Fifth Sunday in Lent (C)

“Neither do I condemn you.Go, and from now on do not sin any more.”
Jn 8:1-11

Then the scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery and made her stand in the middle.

Adultery is not a minor offence. It is a great evil. In fact, in the Old Testament, the infidelity of Israel against God was called adultery in order to show how big a sin it was. While we can readily admit that we are sinners, we can claim that we are not big sinners like that woman. And maybe it’s true. We have not committed adultery. We have not killed anyone. And yet we are perhaps unaware that we do have the capacity to commit such grave sins if we just find ourselves in a given situation.

A Saint saw a man being led to execution. He thought to himself: “There go I but for the grace of God.” That is, if not for the grace of God, he could have also become like that criminal being led to his death.

And it is precisely because we are capable of doing great evil that we can not place ourselves in the occasion of sin. I was working in a depressed area in Mandaluyong on weekends. I met a man who was working at the customs. I was happy to hear that he wasn’t involved in corruption and I congratulated him for that. He was honest enough to tell me that he was never involved in corruption because there was never an opportunity. He was just rank and file.

Given the opportunity we can fall into temptation and commit grave sin. It is, therefore, common sense to avoid the occasions of sin.

Take note that the woman was caught in adultery. She was caught in the act. We have to comment on two things here. First, why is it that only the woman was to be punished? Where was the man? There is injustice here. Why is the Philippines so corrupt? Because justice is not consistently upheld in the Philippines. Japan has sent at least two former prime ministers to jail. Has any ex-president in the Philippines ever gone to jail? How many poor people are in jail? How many rich and influential people are in jail?

The second is how we raise our children. While we have to take into consideration the differences in gender and in age, in important matters what we demand from our girls, we must demand from our boys as well. It is not right that girls are given responsibilities at home while the boys are given none. In my opinion, it is not right for parents to forbid their girls certain things because “may mawawala sa iyo” and allow their boys certain things because “wala namang mawawala sa iyo”.

The woman was told to stand in the middle. They wanted to put her to shame. How often we use shame to punish? But the consequences can be devastating. Can we justify a teacher telling a student in class: “Hoy, makinig ka. Ang bobo-bobo mo na nga e hindi ka pa nakikinig.”

When I was principal, when I had to scold the fourth year students during morning assembly, I would tell everyone to go up the classroom and let the seniors remain. Only then would I scold them. I was told by the APSA that the seniors appreciated that.

A father told me that when he had to scold their eldest son, he would call him to their room and give him the scolding. The father didn’t want his son to be embarrassed in front of his younger siblings.

“Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” She replied, “No one, sir.” Then Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you. Go, and from now on do not sin any more.”

Jesus saved the woman from death. The Church today is against capital punishment. Life is sacred, even that of the criminal. There are some who say that killing criminals is a way of deterring crime. But studies show that what deters crime is when justice is carried out swiftly and consistently. When people see that criminals are caught, when trials do not go on for years and years, when the guilty no matter who they may be are punished, these deter crime. Why do the people in the United States pay the right taxes? Because the citizens know that the IRS is serious about sending tax evaders to jail.

Punishment should not be vindictive. Killing a criminal is vindictive. Instead, punishment must rehabilitate the criminal. We must give the guilty a chance to redeem himself. When I was principal, I made it a point that a boy who commits an offence should do something good in order to make up for the offence he has committed. His negative deed should be erased by his positive deed. The APSA would ask the boy what good deed he can do in the school to erase his offence. The word punishment was not used. I remember one case of a boy who volunteered to replant all the flower boxes in the Dona Cecilia building. He did that on a Saturday. And he did a good job. On Monday during the morning assembly, I publicly acknowledged the good work he did without mentioning anything about his offence. Is this a good way of helping a boy to be better? You bet.

A PS. Don’t ever punish when you are angry. When you are angry and you pun-ish, more often than not your punishment will hurt rather than help.

We might think that Jesus was being too soft on the woman. But no. He takes her sin seriously. That is why he told her: “From now on do not sin anymore.” Dur-ing this Lenten season God calls on us to repent. He also asks of us: “From now on do not sin anymore.”