St. Maria Goretti

We all know what it is like to get caught “red handed”. Whether it’s speeding down the highway and getting pulled over, or telling a lie to your spouse or your boss and getting caught, or losing your patience with the kids in front of the in-laws, we’ve all be caught “in the act” before. Even if the “act” was not as bad as what this adulterous woman in the Gospel today was doing, we all know what it feels like to get caught. It’s embarrassing. When your “caught in the act” you can’t wiggle your way out of the situation, you can’t lie, and you can’t change the situation. You just have to take the consequences. The phrase, getting caught “red handed” in one that goes back to medieval times. Farmers in medieval Europe would catch those who had been stealing from their farms, especially tomatoes, and berries, and grapes, because they had “red” hands. Getting caught with red hands from the tomatoes, or the berries, or the grapes, was the tell-tale sign that these petty criminals had been stealing from their farms. They couldn’t deny it. Their stained hands gave them away. Most of the time today when we get caught, we’re not “red-handed” as much as we are “red-faced”. It is humiliating to get caught in our sins. And when everybody knows your sin, it is embarrassing. We all sin. We know that. But somehow it’s worse when we sin and everybody knows about it.

And so, today, you know, we feel for this poor woman, unlike the Scribes and the Pharisees, who feel nothing for her. There’s not an ounce of compassion in these holy men for this woman. They merely see her as a means to get at Jesus. They are not concerned about her humiliation. They want to use the Jewish law to kill this woman. She was guilty. Even she could not deny that. And there’s a point in this story when everything is looking pretty dark. The Scribes and the Pharisees are just waiting for Jesus to contradict the Jewish law. This scenario is going to go badly one way or another: Either this poor woman is about to be stoned to death for her sin, or Jesus is going to be arrested and possibly killed for not following Jewish law. And just when it looks like there’s no way out, Jesus invites those who are sinless to throw out the first stone. And what happens? Nobody threw any stones. Thank God they were honest, right? They were honest because they knew. THEY KNEW! It doesn’t matter whether we get caught “red-handed” or if we get “caught in the act”. It doesn’t matter whether we get caught at all. God still knows our sins. The Scribes and the Pharisees thought they were hiding their cold, hard, stoney hearts. They were so proud of themselves for getting away with their sins of the interior. Maybe they didn’t even know how far away from God they had actually gotten. But Jesus knew. He knew it all. And I got to believe that He knew that nobody was going be throwing any rocks that day at that woman.

You know, we’re pretty smart in our sin also. We are pretty proud of ourselves that we don’t get caught. Nobody’s going to catch us “in the act”. When we sin, we’re pretty careful. We make sure that nobody sees. We hide in the dark. We lock the door. We wear sunglasses. And we think that we are all that, because we don’t get caught. It is, as though, we think that we’re pulling one over on God. Guess what? Do you really think that you’re pulling one over on God? Do you really think that He doesn’t see what you’re doing when you’re sinning? When we sin, we’re all happy because God doesn’t smite us right there and then. Can you imagine how better behaved we would all be, if God just instantly punished us for our sins? You tell a lie, and you get boils. You cheat on your spouse, and you get leprosy. You drive too fast down the road, and you lose your hair. My how different things would be! But God is watching. And He is taking notes. And we aren’t getting away with anything, we only think that we are. The truth is that our God is very patient. He is giving us the chance to repent and to turn our lives around. It is the same chance that He gave to this adulterous woman in the Gospel. The opportunity will NOT last forever.

And also just like with the woman from today’s Gospel, Jesus tells us to go and sin no more. We are not only to be forgiven, but we are to stop our sinning. It could be a very dangerous thing to miss that part of this Gospel. Jesus doesn’t say “I forgive you, now get back out there and start coming up with a list for your next Confession. He calls us all to change. How are you doing with that change? Conversion is a powerful thing. Are you being converted this Lent? If God is going to catch us “red-handed” at anything, may He catch us “red-handed” at changing our lives for the better.

May God bless us during our Fifth Week of Lent, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit… AMEN !!!

St. Maria Goretti… Pray for us !!!