Mass readings for the 5th Sunday in Lent:
Isaiah 43.16-21 Psalm 126.1-6 Philippians 3.8-14 John 8.1-11
In the latter weeks of Lent, we celebrate Scrutiny masses for those preparing for baptism at the Easter Vigil. These are at 11 o’clock Sundays. At those masses, we pray over these folks, and for the Liturgy of the Word, have different readings; I read a different gospel, prepare a separate homily because the theme of the scrutiny is different from that of the regular Lenten mass.
However, this week, in reviewing the scriptures for both masses, it struck me they had a lot in common. So, this week, everyone hears the same thing.
Now the gospel for the regular mass is a famous one: it’s the woman caught in adultery. Jesus rescues her from being stoned to death; that was by law the prescribed punishment. He says, and we all know this line, “let he who is without sin cast the first stone…” And then at the conclusion, he tells the woman who finds no one to accuse her to “Go, and sin no more.”
The scrutiny mass has the story of the raising of Lazarus. Again, very well-known. We remember Lazarus was a good friend to Jesus; by the time Jesus gets at Bethany, he’s been dead three days. Lazarus’ sister Martha warns Jesus who wants to see his friend, that he has begun to decompose, there’s a stench coming from the tomb!
So, in these stories we have our Lord confronting the great weapons of our enemy, employed to pull us away from God: sin and death. We are tempted by sin, and pride brings us to it; we fear death, and lack confidence in God’s promises. In both stories, the circumstances are such for those who witnessed the events, they can see no way Jesus could affect a rescue. And yet, he does. That should give us all tremendous hope.
For the woman caught in adultery, the law is the law, and penalty is harsh. Today we find it repellant that a person would be stoned to death for yielding to sexual temptation. The sin of adultery in the ancient world was very serious. To tolerate it was highly corrosive to community cohesion. It’s the betrayals involved in adultery, the jealousy and enmity that then grows up between men and women, men and men, women and women wherever it occurs, and how it brings a community to crisis that make it a real threat. This was plain to every civilization of that time, and so, had to be stopped for the sake of the community – notwithstanding, the harshness of the penalty, one understands the fear of it.
With regard to death; we all know the sense of its terrible finality. Whatever we may wish in our reaching our loved ones, to reconcile, assure them of our love, and so on, we are divided from them by death and can’t reach them. Yet in the story of Lazarus, we see that God is the god of the both the living and the dead. Jesus pulls his friend back from death, and gives us a preview of the resurrection, although this is not the great resurrection to eternal life but a provisional one afforded to Lazarus – nonetheless, it’s meant to remind us that Christ is the Resurrection, and that death does not have the last word for those who are God’s friends.
What had my making a connection between these was not so much that there is a hopeful message for us as individuals, as much as that is true. No, I was reflecting on the state of the world, our western civilization, our national community, of our Church as a worldwide communion, a diocese and a parish. There is a lot to trouble us. A few weeks ago, I shared the comment of an orthodox theologian that western civilization was, indeed, dead, we just haven’t realized it. And we can find lots of commentary on the degeneration of our society as it indulges a culture of self-destruction through sin; and much of that sin has been rebranded as virtue, as justice, mercy, even love, but in this, we have confusion and chaos.
As St. Paul famously wrote, “Sin leads to death.” Of course, St. Paul went on to say, “but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 6.23) And in that our hope lies for our communities, our churches, our children and our own future.
That’s why it is so important that, with respect to those who will be coming to the font on Easter night, those who will be confirmed, that they know that we are not simply a gathering of vaguely religious people with a few convictions around some social issues that run counter to current secular fashion. Rather we are Christ in the world working to restore life, and reconcile a lost people to the loving God who wants us to flourish.
This is work that affects individuals, but the effect goes beyond particular persons to change the world around us – a world that corrupts those who give themselves to it.
Today we are asked by the Church to consider this fallen world within the context of the Share Lent appeal; to remember those who live in less favored conditions than ours. We should note the theme of the campaign: Turn Debt into Hope.
While St. Paul wrote that the wages of sin is death, Jesus doesn’t speak of the consequences of sin in terms of a wage to be paid, but rather as a debt incurred against justice that must be settled. He doesn’t make debt and sin strictly equivalent. We know that debt can serve a good purpose; the financial industry does its good work when it provides financing, that is, debt, that facilitates investments that make for good jobs, well-built homes, community infrastructure, etc. Jesus tells us to lend to people. However, debt can easily be turned from a good to an evil. It can be a sin against God and our neighbor. It can kill as a collapsing economy fails to provide safety, security, food and shelter.
The late Pope Benedict XVI in his book, Light of the World, identifies high levels of both individual and national debt as grave moral disorders. And many an economist is lamenting the state of the world economy of the past twenty years as one transformed for the worse by what they call “financialization.” This is where economic priorities are set, not by the need for production, transportation, housing, employment, and so on, but are geared toward the sale and trade in debt. This is caused by governments spending beyond their means; but also, private banks and business looking to fuel consumption through easy credit and so boost numbers in the short term, and kick the can of problematic debt down the road. It’s a mindset that is pushed on nations that simply can’t afford to gamble as rich western countries were inclined to do in recent years. Poor countries, encouraged to take on debt, are drowning in it; and rich nations are seeing their own economies hollowed out by debt that cannot be repaid. The U.S. has a public debt of $29 trillion; then there’s its private debt and its consumer debt (e.g. Canadians household debt stands at close to 200 percent of disposable income). The same situation prevails in every country to a greater or slightly lesser extent.
A theological analysis of what’s been going on would find lies and manipulations, false promises and willful ignorance behind so much of the global economic system, and so, judge it as sinful.
British scholar and expert on management, Stafford Beer gave us this pithy aphorism: “The purpose of a system is what it does.” In defense of his assertion, he further observed there is “no point in claiming that the purpose of a system is to do what it constantly fails to do”.
This does not invalidate free enterprise, or private property, or the idea of finance, (indeed, the Church teaches all of these are permitted, and in principle, good if exercised within a Christian moral ethos) but it does tell us that it is indefensible to assert that because the stated goal of our current global economic system is abundance it can’t be changed when that leaves only a few most everything, and the majority holding the debt. We should look at it and ask, what is it actually doing? When we look at how this has negatively affected are working class here in Canada, and throughout the western world we must ask questions. Good jobs have become scarcer, and attaining a decent lifestyle has meant a combination of overwork at multiple jobs and growing credit card debt for many, while there is a disturbing growth in an underclass of homeless unemployed. We can see on the international level how the poor of the developing world are exploited for resources, paid pennies to extract rare earth minerals at great risk to life and health, how their corrupt and dysfunctional governments do nothing to protect them.
And so, we can read quite a bit, listen to any number of world leaders and other experts speak of a need to reset things. We can understand what’s going on right now as just such an attempt; and we’re all rightly anxious about it. What Christ shows us is that the reset of us as individuals and as a global society can only be truly found in him. But have we the faith to turn from sin? Can we believe that Christ can raise up a civilization grown morbid?
The message is that he can; and will, but as it is the case with the adulterous woman, or the dead Lazarus, it starts with heeding Jesus, to get up and go from a place of sin and death, and sin no more and to live in Christ. To order our lives and our societies toward virtue, and remember that whether a priest or a prime minister, a bishop or a banker, we all have a vocation to that end. But we get too little of that from our leaders, just promises to give us more of what we really can’t pay for; or are unwilling to sacrifice for, and so, it is added to a debt that crushes the least among us, robs opportunity from most, but preserves the power of a precious and privileged few.
This parish, as with the whole of the Church, has a mission in the coming days to rebuild community. Maybe that starts with simply offering fellowship and hospitality to those around us, to have a parish supper that gives a family an affordable evening out. We can offer good company and a willingness to share in their struggle but also lift them up to a newfound joy. We can guide those around us into virtue by our example, but also by active teaching. We can do that by the grace of God’s mercy and forgiveness for us and for all; and in relying on the power of the resurrection.
Amen.