5th sunday of lent C version 2

There was a certain bishop who loved to play golf. He carried his golf bag in the trunk of his car,
always ready to get out on the course should the opportunity arise. One year, when Spring rolled
around, he announced that he would make the supreme sacrifice: no golf during Lent. He did well for
two weeks, resisting every temptation to open that car trunk. But one bright sunny morning as he rode
past a beautiful golf course he wavered. "I'll just hit a few practice swings," he said to himself. But
when he got out on the turf, he was lost. He played the entire 18 holes. Unfortunately for him,
however, a heavenly angel was watching. The angel reported to St. Peter, "Look down there, the
bishop is playing golf. He's breaking his Lenten promise. He must be punished! Shall I strike him dead
with a lightening bolt?" St. Peter replied, "No. That's being too easy on him. I'll punish him more
severely." The bishop was then on the last tee. It was a difficult hole to play, 450 yards long. The
bishop swung and hit an amazing drive. The ball hit the green and rolled into the cup: a hole in one.
"Look at that," the angel cried, "a 450-yard hole in one. Do you call that punishment?" To which St.
Peter replied, "For a golfer that is the greatest punishment possible. The bishop has just hit the most
spectacular shot in golf history, and he can't tell anyone about it."
In today's Gospel, a group of scribes and Pharisees are determined to mete out the strongest
possible punishment under the law -- death by stoning -- to a woman who has been caught committing
adultery. Actually, they want to use the incident to entrap Jesus. "Teacher," they say to Him, "this
woman has been caught in the act of adultery. In the law, Moses ordered such women to be stoned.
What do You say about the case?" (Jn. 8:4-5). They perceive that Jesus would call for mercy, in which
case they would accuse Him of flaunting the law. Jesus replies, "Let the man among you who has no
sin be the first to cast a stone at her" (Jn. 8:7). Hearing this, "the audience drifted away, one by one,
beginning with the elders," John tells us (Jn. 8:9).
There are several Gospel episodes in which Jesus' adversaries try to create a situation in which they can
use His words and deeds against Him. There also are Gospel episodes in which Jesus' friends use His
words and deeds against Him. In the third chapter of Mark, Jesus has begun to attract a large following.
"He had healed so many," Mark tells us, "that all who had diseases pressed in upon Him" (Mk. 3:10).
Because of the crush, Jesus tells His disciples to have a boat ready for Him so that He might withdraw
in safety. Away from the crowds now, He goes about enlisting twelve men into His ministry. He tells
them to drop everything in order to involve themselves completely in His service. "Then," Mark says
simply, "He went home" (Mk. 3:19). There the crowds catch up with Him. Seeing all the commotion,
His friends begin to spread the word: "He is beside Himself" (Mk. 3:21). In other words, "He is a mad
man. He's crazy." On another occasion, Jesus comes to Nazareth, "the town where He was brought up"
(Lk. 4:16). As was His custom on the sabbath day, He entered the synagogue to read the Scripture and
to preach. He opened the book and found the place where it was written,
The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach Good News to the poor. He
has sent Me to proclaim release to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty
those who are oppressed ... (Lk. 4:18).
Jesus "closed the book, and gave it back to the attendant ... and He began to say to them, 'Today this
Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.' And all spoke well of Him and wondered at the gracious
words that proceeded out of His mouth" (Lk. 4:21-22). Then Jesus began to apply the lesson to His
friends and neighbors sitting before Him and, suddenly, His words no longer sounded gracious to them.
They became hostile because He was telling them that God's Love extended to all peoples -- even their
enemies. Suddenly, Jesus was a prophet without honor in His own home town. The towns-people were
"filled with wrath." "They rose up and led Him to the brow of the hill on which their city was built, that
they might throw Him down headlong" (Lk. 4:28). In other words, they tried to lynch Him. John's
Gospel tells us that after Jesus had preached the parable of the Good Shepherd, many of His own
people decided that He was possessed by a devil. "He is out of His mind," they said, "Why pay any
attention to Him anymore?"
Mohandas Gandhi dedicated his adult life to the cause of peace and brotherhood. He traveled the length
and breadth of India, living among the poor, proclaiming release to the captives and liberty to the
oppressed. He labored incessantly to convince his people that it was the truth, not violence, that would
make them free. He struggled valiantly to stop the bloody confrontations between his people and the
British military power. He struggled valiantly to stop the bloody religious conflict between the Hindu
majority (of which he himself was a member) and the Moslem minority. He struggled valiantly to heal
and to reconcile through non-violence. He did not submit passively to injustice. Day in and day out, he
denounced it. But always he confronted the unjust in love. Not the sword, but love was his weapon.
In the motion picture "Gandhi," there is a moving scene at Ghandi's bedside where he lays nearly dead
from fasting. He had undertaken the fast in part as a protest against the civil war between the Hindus
and the Moslems, which was growing in intensity. He had said that he would fast until it killed him
unless the fighting stopped. Reports begin to drift in that the violence is subsiding. His closest friends
encourage him to stop the fast, but Gandhi refuses. He says he would end the fast only when he is
convinced that all the violence is ended. As the scene unfolds, one of the Hindu fighters rushes into
Gandhi's room. He throws a piece of bread on the bed. His voice is filled with anguish as he cries out,
"Eat! Eat! I am going to hell." Gandhi replies softly, "Only God decides who is going to hell." The
distraught man says, "I killed a child. I smashed his head against a wall." "Why?" Gandhi asks gently.
Sobbing, the man answers, "They killed my son. My boy. The Moslems killed my son." To which,
Gandhi replies, "I know a way out of hell. Find a child, a child whose mother and father have been
killed. A little boy. And raise him as your own. Only be sure that he is a Moslem and that you raise
him as one."
The avenging Hindu was not "going to hell" as he told Gandhi. He already was in hell. Whenever we
refuse to let God be God, we create our own living hell. Whenever we try to exercise God's
prerogatives, we close ourselves off from the abundant life Jesus offers us. Whenever we pronounce
judgment on another in an ultimate, vengeful, unforgiving way, we have been conquered by evil.
If we get serious about following Jesus, what will people think? Will they think of us as they thought
of Jesus? Will they think we've gone bananas? Jesus has told us to be prepared for that response when
we take up our cross daily and follow Him. And Paul wrote, "We are fools for Christ ... When reviled,
we bless; when persecuted, we endure; when slandered, we try to conciliate" (1 Cor. 4:10, 12-13).
Forgive? Endure? Conciliate? "Don't be a fool!" people will say.
"Don't be a fool, Gandhi!" Immediately after Gandhi has given the avenging Hindu his way out of hell,
the scene shifts. Gandhi has left his bed of fasting and is once more out among the people. And as the
crowd presses in upon him, he is killed by an assassin's bullet.
"Don't be a fool, Jesus!" Live up to our expectations. You've got charisma. We can strike down our
enemies with You as our leader." But Jesus makes it clear that the Father has a better idea. And in the
closing scene of His life, Jesus shows us the way out of our living hell: "Father, forgive them" (Lk.
23:34). Our calling is to partake in the madness of a compassionate, reconciling, forgiving heart. Jesus
has given the world the way out of its living hell. Follow Him!
God Bless you all!