(Fifth Sunday of Lent (C): This homily was given on March 29, 1998 at St. Pius X Church, Westerly, R.I. by Fr. Raymond Suriani. Read John 8: 1-11.)

"Receiving the forgiveness of Jesus: it’s only the BEGINNING of the story!"

John, chapter 8, verses 1 through 11: a familiar episode from the life and ministry of Jesus. The scribes and Pharisees lead a woman forward who has been caught committing the sin of adultery. (At this point I have a question: What happened to the man? The scribes and Pharisees say to Jesus, "This woman has been caught in the act of adultery." In other words, she had been seen committing this sin. She was not condemned by hearsay evidence two weeks after the fact. Now, as far as I know, it takes two people to commit adultery—a woman and a man! And the Law of Moses was clear on what should happen to both of the guilty parties. Leviticus, chapter 20, verse 10, says, "If a man commits adultery with the wife of his neighbor, both the adulterer and the adulteress shall be put to death." So—what happened to the man? Perhaps they had stoned him on the spot--we don’t know. But I think it’s a very interesting question!)

Anyway--they bring this woman to Jesus for one reason: in order to discredit him publicly. The scribes and Pharisees knew that if Jesus agreed that the woman should be stoned, he would be violating the law of Rome, which stated that only the Roman authority could carry out a death sentence. Consequently, they would have immediately accused Jesus of being an enemy of the state. Furthermore, if he had supported a stoning, our Lord would have lost his reputation as a merciful "friend of sinners." On the other hand, if he said that she should not be stoned, his enemies would have quoted Leviticus 20: 10 and accused him of breaking the Law of Moses, which the Jews considered sacred. And so the scribes and Pharisees thought they had our Lord between "a rock and a hard place"--to use the modern expression.

Jesus responds by saying nothing. He simply bends down and starts writing in the sand. What exactly was he scribbling there on the ground? We don’t know. Perhaps it was the sins of the woman’s accusers. That would make sense, in light of what our Lord says when he finally takes a break: "Let the man among you who has no sin be the first to cast a stone at her." At that, Scripture tells us, they began to drift away one by one "beginning with the elders." (Perhaps the sins of the elders were the first ones that Jesus wrote in the sand.) Finally, when they’ve all left, Jesus stands up and says to the woman, "Where did they all disappear to? Has no one condemned you?" "No one, sir," she replies. Our Lord says, "Nor do I condemn you. You may go. But from now on, avoid this sin."

End of story, right?

WRONG! That’s not the end of the story--it’s the BEGINNING of the story!

This episode that St. John records for us in chapter 8 of his gospel is merely the PRELUDE—the scene which gives us some important and necessary background information. The real story follows this event.

Why do I say this? I say this because the decisive question here is: Did she obey Jesus? He forgave her; he purified her; he read her heart, knew she was sorry, and, by the power of the blood he was about to shed on the Cross, he gave her a new lease on life—a new BEGINNING!

But then what? Did she change her ways? Did she allow her heart to be converted to such an extent that she never committed this sin again? The Bible does not address those issues for us. Which is good—because it reminds us that whenever we receive God’s forgiveness (especially in Confession)—it’s only the beginning of the story. Let’s face it: when the priest gives us absolution in Confession, our tendency is to think, "Well, that’s the end of it. I’ve confessed. I’ve received pardon. End of story."

No—that’s not the end of it. That’s the beginning of it. Whenever we receive pardon for our sins, it’s supposed to be the beginning of a NEW LIFE: a life of purity, a life of holiness, a life of love, a life where we make every effort to avoid the near occasion of the sins we’ve just been forgiven of.

You might say that after Confession we’re supposed to have the attitude that Jean Valjean had. Jean Valjean, as many of you know, is the main character in Victor Hugo’s novel, Les Miserables. He spends 20 years of his life in prison for stealing a loaf of bread. As you might imagine, he comes out of jail a bitter man, ready to get even with the world. And because of his prison record, everyone treats him with contempt--except a good-hearted bishop, who gives him a warm meal and a place to stay. Valjean responds to the bishop’s generosity by stealing some of the man’s silver and running away in the middle of the night. The police catch him, and bring him back to the bishop. Amazingly, the bishop tells the police that the stolen silver candlesticks were a gift. They no longer have anything to charge Valjean with, so they leave. In the musical version of the story, the bishop then says to Valjean: "Remember this, my brother: see in this some higher plan. You must use this precious silver to become an honest man. By the witness of the martyrs, by the passion and the blood, God has raised you out of darkness; I have bought your soul for God."

In the name of Jesus Christ, the good bishop offers this hardened criminal the free, unmerited gift of forgiveness. The question then becomes: Will he accept? Will Jean Valjean accept this gift by allowing his stone-cold heart to be brought to repentance? (Remember: forgiveness is only accepted when a person repents sincerely.) For a few moments, Valjean struggles with this in his mind and heart, but finally he says these words: "I am reaching, but I fall, and the night is closing in, and I stare into the void—to the whirlpool of my sin. I’ll escape now from the world—from the world of Jean Valjean. Jean Valjean is nothing now. ANOTHER STORY MUST BEGIN!"

He repents; he receives forgiveness; and he understands that he has just made a NEW BEGINNING! He’s experienced the end of one story (his old life as a criminal)--and the glorious beginning of another. And that should be our attitude, whenever we exit the confessional—provided we have made a good examination of conscience and confessed ALL our mortal sins with true repentance in our heart. We cannot consciously hold anything back. You see, if we refuse to acknowledge and confess something that the Church (which speaks with the authority of Christ) tells us is sinful—for example, missing Mass on a holyday of obligation, or artificial contraception, or impure sexual activity with oneself, or deep hatred for another person—if we know we’ve committed serious sins like these and don’t confess them, then the end of our confession will NOT be the start of a new story for us. Sadly, we will leave the confessional still stuck in the old story of sin. And that is NOT what God wants!