5th Sunday Of Lent Year C

Isaiah 43:16-21
Philippians 3:8-14
John 8:1-11

Understanding God’s grace.

My brothers and sisters, have I ever asked myself: What does the term “grace” means to me? Surprisingly, many of us – even believers – do not fully appreciate what God’s grace means. The Scripture this week invite us to reflect on God’s grace, and what it means to the way I lead my life. To many of us, a proper understanding of God’s grace is a new concept to us. But as the prophet said in the First Reading this week, God is promising us something new. “I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.” (verse 19)

Perhaps stemming from the way we were taught from young, some of us harbour the mistaken notion that we ought to be righteous and do good works in order to earn the God’s love. But this is not the correct understanding of grace. In fact, in the correct understanding of grace, the causal relationship is reverse, that is, we seek to be righteous and do good works as a response to God’s love. In other words, God’s love is unconditional. And the more we appreciate God’s love, the more we want to imitate His love by being good. As St John wrote, “We love because he first loved us.” (1 Jn 4:19) This is grace.

In the Second Reading this week, St Paul wrote, “For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and I regard them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but one that comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God based on faith.” (verse 8-9) In other words, St Paul’s seeking to be righteous is a response of his faith in God. He is good not by his own merit but by the grace of God: “Beloved, I do not consider that I have made it my own” (verse 13) St Pual’s experience of God’s love has spurred him to work tireless for God: “I press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus.” (verse 14)

In the Gospel this week, we read the story of the woman caught with adultery. For her sin, the crowd demanded that the woman be stoned to death. But Jesus said to the crowd, “Let anyone among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” (verse 7) By these words, Jesus invited the people to look at their own lives. He is inviting us to do the same today. Let us reflect: In my own life, think of the wrongs I have done. Jesus has forgiven me. Should I then not do the same to a brother or sister of mine? In the Gospel, we read that upon reflecting on Jesus’s words, “they went away, one by one, beginning with the elders” (verse 9). God has shown me grace, let us show the same unto others.

After the crowd went away, Jesus said to the woman, “‘Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?’ She said, ‘No one, sir.’ And Jesus said, ‘Neither do I condemn you. Go your way, and from now on do not sin again.'” (verse 10-11) Jesus invited the woman to be good, not because she had to earn His forgiveness. Jesus has already forgiven her. But in gratitude of the forgiveness she received, Jesus invites her to be good. Today, Jesus is inviting us to do the same – to experience God’s grace, to forgive others, to lead a righteous live and to work tirelessly to serve others. Let us take heed. Amen.