The Grace of Forgiveness (11th Sunday Ordinary C)

No doubt one of the most profound, liberating, and even life-changing human experiences is the joy of being forgiven. We just have to recall our own experiences of being forgiven in order to realize that the greater the offense we acknowledge to have done, the deeper is our sense of gratitude for being freed from its burden through forgiveness.

Today’s readings invite us to reflect even more deeply on our experience of the grace of forgiveness. We shall focus on three things: The recognition of sin as essential to the experience of forgiveness shown in the story of King David; the heart-warming tears of repentance illustrated by the sinful woman in the Gospel reading; and gratitude as our loving response to being forgiven as taught by the parable of the two debtors.

Recognition of Sin. The first reading (2 Sm 12:7-10, 13) recalls how the Prophet Nathan reminded David of God’s goodness to him—anointing him as king, rescuing him from the hand of Saul, giving him the house of Israel and Judah, and many other countless blessings. At the same time, Nathan reminded David that despite God’s graciousness, David had spurned the Lord and done evil in God’s sight by plotting the death of Uriah and ultimately taking the latter’s wife, Bathsheba, as his own.

The fact that David needed a prophet to be told of his sins shows that He had been spiritually blind. While, as a king, he had been enjoying the favor and blessings of God, he was practically unaware of the evil of his maneuverings in the sight of this gracious God.  Sin blinds. Our habit of sins renders us incapable of seeing the evil in what we do. The worst situation is precisely what’s going on now in our contemporary milieu—the loss of the sense of sin. People just want to do whatever they please without regard to moral principles.  We hear this being said too often: “How can this be wrong when it feels soooo right?”

It is only when David recognized his sins that he was assured of God’s forgiveness. “I have sinned against the Lord” (v. 13). To this confession, Nathan responded with assurance of God’s mercy. The grace of forgiveness abounds.  It is given, however, only to those who have recognized their sinfulness.  In the Sacrament of Reconciliation, the penitent names and confesses his offenses. It surely is embarrassing to oneself but it is at the same time empowering. By naming and confessing, the penitent get holds of his sins and not the other way around. Recognizing our sinfulness, naming and confessing our sins liberate us from our spiritual blindness and enables us to see the graciousness of God and hence experience the grace of forgiveness.

The Tears of Repentance. The gospel reading (Lk 7:36—8:3) presents an illuminating contrast between the gate-crasher sinful woman and the Pharisee, Jesus’ host for the dinner.  The woman came in weeping and started to wash Jesus’ feet with her tears! She wiped them with her hair, kissed them and anointed them with expensive perfumed oil; while the Pharisee had not offered this customary hospitality to his guest. The lavishness of the woman’s expression of sorrow and devotion to Jesus is reflective of both the depth of her repentance for her great sins and her faith in God’s mercy; while the coldness with which the Pharisee received the Lord manifests the Pharisee’s self-righteous stance—a stance that rendered him incapable of seeing his own need for repentance and forgiveness, much like the blindness of David to his sins.  This same stance gives him the self-endowed right to condemn and distance himself from sinners.

Like the sinful woman in the gospel, we are invited by the Lord to a genuine repentance of our sins.  If we should weep, so be it. The tears of repentance reveal both the sincerity of our acceptance of our sinfulness and the depth of our yearning to experience the mercy of God. At the same time, the Lord warns us against self-righteousness because it is the surest way to forfeit by default God’s abundant offer of the grace of forgiveness.

Gratitude as our Loving Response.  The parable of the two debtors--one with a large debt, the other with smaller debt—who experienced being forgiven as both of them are unable to pay, illustrates the point that the degree of gratitude and love evoked by the experience of forgiveness is directly proportionate to the amount of the debt forgiven.  Between the two debtors, the one whose debt is much larger expresses greater gratitude to the creditor who forgives. But the one to whom little is forgiven, loves little.

We should not fear approaching the Lord for mercy as we realize how great a sinner we are.  The greater the burden of sins lifted, the greater is our gratitude, our joy, our yearning to love God in return.  No wonder most of the saints consider themselves as great sinners and their lives have shown the greatness of their love for God.

What is our invitation? We are invited to overcome our self-righteousness which hinders us from experiencing the abundance of God’s mercy and to acknowledge our sinfulness with tears of repentance. This is not, however, to make of us a community of guilt-ridden Christians but a community who can love lavishly because of the freedom experienced through the grace of forgiveness.

Lest We Cast a Stone (Lent V Sun C)

In 1999, Leo Echegaray was the first Filipino to be meted the death penalty (by lethal injection) after its reinstatement in the Philippines in 1993. Echegaray was convicted of raping his step-daughter in 1994. His case had sparked debates about the legality and morality of death penalty. I remember being one of the speakers in a forum held in a catholic school. I was speaking against death penalty. During the open forum, I discovered that the audience was not happy with my position. Several expressed their indignation at the gruesome crime and sin of Echegaray. For them nothing less than the capital punishment could satisfy the demand for justice; or I thought, if they were just transparent, nothing less could quench the thirst for vengeance. It was real hard to speak of compassion and mercy to angry people.

Today’s gospel reading (Jn 8:1-11) recounts the case of a woman caught in adultery. Her case is presented by the Scribes and Pharisees to test Jesus. If Jesus condemns her according to the Law of Moses, i.e. by stoning to death, he frustrates those who hope in his compassion and runs in conflict with the Roman law that has suspended the Jewish authorization to inflict capital punishment. If he pardons her, he can be accused of making light of the Law and lose his credibility before the people. But Jesus always outwits his malicious opponents. He manages to rise above the ploy to trap him and, what more, turns the occasion into one that instructs and teaches about the loving ways of God.

I suggest two things to consider for our reflection: First, Jesus’ invitation to self-examination and, second, his teaching on abhorring sin but loving the sinner.

Invitation to Self-examination. When the Scribes and Pharisees press him to give his position on the case, Jesus responds by saying, “let the one among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her” (v. 7). Far from condemning the woman to death, Jesus instead invites the self-righteous Scribes and Pharisees to examine themselves first. The gospel recounts how each one goes away starting with the elders unable to cast the first stone.

When we examine ourselves, we begin to realize how much the power of sin has affected us too. We begin to see that we are in an unfortunate solidarity with the sinners. We stop pointing an accusing finger on other people and admit that we also share in the sins of humanity. We begin to see the utter hypocrisy of casting the stone on others and to realize that like anyone else what we need is not legalistic impersonal judgment but mercy and compassion.

In this season of Lent, let us honestly and courageously look into our own sinfulness and approach God not in the self-righteous stance of the Scribes and Pharisees but in the utter dependence of the Adulterous woman on the mercy of God.

Abhorring Sin but Loving the Sinner. Just like the message of the Parable of the Lost Son, today’s gospel teaches us about God’s unconditional love for us sinners. As far as God is concerned, we continue to be his sons and daughters despite our sinfulness. Today’s gospel illustrates how slow God is in condemning us and quick in giving us a fresh start. His words, “Neither do I condemn you” (v. 11), expresses Jesus’ willingness to give the sinful woman a chance, a new lease on life. God does not give up on us easily. His love and mercy always triumph over the power of sin that wants to destroy us. God’s love and mercy recreates us to become once again his beautiful children.

“Go; from now on do not sin anymore” (v. 11). Jesus is also clear about abhorring sin. Part of the gift of new life is the commitment of rejecting sin. Our encounter with Jesus brings new life and our experience of his compassion empowers us all the more to abhor the scandal of sin. We are God’s children; we are destined to live in grace. Sin is a despicable deception whose sole objective is to mislead and destroy.

Hence, the season of Lent is a good time to express our indignation to sin... to our sins... and to live in the grace of God’s mercy.

This reflection does not in any way wish to abolish our legal and justice systems. They are necessary for social order. We have to be aware though that they can be flawed. The message of today’s gospel is that we move away from vindictive system that casts the stones out of lust for vengeance and conceit of self-righteousness. We move towards restorative system that allows for renewal and the chance to mend what has been broken by sin. Let us not allow sin to have the last laugh. It is God’s love that recreates, God’s mercy that restores.

Lord, break the shield of my self-righteousness lest I cast a stone on others; allow your mercy to expose the despicable deception of my sins that I may abhor them and hope for your promise of new life. Amen.