5th Sunday of Lent Year C Homily

The first thing that you probably noticed upon entering this Church is the fact that all of the statues and crosses have been veiled. Throughout Lent our senses are deprived of the stuff which they have grown accustomed to. Traditionally the Gospel for this 5th Sunday of Lent ended with these words: “They took up stones therefore to cast at him. But Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple.” According to Saint Augustine concerning this passage: “He hides not Himself in a corner of the temple, as if afraid, or running into a cottage, or turning aside behind a wall or column, but by His Divine Power making Himself invisible, He passed through their midst.” To help signify this mystery statues and crosses are traditionally veiled beginning with this Sunday and leading into the start of our celebration of Easter.

In these days which lie ahead we will be entering into the events of our Lord’s Passion and then we will enter into a period of mourning as we await our Lord’s triumph over the grave. These veiled images remind us of our own mortality and how through sin our eyes have become veiled. Now may we have a longing to be reunited with these images which have been banished from our midst. Through Christ’s cross and resurrection these veils have been ripped away and we can be assured of the mercy of God.

Our Gospel shows how merciful the love of the Father is for each of us. Within this Gospel we encounter a woman who is cast down in her sin, but we also encounter a loving savior. A savior who desires not to condemn her, but instead to set her free from the grasp that sin has placed upon her. This Gospel is not arguing that sin is acceptable to the Father because in the Gospel we must remember Christ’s command: “Go and sin no more.” If we encounter Christ and His merciful love we too must turn away from sin and be transformed.

The Easter season calls to mind our baptism and thus we are calling to mind that moment when we were transformed by turning away from our sin and being set free from its midst. It is easy to point the finger at others and thus fail to look inwardly upon ourself. In this scenario the veil of sin has come to veil our eyes from seeing the love in which the Father desires to pour forth upon each of us.

Jesus comes to us, as He came to the crowd gathered around this woman, as a voice of justice: “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.” This is not to say that sinners will not be punished for their sinfulness, but instead that they cannot be condemned by man who is sinful themselves. This voice of justice is calling out to us to look inwardly upon ourself and thus allow Christ to be the one to transform us from our sinful past.

Jesus did not come to pass a sentence of death upon her, but instead came in order to extend His mercy in order that she may be healed. This infinite mercy of the Father should assist us in being sent forth to share this same mercy with the sinful. It would not be true charity to leave them in their sinfulness, but instead we must desire that the sinful entrust themselves to Christ’s mercy in order that they may be lifted out of their sin. We are currently in the “Year of Mercy” which serves as an invitation to all of this message of the Father’s mercy. It is a call which has been extended in order that we may know of this voice of justice who desires that we may be set free from sin’s grasp; no matter how great the sin of our past life may of been.

Let us think of the many ways in which our life has become veiled to the sacred mysteries of Christ’s love through our continued relationship with sin. May we realize the invitation that Christ extends that we may be lifted up from sin’s grasp and be set free. Lifted up and sent forth with the same command given to this woman: “Go and sin no more.”