NEITHER DO I CONDEMN YOU. GO AND SIN NO MORE

5TH SUNDAY OF LENT, YEAR CST. JUDE, ZUBA, ABUJA, 6TH APRIL, 2025. HOMILY BY ARCHBISHOP I. A. KAIGAMA

READINGS: ISAIAH 43: 16-21; PHILIPPIANS 3:8-14; JOHN 8:1-11

THEME: “NEITHER DO I CONDEMN YOU. GO AND SIN NO MORE.”

The 5th Sunday of Lent finds us in St. Jude, Zuba, where we shall confirm about 400 persons. Thank you, Fr. Moses Musa, CMF, and your assistant, Fr. Lawrence Utho, CMF for all the good work you do here. We appreciate your religious congregation, the Claretians, for the years they have sent pastoral personnel to look after this parish.

As the Lenten Season draws to a close, we are called to a personal, deeper, and proper examination of conscience and true repentance. Today’s readings are centered on God giving us a fresh start. God wants us to know that He forgives, He renews, and He calls us forward. In like manner, we too must forgive others who have offended us in one way or the other.

In the first reading, Isaiah tells us that God is doing something new. He says, “Remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old. Behold, I am doing a new thing…” God is not stuck on what we have done wrong. He wants to help us move ahead, like giving us a clean slate to write a better story. St. Paul says in our second reading, “One thing I do, forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead. I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” (Phil 3: 13-14).

God forgives us in Christ and has given us new life. Let us walk as children of light, maintaining holiness of life.

By next week we begin Holy Week, and as the Lord calls us to move from sin to grace and from fear to faith, let us encounter more intimately Jesus, the face of God’s mercy, who does not condemn but calls us to a new life in holiness.

Today in our gospel reading we are presented with the story of the adulterous woman. While Jesus was teaching in the Temple, the Scribes and Pharisees brought to Jesus, a woman caught in the act of adultery for which Mosaic law prescribed stoning. The story does not tell us who her accomplice was. But these men ask Jesus to judge the sinful woman in order “to test him” (Jesus) and impel Him to take a false step. When the Pharisees brought the woman accusing her of sin, Jesus said, “Let the man among you who has no sin be the first to cast a stone at her” (Jn 8:7). St John highlights one detail: while her accusers are insistently interrogating Him, Jesus bends down and starts writing with His finger on the ground. When her accusers “went away, one by one, beginning with the eldest”, Jesus, absolving the woman of her sin, ushers her into a new life oriented to good, “Neither do I condemn you; go, and do not sin again”. Justice is about redemption, not retribution.

This is what happens at confession. God lets us go away even with the horrible sins we have committed, as long as we are truly sorry. He frees us unconditionally from the destructive presence of sin in our hearts.

The woman whom Jesus forgave was only representing the whole of humanity, for all of us have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God (cf. Rom 3:23). But as St. Augustine explains, God condemns the sin, not the sinner – grace demands change.” Grace triumphs over judgement. Each of us has certain spiritual weaknesses, like tending to be impatient, critical of others, proud, self-centered, and the like. We should seek the forgiveness of Jesus through the sacrament of reconciliation or pardon.

As we go to the doctor for check-up or take medicine over and over for our physical health, we must seek help for our spiritual health too. We must not become insensitive to our spiritual weaknesses and failures. The first letter of John says, “If we say, ‘we are without sin’ we deceive ourselves” (1 Jn 1:8). Some people are reluctant to make use of the sacrament of reconciliation because they feel that they do not have anything to confess. But there are many sins of commission and omission we commit every day, or sometimes like the Pharisee who went to pray in the temple, we focus on the sins of others: Luke:18: 11 -12: “Standing, the Pharisee prayed within himself in this way: ‘O God, I give thanks to you that I am not like the rest of men: robbers, unjust, adulterers, even as this tax collector chooses to be. I fast twice between Sabbaths. I give tithes from all that I possess.’”

Acts 10:38 speaks of Jesus going about doing good. The Jewish authorities, on the other hand always laid a trap for Him. Today, they laid a triple trap for Jesus in our gospel reading in the case of the woman caught in adultery. If Jesus agreed with them that the woman should be stoned to death, as laid down by Moses, then Jesus would lose His reputation of being a compassionate teacher; and secondly, he would come in collusion with the Roman authorities because except the Romans, no one had the right to condemn anyone to death. And thirdly, if He said that she should be forgiven, then He was obviously teaching people to break the Law of Moses.

Initially, Jesus refused to give any answer. But when they insisted, then Jesus said, “Let the one who is without any sin, cast the first stone at her.” By so doing, Jesus invited them to an examination of conscience. All the accusers began to disappear beginning with the eldest, having realized how fallible they were.

In the woman, we find a woman totally humiliated and disgraced simply, perhaps, she had nobody to speak for her. Her sin was not greater than the man who abused her, yet the man went scot-free, but this poor woman was caught and accused. This is similar to what happens today in the society in which we live. The woman under reference was totally vulnerable and broken. She was the symbol of helplessness. She did not even have the courage and strength to defend herself. Here we see the axiom, “might is power” at play. If you do not have anyone to speak for you, you will be marginalized. But the good news is that, we have an advocate in Jesus. Jesus came to her rescue. He is the refuge of sinners. He came to heal the brokenhearted and bind their wounds. When all the accusers had drifted away in shame, He asked her, “Woman, has no one condemned you?” she replied, “No one, sir.” Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you. Go and sin no more.” Jesus gave her a second chance. He knew that she had made a mess of her life, but life was not all over for her. She could rebuild her life back again.

It is important to note that Jesus does not write our sins on rock to remain forever, but on dust, to be blown away by the mercy of God. In the end, two people remained in the story: Jesus and the woman. St. Augustine commenting on this, said, “There remained misery (the woman) and a great mercy (Jesus).” Imagine sinless God was refusing to condemn the sinful woman, but sinful men hasten to condemn her. It is so beautiful how God, rich in mercy, can wash us clean and make us whole if we make ourselves available.

In today’s story, Jesus sees a potential saint in a miserable sinner. God is telling us that He is more interested in our future than in our past. Jesus calls us to focus on the Lord who relieves us of our burdens of sin, rather than on the load. He invites us to come to Him in the Sacrament of Reconciliation and receive mercy and peace. But notice what Jesus does next. He does not say, “Go, and do whatever you please.” He says, “Go, and sin no more.” Mercy is not permission to remain in sin; it is empowerment to rise above it.

“Go and sin no more.” This is Jesus’ message to all of us today. No matter our past, no matter our sins, He offers us a new beginning. Let us accept His mercy, extend it to others, and allow the Holy Spirit to transform us. Let us examine where we have picked up stones, stones of resentment, pride, and indifference, and let us drop them.

To the candidates for confirmation, about 400 of you, may the grace of this sacrament empower you to live as true disciples, resist sin, and bear witness to Christ in your daily lives. May you become responsible ambassadors of Christ’s mercy, bringing forgiveness and love to others. Let the Holy Spirit guide you so that your faith may shine in your actions.

May Mary, the refuge of sinners, continue to intercede for us all.