March 13, 2016

Fifth Sunday of Lent

The Woman Caught in Adultery

First Reading: Isaiah 43:16-21

Thus says the Lord, who makes a way in the sea, a path in the mighty waters, 17who brings out chariot and horse, army and warrior; they lie down, they cannot rise, they are extinguished, quenched like a wick:18Do not remember the former things, or consider the things of old. 19I 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. 20The wild animals will honor me, the jackals and the ostriches; for I give water in the wilderness, rivers in the desert, to give drink to my chosen people,21the people whom I formed for myself so that they might declare my praise.

Second Reading: Philippians 3:8-14

8More than that, I regard everything as loss because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and I regard them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ 9and 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. 10I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the sharing of his sufferings by becoming like him in his death, 11if somehow I may attain the resurrection from the dead. 12Not that I have already obtained this or have already reached the goal; but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. 13Beloved, I do not consider that I have made it my own; but this one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, 14I press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus.

Gospel Reading: John 8:1-11

While Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. 2Early in the morning he came again to the temple. All the people came to him and he sat down and began to teach them. 3The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery; and making her stand before all of them, 4they said to him, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the very act of committing adultery. 5Now in the law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?” 6They said this to test him, so that they might have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground. 7When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “Let anyone among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” 8And once again he bent down and wrote on the ground. 9When they heard it, they went away, one by one, beginning with the elders; and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him. 10Jesus straightened up and said to her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” 11She said, “No one, sir.” And Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you. Go your way, and from now on do not sin again.”

Sermon:

Sex is a powerful force. Many of us will do a lot to get it. Most of us do it within the confines of the law and marriage, but there is story after story about people who are willing to cross the line for sex. Adultery is one of the major causes of divorce. It’s a betrayal of trust; one of the most difficult to forgive.

In today’s gospel, we have two people who were willing to cross the line. Both would have been very familiar with the penalty for such an act. Death by stoning. In Leviticus 20:10, it states that “If any man commit adultery with the wife of another and defile his neighbor’s wife let them be put the death, both the adulterer and the adulteress.” That’s a strong penalty. Death by stoning. It was how society worked then. It’s important to understand it from a historical perspective.

In the time of Jesus, the law concerning adultery was very much based on the idea that a wife was her husband’s property. If another man had sex with a married woman, he had violated his neighbor’s property. It was stealing, theft, clear and simple. So it is that in some parts of Africa the seducer (man) is punished with the loss of one or both hands, as one who has committed a robbery against the husband. The woman is also punished, often by bodily mutilation by her husband so that she will be prevented from being a temptation to other men. Sanctioned violence against women has been perpetuated for generations.

The irony is that this gospel story has always been known as the woman caught in adultery. But if she was caught in the act, there had to be another person. The act involves two people, not one. What happened when the woman was caught? Did the man get away? Was he allowed to escape? There seems to be no mention of him whatsoever. If a stoning was going to happen, where was the man? Why would this woman be made to pay for the adultery alone? Did people know the man and want to protect him? No one seems to be questioning these things—except Jesus.

Jesus fully appreciates how the Pharisees believe that this is an open and shut case. They’ve been wanting to find a way to trick him, to embarrass him and they believe this is it. And the crowd wants vengeance; they too feel fully justified in stoning this woman. It is their law, their right. Everyone may have already had stones in their hands. Jesus is also aware of all that is happening behind the scenes. He knows that there are many unanswered questions. Jesus sees the unspoken dynamics, and he almost always takes the side of the victim.

Jesus knows he is being trapped. It’s what his actions are all about. His drawing on the ground bought him some much needed time to configure the words, to find a way to help open the Pharisees’ eyes to the broader picture. By not looking at them, Jesus was holding up a mirror for them all, everyone gathered, to examine their own consciences. Rather than pointing the finger at them, something that would have simply elevated their anger, Jesus invited them to do it for themselves.

If they were free from guilt, they could throw the first stone. What a brilliant way to turn this situation inside out. Instead of falling into their trap, Jesus steps outside the usual way of thinking and turns it upside-down. Both the Pharisees and the crowd had to be infuriated and may have wanted to use the stones against Jesus. We can’t stand it when someone calls our bluff. Suddenly the public shaming is focused on those who are meant to keep the law. Instead of using the woman for public shaming and scapegoating, Jesus was enabling public ownership of them all as sinners. He created a way of forcing them to admit their own wrongdoing without any words being spoken in exchange. This is what sets Jesus apart. His wisdom, his brilliance in finding a way to bring about change without raising a finger. In fact, his finger was doodling in the dirt—allowing his mind and heart to be open to God’s grace.

We must take notice—Jesus responds with calm, with quiet. This story is meant for each of us. Each of us has our own guilt to keep us from pointing the finger. But it is extremely difficult, especially in these political times, not to point a finger to those who want to call forth our worst selves. The CNN reports on Friday were alarming. Riots are breaking out. The extremes of individualism vs. social concern are clashing. How are we to respond?

First we must be certain that we are not casting stones; that is to participate in the very system that causes violence and power seeking. Second, we must allow love to guide us, even when we see hate all around. We cannot strike out. We cannot be as proud and as angry as the mobs that are causing such violence. Our doodling in the dirt might come in the form of using our laptops to write to our congress men and women. Or signing up for a peace rally (which is now happening every Friday at 4:30pm on the Pentacrest) or clicking on the link I sent you all to get a bumper sticker that reads, “Love Trumps Hate.”

And we may have to go one step further by talking about politics in calm voices with those who disagree with us. If Trump becomes the Republican nominee, we need to be very concerned. And there’s no reason to think it can’t happen. Not anymore. The Pharisees are alive and well and they believe they are in the right. They are using the very same tactics that Jesus called into question—blaming, scapegoating, hatred.

Remember, the woman caught in adultery knows she is guilty. And she knows the consequences of her actions. When Jesus asks her if anyone has condemned her, she says “No one sir.” Jesus says, “Neither do I condemn you”. He has no need to judge her—or to punish her. Instead, he instructs her to sin no more. And I would imagine this was a conversion experience for her—having her life saved by a man.

Mary Demuth, a Christian author wrote, In this story, Jesus Christ didn't overturn the Law. Instead, He re-established righteousness on the basis of grace. With grace at work in our lives, so much is possible. First, we can begin by removing stones—the weapons that are used to promote violence and hatred. What stones are perpetuating anger and resentment in our own lives? What stones keep our hearts reluctant to forgive? Grace can help us soften our grip so we can eventually release these stones.

In our first reading, Isaiah speaks God’s words, “I am doing something new! Now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?” That something new is God’s grace abounding in us and around us and through us. Demuth goes on to say that, Grace ushers in forgiveness, but it also empowers us to walk in a new way. Holiness, then, is built on the experience of grace, not on the fear of the Law. Jesus is in the business of rescuing and releasing us, while at the same time calling our sin for what it is: self-centeredness.

And so we are invited to acknowledge our tendency to think of ourselves first and foremost and instead to move in the hope of what is possible with God’s grace. We can move beyond passivity and complacency and be empowered to help change the political system and our future. Let us hope that this “new thing” can be our conscious efforts to forgive, to drop our stones and to help co-create a whole new world, with God’s grace. Amen.





Communion Meditation

History Is on an Inevitable Course
Sunday, March 13, 2016

As I shared last week, Paul believed that history and all of creation are headed toward a radical union, which he called pleroma, "the fullness" (Colossians 1:19, Ephesians 1:10). But the journey is presented as slow and grueling, as you can sense in his ecstatic and paramount writing in Romans 8:18-39. Read this passage, beautifully paraphrased by Eugene Peterson:

I don't think there is any comparison between the present hard times and the coming good times. This created world itself can hardly wait for what is coming next. Everything in creation is being more or less held back now. God reins it in until both creation and all the creatures are ready and can be released at the same moment. Meanwhile the joyful anticipation deepens.

All around us we observe a pregnant creation. The difficult times of pain throughout the world are simply birth pangs. We are also feeling the birth pangs. That is why waiting does not diminish us, any more than waiting diminishes a pregnant mother. We are enlarged in the waiting. But the longer we wait, the larger we become, and the more joyful our expectancy. [This is what I call "negativity capability," or the rubber band pulled back which increases the momentum forward.





So, what do you think? With God on our side like this, how can we lose? If God didn't hesitate to put everything on the line for us, embracing our condition and exposing [the Godself] to the worst by sending [God's] own Son, is there anything else [God] wouldn't gladly and freely do for us? . . . Do you think anyone is going to be able to drive a wedge between us and Christ's love for us? There is no way! Not trouble, not hard times, not hatred, not hunger, not homelessness, not bullying threats, not backstabbing. . . . None of this fazes us because Jesus loves us. I'm absolutely convinced that nothing--nothing living or dead, angelic or demonic, today or tomorrow, high or low, thinkable or unthinkable--absolutely nothing can get between us and God's love because of the way that Jesus our Master has embraced us."[1]