I keep getting messages, through various digital
media, about Amoris Laetitia and the
dissenters are pretty raucous. They
quote the purists, the righteous and the traditionalists. This got me thinking.
The ‘regular’ Catholic (and even most of the
irregular ones) should be familiar with the story of the adulterous woman whom
Jesus saved from stoning.
Let’s go back to that moment for a bit. Jesus was,
at that time, a young Jewish man familiar with Jewish law and all its nuances. He would know very well that the penalty for
adultery was stoning to death. Here were
elders and Jews, steeped in their faith, who brought this woman before
him. Did she deny the charge? No. Was it
a questionable charge? Again, no.
Apparently, the woman’s transgressions were well known. Were the elders
well within their rights to stone her? Technically, yes. Because it was the law
and they observed the law very rigidly.
What did Jesus do?
He did not harangue the woman. He did not conduct a
court of inquiry. He made a simple
statement,’Let he who is without sin cast the first stone’!
While the elders were ‘rooting out’ sin, here was
one who sought mercy for a sinner and offered a second chance.
Jesus was radical for his time. So radical that they
crucified him.
History repeats itself.
