My friends, I would like to begin this homily quoting Julia Walsh, a young woman writer for the National Catholic Reporter (NCR) who a few years back, wrote words that I feel lay out quite well what the readings for this 5^th Sunday in Lent are trying to tell us.  Additionally, even though her words are some six years old, they seem to capture the times in which we are presently living.  She is speaking of the sin of racism in the first clip, but we can apply it to other “isms” as well, “sexism” for another.

          Whether I like it or not; I participate in the evil of racism every time I enjoy my white privilege.  When I feel the tinge of excitement over seeing a “run-down” neighborhood flipped into an area  with funky shops and remodeled homes (that’s what gentrification is), I’m ignoring the plight             of the poor.  When I savor easy access to healthy food and transportation without anger for the             lack of attainability my black and brown sisters and brothers have of such basics, I’m failing to            love.  And when I experience nothing but respect and kindness from police officers and assume             it’s everyone’s experience, I’m turning away from the truth.

  Julia Walsh continues in a broader sense:

          There is a major cost for shrinking from naming evil.  Evil creeps through every society and             crawls into the hollows of our hearts, where our deepest fears lie dormant.  Evil crawls into the             places where we hold our dreams and desires, clings to pride and comforts and subtly shifts our             understandings, gets us to justify our destructive behaviors.  If we see how evil lurks, ready to             convince us of lies, then we might be able to name it, confront it in ourselves, each other.  If we             name the evil, then we can have power over it; we can change.

   So, let us leave Julia Walsh’s words for now in order to name the messages of today’s Scriptures for this 5^th Sunday in Lent. Once again, as through many of the readings chosen during Lent for our reflection, we see a God who has shown us, over-the-top love—we recall the beautiful story of “the Prodigal” from last Sunday’s gospel, and this week is no exception.

   Isaiah tells us that the past doesn’t really matter—that according to our God, the Israelites and ourselves, can start again, that our God, “is doing something new” [!] In the desert, our God will, “make a way.”  And we must proclaim too with the psalmist in 126, “God has done great things for us, we are truly glad” [!] Paul, in his letter to the Philippians, would, in my mind, agree with Isaiah’s message. And in John’s gospel selection today, our brother Jesus lets us know once again, the Creator’s wish for each of us –in the story of the couple caught in adultery – we can always start again – and additionally, none of us can judge another, as we are all sinners, even when, as the NCR writer suggested above, we aren’t aware of our sin.  “Let the [one] among you, Jesus says, who is without sin, throw the first stone.” 

   We then see the great compassion for another of our brother Jesus as he addresses the woman whom the men have so shamelessly dragged before him, not with any concern for what she either did or didn’t do, but in an attempt to catch Jesus in a violation of the law.  If he speaks in favor of her against the law that “she must be stoned,” he is in trouble, and if he supports the law, he speaks against his own message of love and is equally in trouble. 

   Jesus cleverly ends their charade by showing the Pharisees and others, that they must first look at their own sins before judging another’s. He then moves in love and compassion toward the woman who in his society must bear the brunt for the two “caught” in adultery. 

   It is worth a brief aside to lift up that the Priests for Equality version of the Scriptures that we use at All Are One, is the only text, among all those out there that mentions that “a couple” was caught in the act of adultery.  This fact, that adultery takes “two” is an obvious one, so why not mention it, we might ask.  This is one of those sins that Julia Walsh referenced in the NCR article—when something is done so long, we don’t even see it anymore. 

   Women as we know had no power or status in Jesus’ time unless they were someone’s daughter or wife—and without that relationship, they had to fend for themselves in the best ways that they could.  Jesus was aware of this injustice where women were concerned, thus he could show the woman in this story some compassion and understanding.  Yet, wanting the best for her – “doing something new, finding a way,” as the prophet Isaiah said our God helps us to do, Jesus “didn’t judge her,” but told her, in future, to try and find, “a better way.” 

   We can perhaps see from this gospel story how Jesus was truly upsetting social life as he found and witnessed it – calling to task laws that were so unjustly weighted against women, children, and the poor.  No wonder the powers-that-be wanted to crucify him! 

   Now, as we bring this homily to a conclusion, I would like to call our attention to the tendency of us 21^st Century humans to look down on the unjust actions of the men in today’s gospel story who have abused the woman in question to satisfy their need to bring Jesus down.

   This gospel calls us to look at our own sins in our present day:

• Our country still lives with the sin of racism—for those, not black, we call that “white privilege,” realizing how it truly is better, as our society is set up, to be white than to be black. And, as we know, this evil sin has been stoked in our present day.
• Our country has yet to elect a woman president to lead us in these United States, and as many know, it isn’t because those who have tried, haven’t been more than qualified.
• Our Catholic church has yet to ordain a woman licitly—we call both of these examples the sin of sexism, and we could go on…, so those “without sin” [can indeed throw stones!]

   In the past couple of years, I have read two books that I would recommend, that speak to the deep-seeded racism prevalent in our society.  One I have mentioned before, Subversive Habits, by Shannon Dee Williams (2022) who lifts up to the light of day the very sad story of black women being discriminated against by white women within religious orders of sisters.   

   The second, a new book this past year, JAMES, by Percival Everett, takes a bit of literary license in retelling Mark Twain’s story of Huckleberry Finn through the eyes of Jim, who lived under slavery, and who accompanied Huck on a trip down the Mississippi River.  The title, JAMES, speaks to the desire, I believe, of people held in slavery wanting to be treated as equals to their white counterparts. 

Everett calls our attention to the fact that whites considered their black “slaves” as having “little emotion,” being that they considered them, “less than human, “and when they were beaten, it didn’t hurt them as much as it would whites. 

   Everett also addresses this concept that, “blacks were considered a step below whites” through the use of a “simple” language that in fact made those “held” in slavery appear “dumb,” while in reality, they very intellectually planned their escapes from slavery. As Julia Walsh spoke of in the NCR article—the untruths we tell ourselves to justify our sins…

   Let us remember friends, that as we read Jesus’ words in Scripture and “watch” the ways he treats others, we are called, and expected, to do the same.  Recently, (WAPS) the Winona Area Public Schools board voted to remove the supports of Title IX from their LGBTQ students due to pressure from the federal government to block financial aid with regard to supporting DEI measures.  We must remind them to do the right thing – that we stand with them to find a “better way,” and along with our brother Jesus, to perhaps do something new!  Amen? Amen!