15 March 2027 · Latin Rite
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“Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you. Go your way, and from now on do not sin again.”” John 8:11
The last fortnight of Lent opens with two women on trial. The first is Susanna, from the Greek chapters of Daniel. She is innocent. Two elders, judges of the people, lust after her and trap her alone in her husband's garden: give in, or we will swear we caught you with a young man. Her answer is one of the bravest sentences in the Bible: “I choose not to do it; I will fall into your hands, rather than sin in the sight of the Lord.” The elders keep their threat, the assembly believes them because they are elders, and she is condemned to death. Through her tears she looks up to heaven and prays: “O eternal God, you know what is secret and are aware of all things before they come to be.” The Lord hears her. He stirs up the spirit of a young lad named Daniel, who cries out, “I want no part in shedding this woman's blood!” He separates the two witnesses and asks each a simple question: under what tree? One says a mastic tree, the other an evergreen oak, and the lie collapses. The whole assembly blesses God, “who saves those who hope in him.” The Psalm is Susanna's prayer and ours: even in the darkest valley I fear no evil, for you are with me.
The second woman is guilty. Early in the morning, in the Temple, the scribes and Pharisees set before Jesus a woman caught in adultery: Moses commanded such women to be stoned; “Now what do you say?” It is a trap for him more than a trial for her. Jesus bends down and writes with his finger on the ground. When they press him, he stands and says: “Let anyone among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” Then he writes again. One by one they go away, “beginning with the elders.” St Augustine's famous phrase sums up the scene: two were left, misery and mercy. Jesus does not pretend that sin is nothing. He says both things: “Neither do I condemn you. Go your way, and from now on do not sin again.” Put the two readings side by side and Lent becomes clear. God defends the innocent who trust him, and he lifts up the guilty who come before him. What he will not tolerate is the hard heart that stands ready with a stone. As the crosses are veiled and the Passion draws near, we are invited to drop our stones, to stop judging, and to let Jesus speak to us the word of pardon and of new life.
Theme: “Neither do I condemn you. Go your way, and from now on do not sin again.”
The innocent defended, the guilty forgiven, the stones dropped.
“I choose not to do it; I will fall into your hands, rather than sin in the sight of the Lord.” Daniel 13:23
“Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.” Matthew 10:28
Apply: Where you are under pressure to do wrong, say no today and tell God you trust him with the cost.
“O eternal God, you know what is secret and are aware of all things before they come to be;” Daniel 13:42
“And before him no creature is hidden, but all are naked and laid bare to the eyes of the one to whom we must render an account.” Hebrews 4:13
Apply: Refuse to pass on any story about another person that you have not seen for yourself.
“As I live, says the Lord GOD, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from their ways and live;” Ezekiel 33:11
“Jesus straightened up and said to her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” She said, “No one, sir.” And Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you. Go your way, and from now on do not sin again.”” John 8:10–11
Apply: Go to confession before Holy Week, and leave behind the sin Jesus names in your heart.
God defends those who hope in him and forgives those who come to him.
Only the hard heart with a stone in its hand keeps itself away from mercy.
Take-home resolution: Say no unkind word about anyone this week, and make your Easter confession.
Dear friends, today we meet two women on trial. Susanna is innocent. Two elders, judges of the people, try to force her into sin and threaten to accuse her falsely if she refuses. She answers: I choose not to do it; I will fall into your hands, rather than sin in the sight of the Lord (Daniel 13:23). She would rather lose her life than lose God.
Condemned by a court that believed the elders, she prays: O eternal God, you know what is secret (Daniel 13:42). And God raises up young Daniel, who exposes the lie with one question: under what tree? The assembly blesses God, who saves those who hope in him. God sees, and God defends.
The second woman is guilty. Her accusers want to use her to trap Jesus. He writes on the ground and says: let anyone among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her (John 8:7). They go away, one by one, beginning with the eldest. Only Jesus and the woman remain: misery and mercy, as St Augustine says.
Jesus says: neither do I condemn you. Go your way, and from now on do not sin again (John 8:11). He does not call sin nothing; he gives her a new beginning. This week, as we draw close to the cross, let us drop our stones, go to confession, and hear those same words spoken to us. Amen.
Children, some people wanted to throw stones at a woman who had done wrong. Jesus said: only someone who has never sinned can throw the first stone. Nobody could! Jesus forgave her. Today, instead of saying unkind words about someone, let us say a kind word or a prayer for them.
O God, you defend the innocent who hope in you and you pardon the sinner who turns to you. Give us the courage of Susanna, who chose death rather than sin, and the humility to drop the stones we hold against others. Speak to us your word of mercy, Lord Jesus, and send us on our way to sin no more. Amen.
Two women stand accused in public, and both face death. Susanna has done nothing, and God stirs up a young man to expose the lie told against her. The woman in John’s Gospel has been caught in sin, and Jesus turns the question back on those who accuse her. One story shows God defending the innocent; the other shows him raising up the guilty. As Lent draws toward the Passion, both ask who has the right to condemn. The key words are witness, condemn and sin.
Setting.
The story of Susanna is not found in the Hebrew and Aramaic book of Daniel. It has come down to us in Greek, in two forms, and the Catholic Church receives it as inspired Scripture together with the other deuterocanonical parts of Daniel. The Latin Vulgate places it after the visions, as chapter 13. Some Greek manuscripts put it at the head of the book, since Daniel is still a youth here.
The scene is the Jewish community in exile in Babylon, where honored elders serve as judges. The story is told as a lesson: the fear of God is stronger than the fear of death, and a witness, however respected, must be examined.
Structure.
Key words.
Verse by verse.
“I choose not to do it; I will fall into your hands, rather than sin in the sight of the Lord.” (13:23)
She sees both roads clearly, and neither leads to safety. What decides it is not the danger but the presence of God: “in the sight of the Lord”. The two judges, by contrast, “turned away their eyes from looking to Heaven” (13:9).
“O eternal God, you know what is secret and are aware of all things before they come to be;” (13:42)
No one in the assembly believes her, so she speaks to the one Judge who saw. The prayer is short and asks nothing for herself except what is true.
“The Lord heard her cry.” (13:44)
A very short sentence, and the story turns on it. God’s answer comes in a human voice, through a young man who will not stay silent.
“Are you such fools, O Israelites, as to condemn a daughter of Israel without examination and without learning the facts?” (13:48)
Daniel does not attack the law of Moses. He asks that it be kept. The law itself requires judges to make a careful inquiry into witnesses (Deuteronomy 19:18).
“Thus innocent blood was spared that day.” (13:62)
The two judges receive what they planned for her, as Deuteronomy 19:19 lays down for a false witness. The story reflects the law of its time. The Church today teaches, in the light of the Gospel, that the death penalty is inadmissible (CCC 2267).
How the Church reads it.
St Hippolytus of Rome, in his commentary on Daniel, read Susanna as a figure of the Church, slandered yet kept by God (in substance). Her story is painted in the Roman catacombs, and the Church’s old prayers for the dying ask God to deliver the soul as he delivered Susanna from a false charge. The Catechism names false witness as a grave offense, because it leads to the condemnation of the innocent (CCC 2476). That teaching reaches every courtroom, and every conversation in which a reputation is at stake.
Setting.
Jesus is teaching in the Temple at dawn, soon after the festival of Booths (7:2), with the people gathered around him.
A note on the text. This passage is missing from the oldest Greek manuscripts of John, and some later manuscripts place it elsewhere, even in Luke. Many scholars think it is an ancient memory of Jesus that entered the Gospel text later. St Jerome kept it in the Vulgate, and St Augustine suspected that some had removed it for fear that it would seem to excuse adultery (in substance). The Church receives it as inspired Scripture and as a true part of the Gospel.
Structure.
Key words.
Verse by verse.
“Now in the law Moses commanded us to stone such women.” (8:5)
The law they cite names both partners: “both the adulterer and the adulteress shall be put to death” (Leviticus 20:10; compare Deuteronomy 22:22). Where the man has gone, the text does not say. Many scholars note that under Roman rule the death sentence was not in their hands (compare 18:31), and this would explain the trap: “stone her” sets Jesus against Rome, “let her go” sets him against Moses.
“Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground.” (8:6)
The Gospel does not say what he wrote, and we should not claim to know. St Jerome suggested that he wrote the sins of the accusers (in substance). Some connect it with Jeremiah 17:13, where the Hebrew speaks of those who turn from God as written in the earth (the NRSV has “recorded in the underworld”).
“Let anyone among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” (8:7)
The law had the witnesses throw first (Deuteronomy 17:7). Jesus does not set the law aside, nor does he call the woman innocent. He places the judges in the same light as the accused.
“Neither do I condemn you. Go your way, and from now on do not sin again.” (8:11)
The two halves belong together. Mercy comes first and opens the way; the new life is what mercy is for. The one person there who was without sin is the one who does not throw.
How the Church reads it.
St Augustine, preaching on this scene, says that only two remained, misera et misericordia, misery and mercy. Pope Francis took those words as the title of his apostolic letter at the close of the Year of Mercy in 2016. The Catechism calls the Gospel the revelation in Jesus Christ of God’s mercy to sinners (CCC 1846). The passage is a good one to pray before going to confession.
Does Jesus make light of adultery?
No. He calls it sin (“do not sin again”), and the Church teaches that it does grave injury to the marriage bond and to justice (CCC 2380–2381). What he refuses is to let a sin be used as a weapon by those who ignore their own.