YEAR C: HOMILY FOR THE 5TH SUNDAY OF LENT (5)
YEAR C: HOMILY FOR THE 5TH SUNDAY OF LENT HOMILY THEME: GOD IS DOING SOMETHING NEW IN YOUR LIFEBY: Fr. Cosmas Ukadike,C.M.
YEAR C: HOMILY FOR THE 5TH SUNDAY OF LENT
HOMILY THEME: GOD IS DOING SOMETHING NEW IN YOUR LIFE
BY: Fr. Cosmas Ukadike, C.M.
HOMILY: As the season of Lent draws us closer to God, it unveils before our eyes the reality of God’s salvation for his children.
Today’s reading is the first stanza of a long salvation oracle running from Isaiah 43:14 through 44:5 which, in turn, is part of Second Isaiah’s amazing proclamation of deliverance to the Babylonian exiles (Isaiah 40-55). Whereas God had previously allowed Nebuchadnezzar and his Babylonian hordes to destroy Jerusalem and haul the fruit and flower of Judah into exile in Babylon in 587 and 582 BCE, Second Isaiah now dramatically announces that God is about to use Cyrus and his Persian forces to defeat Babylon and release captive Israel, allowing them to return to their homeland (Isa 43, 16-21). As for their past experiences, the Lord is saying to his children; “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! (Isa 43, 18-19).
The Lord is aware of our ugly past, he knows how much we have suffered, and he knows how much we have had to endure for the sake of his Holy name. Here comes as he says to us, a light at the end of the tunnel. He is doing something new in our lives. The Lord is asking us to walk out with courage out of our ugly past.
We must not allow these painful experiences to hold us from making a head way into the future. St. Paul had to deal with this in today’s second reading when he asserted that, “one thing he does is: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, , “I press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus” (Philipians 3, 14).
The Lord is saying that the future is even brighter for us if only we believe in him. To the wildernesses in our lives the Lord is saying, I will make a way, and to the desert parts of our lives he is going to cause rivers to flow in them (Isa 43, 19b). This is actually the experience of salvation and deliverance promised by God to his people.
It is amazing that in today’s Gospel when the scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery; and making her stand before them all, that is, to shame her before the public, demanding of Jesus what to do with her after quoting the book of the law as to how she deserves to be stoned. However, Jesus did not go according to their law, but rather did something New, both in her life and in the lives of her accusers (Jn 8, 1-11).
After pausing for a while, reflecting on how to save the accused adulterous woman, since His mission is only to seek out and to safe those who are lost, (Lk 19, 10) and not to condemn anyone, he wrote on the floor and said to her accusers; “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her” (Jn 8, 8). The voice of Jesus sounded as if he said; “lay down your stone!” and of course that was what he meant because we discovered that as soon as he finished speaking and bent down, “they went away one by one, beginning with the older ones, and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him (Jn 8, 10).
Our God does not desire the death of anyone, but rather he brings us life and life in abundance (Ezk 18, 32; Jn 10, 10).
We are constantly called to repentance and conversion, for God wants life for us and not death. Let us also learn something of God He is rich in mercy, slow to anger and ready to relent (Jonah 4, 2).
Let us not be quick in passing judgments, in condemning others and in claiming self righteousness. For “if the Lord should mark our guilt, who would survive”(Ps 130, 3). And Jesus concluded by saying to the adulterous woman, where are they {your accusers}? Has no one condemned you?” She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on, sin no more” (Jn 8, 11).
May this new grace of God help us in living out a good Christian life, bringing about newness of everything that is good. Have a fruitful week.
Fr. Cosmas Ukadike, C.M.
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