A Message from Fr. Jay
Dear Friends,
One of the most beautiful encounters of Jesus is with ‘the woman caught in adultery’.
Through the years, beginning in my childhood, there has been tremendous revelation and learning when I read and re-read this terrifying incident but ultimately ends as a terrific encounter. It is amazing to see how Jesus perceived this sin and how He handled the situation.
In a male chauvinistic society, adultery was looked upon as one of the gravest sins that deserved the death penalty. In most cases it involved hurting the woman. This is such the case in the gospel and sadly we are missing the male involved with the adultery. Jesus looked very deeply into both their hearts. The twist of the scene was Jesus writing on the floor while ‘the hearing’ was taking place. We are not sure what He wrote on the floor but certainly, His writing left an immediate reaction and a big impact on everyone in the scene.
The God of the Old Testament, the Father once wrote, and it was the Ten Commandments. The God of the New Testament, the Son writes once again, and it is the New Commandment – Love.
Considering Jesus’ time, women were treated as property of men and therefore, it is understandable to think that adultery was not her choice, but she ended up a victim seeking real and sincere love. Jesus was able to see the heart of the woman as well as the hearts of the accusers.
Despite the fact of not knowing what Jesus wrote, the accusers read His writing and left the scene in shame. Whereas the accused woman chose to remain with Jesus and was free from shame. That is the power of his new commandment- Love.
There is a pattern of describing sins as mortal and venial sins. With such descriptions, we try to understand the density of sins, but shame is equally the same in every sin. Jesus helps to remove the shame along with the sins because, He sees through the heart of everyone as His child. We are almost there, ready to celebrate Holy Week and to receive His grace in abundance. Let us never be judgmental to anyone but be graceful to see the heart of everyone as a child of God.
God Bless,
Fr. Jay Raju
1st Reading: Joshua 5:9a, 10-12
2nd Reading 2: 2 Corinthians 5:17-21
Gospel: Luke 15:1-3, 11-32
