Monday of the Fifth Week of Lent

Lectionary: 251

Then Jesus straightened up and said to her,

“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 anymore.”

 

A recent article in the Washington Post described the “leering tone” used to describe the teenage pop idols of the oughts – Britney Spears. Lindsey Lohan, et al. Jessica M Goldstein reveled in our better appreciation of their youth and vulnerability. After quoting some of the more salacious remarks about these starlets, she concludes, “In 2021, these sentences are objectively disgusting. But they fit right in with the media of that moment.”

I can’t say I’ve paid much attention to the starlets of any decade since 1970 but it is interesting to watch the dominant culture reinvent old fashioned sexual morality. I am not a religious anthropologist but I’m pretty sure every religion and every traditional culture has very strong, very clear teachings about sexual morality. And they usually start with, “Thou shalt not….” Occasionally the entertainment world agrees with some of our moral doctrines -- before they're distracted by another erotic fantasy. Feminist have rightly complained that men were given too much license, but no major religion officially encouraged that abuse. Until recently, abortion was a crime, divorce was a shame, and adultery was a dirty secret.

Paradoxically, social media have contributed to both the coarsening of our discourse, and to refining our sensibilities. If seminarians of the 1960’s smirked when they heard the scripture readings of this fifth Monday of Lent, they now wonder why a mob would bother to stone either woman. Aren’t those days long past?

Today’s readings highlight the hypocrisy of judgement about adultery. In neither story does the male adulterer appear. There was none in the Book of Daniel; but we should notice that neither Daniel nor the mob asked who he might have been! In the gospel there clearly was a male adulterer who was discovered “in the very act of committing adultery.” He is missing -- but not missed. For all we know, he might be among the mob ready to kill the woman.

As the pastor of a church I was asked about the case of a pregnant eighth grade child, one of my parishioners. The principle wondered, “Shouldn’t she be put out of the Catholic school?” I asked, “Who was the boy, and will nothing be said to him or his parents?”

In today’s gospel, Jesus simply refrains from judgement. He offers no opinion for or against the woman and says nothing about adultery. He concludes the episode with a hopeless piece of advice, “Go, and from now on do not sin anymore.” He knows that people learn nothing from punishment, nor from the near escape from punishment. The trauma fades and disappears. If they change at all, they find a deeper, more appealing motive – something like Love of God and Fear of the Lord – to alter their attitudes and behavior.

Today’s gospel offers for our admiration and edification a fearless and just Messiah. He has foiled his enemies again and made no friends. His course is set toward Calvary. He laughs at his adversaries as a few words shred their alliances. He stands head and shoulder over their nonsense even as he stoops to the ground.

If we choose to follow him, we will show the same disregard for enemies and the same sense of humor about their fashionable righteousness and family values. And we will continue to demonstrate the Lord’s compassion for defenseless women, children, and aliens.