Sunday, April 2, 2017

5th Week of Lent, Monday, 03-04-17

Daniel 13:1-9, 15-17, 19-30, 33-62 / John 8:1-11

Whenever the law is broken, the offenders are brought to justice and punishment will be meted out.

It is as straight-forward as that, and in the normal run of things, that is how it should happen.

But what if when it does not happen that way? And that was what happened to Susanna in the 1st reading.

The two men, elders of the people, and selected to be judges, men who were supposed to keep and uphold the law, had conspired between themselves to take advantage of Susanna, and when they couldn't, they resorted to false evidence to condemn her to death.

Susanna cried out to God for help and the Lord intervened through Daniel and eventually justice was done.

But it was a different scenario in the gospel. The woman caught in adultery was brought before Jesus for judgement. She had nothing to plead for and could only wait for punishment.

As much as Susanna was innocent and the woman was guilty, in the end justice was done for both.

God came to the help of Susanna to vindicate her and God also came to the help of the woman to save her life so as to give her another chance to repent.

Whenever injustice is done to us, we need to have recourse to the law but we also must cry out to God to save us from the injustice.

But when we demand for justice, let us also remember that God is merciful and compassionate.

The justice of God also calls out to sinners to repent. May we not throw stones at others when they commit injustice but let us plead to God for their conversion and repentance.