He Died That We May Live

There was once a terrible war on the River Kwai, and the Japanese had many prisoners of war. At the end of a hard day’s work, a Japanese guard insisted that a shovel was missing. He ranted and raved, but no guilty party stepped forward. Finally, in his anger he shouted, “All die! All die!” He raised his gun and prepared to shoot. Suddenly, a Scotsman stepped forward and said, “I did it.” One guard kicked him. Then they hit him. They bashed his head with their riffles. Soon he was dead. The other prisoners picked up his bruised body to bury it. The shovels were counted, and none were missing. The Scotsman, innocent of the accusation against him, had died in place of the other prisoners.

When we look at the readings of today, one is tempted to ask: must Susanna or the woman caught in adultery die? Those days, the offense of adultery was rectified either by death penalty (Deut 22:24) or through the making of atonement, especially the scapegoat ritual (Lev. 16:21-22). In the gospel of today, Jesus gave his answer to the foregoing question: “he, who has not sinned should be the first to throw stone at the woman.“ (Joh 8:7). In other words neither Susanna nor the woman caught in adultery must die, because through their sins they are associated with the Lamb of God (Jn 1:29) and the good shepherd (Jn 10:11), who died in their place. God himself does not favor the death of the sinner, but that he repents and lives (Ez 33, 11).

Throwing Stones

We live in an age where people throw stones at others. Through rumor mongering, character assassination, spreading lies borne out of jealousy, hatred, envy and malice, the life in others is swept out. Most of the time we become vessels for spreading such rumors and we do so based on the evidence of others, without first hand verifications. Like in the case of Susanna, we may discover in the long run that these people are innocent of the crime leveled against them. Today, Jesus confronts this mindset of destroying others with his exemplary lifestyle. Though, he was without sin, refused to throw stone on the woman. He would later give us the golden rule: “do not do unto others what you do not want others do unto you“ (Matt 7:12)

The Lenten Season is a time to benefit from the sacrament of reconciliation, because the liturgical celebrations reminds us not only of what Jesus did for us, but the fact that he gives us another chance, whenever we approach him in this sacrament. Thus, he gives us in this sacrament an example of forgiving and giving others new chance to begin again. Maybe focusing on the good and positive aspect of life can help us to still believe in and encourage the little efforts of others.

[Readings: Dn 13:1-9, 15-17, 19-30, 33-62 or 13:41c-62; Jn 8:1-11]