom , proclaiming the saving acts of God in Christ, and calling the world to repent, to turn away from the ways of sin and self, and to believe and trust in a God who loves us and saves us. Christ calls us out of the darkness of sin, of the world into the glorious light of His Kingdom. This is the fulfilment of the prophesy of Hosea 1:6 and 1:9 Once we were no people, now we are God’s people (cf. Hosea 1:9 Call his name lo-ammi [not my people] 1:6 Call her name lo-ruhamah [who has not received mercy]) We are God’s people, God claims us for His own, through His Son, who shows us in His life, Death, and Resurrection exactly what mercy is: A God who suffers and dies for love of us, poor sinful humanity, that we might become something better, something greater. God sees that human sinfulness is such a problem that only an outpouring of Divine Love in the sacrifice of His Son can save us.

And having received mercy, love and forgiveness in Christ, we show it in our lives so that ours is a proclamation not only of words but of deeds, so that we play an active part in the reconciliation of the world to God in Christ. Mercy, with joy and peace are the fruit of charity: our love of God and our neighbour, we love because God loved us first, and as we show mercy, we shall receive mercy, we harvest what we sow.

As St Isaac says ‘Do not hate the sinner. Become a proclaimer of God’s grace, seeing that God provides for you even though you are unworthy. Although your debt to him is very great, there is no evidence of him exacting any payment from you, whereas in return for the small ways you do manifest good intention he rewards you abundantly. Do not speak of God as ‘just’, for his justice is not in evidence in his actions towards you. How can you call God just when you read the gospel lesson concerning the hiring of the workmen in the vineyard? How can someone call God just when he comes across the story of the prodigal son who frittered away all his belongings in riotous living — yet merely in response to his contrition his father ran and fell upon his neck, and gave authority over all his possession? In these passages it is not someone else speaking about God; had this been the case, we might have had doubts about God’s goodness. No it is God’s own Son who testifies about him in this way. Where then is this ‘justice’ in God, seeing that, although we were sinners, Christ died for us? If he is so compassionate in this, we have faith that he will not change.’

We show this love first in obedience, like Our Lord’s Mother, the Blessed Virgin Mary, as we heard in this morning’s Gospel in her words to the servants ‘Do whatever he tells you’ If we are obedient, like Mary, then model disciple and mother of the Church, the first and greatest Christian, then we can truly be salt and light to the world, proclaiming the Good News of the Kingdom.

The Good News is the announcement of God’s mercy, shown to us in Christ, in Him we see what God is really like, in Him we experience love, healing, forgiveness, reconciliation. Through Him we are healed and restored, we become God’s people, and proclaim God’s Kingdom, so that humanity may come to experience God’s love and mercy, and believe and give Glory to God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, to whom be ascribed as is most right and just, all might, majesty, glory, dominion, and power, now and unto the ages of ages.