|
In the Name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost.
In today's Gospel we are told that God did not send His Only-Begotten
Son into the world to judge the world but to save the world. The Living
God became a true and living man, shared with us all our human destiny,
our creatureliness, the situation of a fallen world, all its sufferings
including the tragedy of death which implies the tragic loss of
consciousness of His communion with the Father: My God, My God, why hath
Thou forsaken Me?.. And we are saved by His life and by Hid death, we
are saved by His words, ‘Father, forgive them because they don't know
what they are doing’. But do such words apply to us who know, who should
know — haven't we heard the Gospel? Do we not know what happened
to Christ because of our sinfulness? Are we not aware that the words
spoken by Christ apply to all of us? — and yet, with a difference.
Saint Seraphim of Sarov said to one of his visitors, Yes, be sure of
God's forgiveness, be sure that God will respond to your prayer; but
remember one thing: the price He had to pay to have power to forgive,
and don't ask Him lightly for forgiveness, don't bring unworthy prayers
unto Him, because it is His death that pleads our forgiveness. And we
cannot, without a response from our deepest self turn to God and ask
forgiveness at the cost of His death, if we bring nothing, nothing at
all but our desire to be free of the burden that crushes us.
And if we ask ourselves what can we bring — we can bring first of all
our gratitude. Our gratitude for that love which alone can save; a love
so great that He accepted not only our human destiny, but to loose
communion with the Father in order to identify Himself with us in all
ways and respects, He, the Son of God, left God-less upon the Cross, and
pleading for us that we may be forgiven...
But there is something else which we can learn from today's second
Lesson: the story of the woman taken in adultery. This woman had been
sinning, freely, light-mindedly, without understanding, indeed as one of
those who did not know what they were doing! And of a sudden she found
herself face to face with the fact that sin means death. She was taken
in the act, and the Old Testament proclaimed death unto her. She
realised then what sin was. And she was brought to Christ by the crowd
who wanted to apply the harshness of the old-testamental law to her,
without mercy. And Christ saw that at that moment she had understood
everything. She knew that sin meant death, an ultimate destruction in
the eyes of the people of the Old Testament who died in separation from
God because only in Christ do we find our way back to Him. There was no
other way than the descent into the sheol, the place of the irremediable
and eternal absence of God. She knew that everything was over, not only
the things that happen in time, but all eternity had become darkness and
death: if she only could return to temporary life, to have time to
repent, to have time to live in a way that was worthy of God and of
herself, — she would do it!
And this is what Christ saw in her, this is why He turned to the judges,
the sinful men and women who were prepared to kill this woman for her
sins while they did not realise their own sinfulness and that they were
carrying death upon their shoulders because of them. ‘Let those of you
who are without sin cast the first stones’ — and no-one dared, because
at that moment, these words so simple and so direct brought to their
consciousness the fact, that, Yes — no one of them was without sin, and
all had deserted God, renounced their dignity, had betrayed their
vocation, and there was no other judgement about them than a death
sentence: they could not pronounce it against this woman, because to
pronounce it meant that they accepted it for themselves.
And Christ Who knew the hearts of those who were before Him, knew that
this woman had gone through the gates of death, and could come back by a
divine act that would resurrect her: yes, truly bring her back from an
anticipated, but certain death. And He told her, Where are those who
were condemning thee? Has no one done so? — No. — Neither do I condemn
thee, go in peace, but sin no more!.. And these words she could indeed
receive in her heart, those words indeed could become the law of her
life, because now she knew in her body, in her soul, in her heart and
mind, in all her being that sin was death. And she accepted forgiveness
which meant life!
Where do we stand, each of us, when we come to confession, when we ask
forgiveness from other people, when we are begged by others to forgive
them — where do we stand? Are we aware that death is at work in us
because of our God-lessness, our sinfulness, the fact that we have
chosen? This woman did not know what she was doing, but we have the
Gospel speaking to us, we have Christ speaking to us, we know all things:
where do we stand?
Let us learn from her; and let us learn also from these men who came
armed with stones, to stone the sinner, and realised that they were
locked in the same tragedy of sin and death with her, and that they
could not condemn her, because to condemn her meant to condemn
themselves to the same death.
Are we aware of this when we refuse forgiveness? I am not speaking of
the light-minded words of forgiveness which we pronounce so easily — but
do we forgive from the depth of our heart? Can we say to God: Forgive as
I forgive?
Let us stay with this thought, but also with the victorious joy that God
has send His Son into the world not to judge it but to save it! That
salvation is at hand! That it is for us to take it — and it is given
gratuitously, as love is gratuitous and redeeming. Amen. |
