{"id":27677,"date":"2025-03-26T04:48:15","date_gmt":"2025-03-26T04:48:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lectiodivina.com.au\/?p=27677"},"modified":"2025-04-01T05:51:25","modified_gmt":"2025-04-01T05:51:25","slug":"compassion-and-mercy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lectiodivina.com.au\/?p=27677","title":{"rendered":"Compassion and Mercy"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

We arrive at the fifth Sunday of Lent. The shops have been full of eggs and hot cross buns for weeks now. Amongst all the busyness of preparing for your Easter break and catching up with family and friends, has this Lent been a time of preparation of a different kind for you? What have you been preparing for? As you have read the Lenten readings for the four previous Sundays, have there been any challenges? If not, the reading from John this week will surely challenge us.

It comes from the beginning of Chapter 8 in John\u2019s Gospel. Jesus was teaching in the temple when a woman caught in adultery was brought to him. The people who brought the woman knew the laws, and knew that the law stated that woman should be stoned to death. They ask Jesus \u2018What do you say?\u2019

This is where the story gets interesting. What could Jesus do? He could abide by the law and see the women stoned, which would be against all that he had been teaching, or he could tell the crowd that she should be forgiven and not receive a punishment, thus condemning himself. The woman was used as a ploy as they wanted to trap Jesus \u2013 it seemed that he was in a no-win situation. He needs to come up with a solution where the law is kept intact \u2013 he doesn\u2019t want to reject it or change it.

He bends down and writes in the sand \u2013 we don\u2019t know what he wrote. Maybe he was listing in the sand all the sins of those who were condemning the woman; others think he was buying time as he didn\u2019t want to be rushed as he thought out a solution. We know that he provides a brilliant solution \u2013 he invites those without sins to throw the first stone. They all leave!

The woman\u2019s dignity is left intact, and Jesus tells the woman that he does not condemn her, but he doesn\u2019t just leave it at that. He tells her to sin no more. Is Jesus judging her? Has she done the wrong thing? Does he forgive her?

Jesus is making a judgement \u2013 he is not saying that what she has done is OK. He challenges her to start afresh, to realise what she has done is wrong, and to change her life.

How can we relate this to our lives? How many times have you wanted to throw a stone at someone? Especially when they deserved it! Jesus did not throw stones at the woman, and he won\u2019t at us. The woman made a mistake, as we do. Jesus didn\u2019t leave the woman, and he won\u2019t leave us. Jesus knows that we all make mistakes, as the woman did. His challenge to her was to \u2018sin no more\u2019. This is our challenge too.

– Bernard Cumming<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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We arrive at the fifth Sunday of Lent. The shops have been full of eggs and hot cross buns for weeks now. Amongst all the busyness of preparing for your Easter break and catching up with family and friends, has this Lent been a time of preparation of a different kind for you? What have […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":27683,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[38,45,26,44,24,55,8,32,50,41,25,51,34,54,47,31,42,39,48,46,52,40,37,35,28,43,53,36,27,33,29],"class_list":["post-27677","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newsletter","tag-ancient-wisdom","tag-contemplative-prayer","tag-enlightenment","tag-guided-meditation","tag-inner-peace","tag-introspection","tag-lectio-divina","tag-lectio-divina-for-beginners","tag-life-transformation","tag-meditation-guide","tag-meditation-mastery","tag-meditation-tips","tag-mindfulness","tag-mindfulness-meditation","tag-mindfulness-practices","tag-mindfulness-techniques","tag-personal-development","tag-reflect-and-transform","tag-reflective-living","tag-sacred-reading","tag-self-discovery","tag-self-help","tag-soulful-journey","tag-soulful-living","tag-spiritual-awakening","tag-spiritual-growth","tag-spiritual-guide","tag-spiritual-insights","tag-spiritual-practice","tag-spiritual-reflection","tag-transformative-journey"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t