Fifth Sunday of Lent

Lectionary 36

Remember not the events of the past,

the things of long ago consider not;

see, I am doing something new!

The situation of the woman in today's gospel appears desperate. Her enemies have caught her in the "very act of adultery," a situation we should not imagine. She has been dragged before a stranger who has been pressed into service as her judge. But it's only a game for her rabid accusers, a little amusement before they get to the real fun of stoning her to death.

Or, perhaps, they don't really intend to stone her. They may have grabbed a common streetwalker, familiar, confused and pathetic, for no other purpose than to harass the Lord. The "very act of adultery" may only be the rabble's pretense for a mock trial. But she doesn't know that; she doesn't enjoy their prank, and she doesn't know how far they intend to carry it. The childish games of adult sometimes end in real harm.

Then, suddenly, they're gone. Her accusers have disappeared. Only the stranger remains, apparently playing in the dirt of the street. He looks up, notices her and asks, "Where'd everybody go? Has no one accused you?"

The game is over; the players gone home; the fictitious drama dispelled like the recent Mueller investigation. it was never anything but a little street fun for Jerusalem's idle class.

"See, I am doing something new!" the Lord had said through the Prophet Isaiah. "Remember not the events of the past; the things of long ago consider now."

If the past is prologue it cannot tell us the future. There are too many possibilities. Experts may predict from their learning and experience and, occasionally, they're right. What they expected came to pass, more or less. But the future is more unknown than known, even to a culture that has invested its faith in scientific methods.

Lent and Easter remind the Christian to expect the unexpected. We know -- or think we know -- the stories of Jesus. We know he was arrested, condemned and crucified; and that he rose on the third day. But we don't know what that means for us; we don't know how the same grace by which he was drawn from the tomb will change our mortal bodies and make them like his own. We can't even imagine something more mundane, like how one quits smoking, learns to drink in moderation, or pays off a maxed out credit card. These situations can be as hopeless and every bit as desperate as that of our unfortunate woman.

We will celebrate Palm Sunday next week, and the beginning of Holy Week. Forgetting what lies behind, but straining forward to what lies ahead, let us continue our pursuit toward the goal, the prize of God’s upward calling, in Christ Jesus.