[Story]
Today is the last Sunday of Lent. Next week is Passion Sunday and then Easter. Todayís gospel reading is still calling us to repent and change our ways. Jesusí core message is so simple: love God and others. Why is this so hard for us to do?

Father Don Wolf recently preached an inspiring Lenten Mission. Fr. Wolf talked about the scariest passage in the whole Bible. Itís from the Gospel of Luke and goes like this:
 

Jesus said to his disciples: "Be compassionate, as your Father is compassionate. Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Pardon, and you shall be pardoned. Give, and it shall be given to you. For the measure you measure with will be measured back to you."
 

[Connection]
Todayís gospel reading from John focuses on not judging others.

Jesus was being set up by the Pharisees and scribes. They came to him as a crowd so that each of them could remain anonymous. They wanted to trap him and find him guilty of something. They thought they had him in a no-win situation. They wanted him to be the judge.

The Pharisees and scribes brought to Jesus a woman caught in adultery and wanted his opinion about whether she should be stoned to death according to Mosaic Law. If Jesus said that they could stone the woman to death, Jesus would be violating Roman law, which did not let the Jews carry out the death penalty. But, if he said to let the woman go free, he would be breaking Mosaic Law.

Jesus did not judge the Pharisees and scribes. Jesus let them judge themselves by saying that the one among them without sin should throw the first stone. Jesus called them to focus not on the sins of others but on their own sins. They were not aware that they too were sinners.

Then Jesus wrote in the sand for the second time. We do not know what he wrote. But sufficient time must have passed for the Pharisees and scribes to take into their hearts what Jesus said. They gradually saw their own sins of hate, selfishness, and untruth. Eventually, they all went away.

Neither did Jesus condemn the woman caught in adultery. But, he was concerned with her sin. He told her "Go, and from now on do not sin any more.

Jesus felt no obligation to punish the woman in the way the law would have her punished. Jesus teaches that love of neighbor is more important than obedience to the law." His mercy invites conversion of all of our hearts.

The gospel story was about the woman caught in adultery and about the Pharisees and scribes. Itís about everyone who sins. Therefore, it is also about us.

[Invitation]
Today we, too, are caught between love of neighbor and following the law. Federal law says that a woman has the right to abort her child. But according to Godís law, abortion is murder. We must chose love of the unborn. We also must chose love of the parents who decided to abort. We must condemn the sin of abortion, but not the sinner.

Oklahoma State law allows us the option of executing a person who has killed another. The Catholic Church teaches that all killing is wrong because it degrades humans who are made in Godís image. We must condemn the sin of killing, but not the sinner. If we are against abortion, we must also be against the death penalty. As an Oklahoman it is too easy to remain anonymous in the crowd of voters and to remain personally unaccountable. But we will be accountable to God.

We have no right to condemn another, let alone exact punishment. All of us are affected by Original Sin, the sins of those who came before us. We must be the ones who change society for those who come after us. How do we do this?

Lukeís passion reading for next Sunday gives us a solution. It is Lukeís version of the crucifixion and death that gives us Jesusí remarkable expression of forgiveness: "Father, forgive them; they know not what they do." For all of us who are challenged by this radical modeling of love of enemies, it is helpful to note that Jesusí statement is a prayer. What may not come spontaneously from our hearts can be requested in prayer.

I have preached about the death penalty before because I believe that I must be a prophet for God or Iím just blowing wind up here. After preaching one weekend, several strong supporters of the death penalty gave me their opinions. One man finished by saying he would pray about it. This is the kind of gradual change of heart that all of us are called to make all of our lives and especially during this season of Lent.

The woman in todayís gospel represents us: our church, our community, our parish. We are all caught sinning. We will not be condemned, but we will be told to avoid sin, unaware of how our sin can be used to destroy those who are good and holy. Bad example and behavior can give scandal. We must be careful not to bait others or try to catch them in their sin or count their transgressions against them.

We must remember that goodness comes through us, but only because Godís mercy is stronger than our sin.

Today we will pray for the elect in the RCIA program so that they will have a horror of sin and be freed from it.

We must be examples for the elect, we must not scandalize them. The prayers for the elect must be everyoneís prayers so that we will repent from sin and love God and one another. We have a great savior with infinite mercy: he condemns our sins but not us! Being made in his image, we must do the same.

Following Jesusí core message of love of God and neighbor is hard for us to do. There is still time to repent and change our ways so that we can better love God and neighbor. Conversion of heart to Godís ways is a lifelong process for all of us. We must pray that our lives will be long enough so that we can proceed far along our pathes of conversion.