We have just been reminded about the episode of the woman
caught in
adultery. It’s a story packed with lessons. Among others, it throws
light on a terrible aspect of our sinful condition, lived even in our
human structures and systems, that continues to afflict us in
increasingly sophisticated ways.
A woman was dragged before Jesus. As sanctioned by the law then, she
ought to be stoned. But Christ knew what was behind the accusers’
actions, and decided to keep quiet and to write something on the
ground instead.
When pressed what to do with the woman, Christ simply said that he
who has no sin may cast the first stone. That was when the accusers
started to leave, beginning with the eldest. At the end Jesus simply
dismissed the woman with the admonition to sin no more.
Christ clearly shows here how we ought to use of our law and other
structures and systems we have in our society. They have to be used
with the proper spirit, that of love and understanding, and not that
of mere revenge, of humiliating someone, or in this particular case,
of testing Jesus to fish something that can be used against him later
on.
We need to be wary of the reasons and real motives behind our
actions, especially those that can affect the lives of many people in
a direct way. Very often, we take these intentions for granted, since
after all they are too personal and intimate that they can hardly be
known by others.
This is where we have to be most guarded. We are our own most
insidious enemy, since we can easily rationalize our own selves,
especially when we choose to be by ourselves rather than be always in
the presence of God, which is the ideal situation we ought to find
ourselves in.
And because we are supposed to be in the presence of God, then we
also ought to be in the presence of others also, since being with God
and loving him necessarily involves being with others and loving them
too. God and others should always be in our mind and heart.
Outside of that orbit, the only possibility left to us is to delude
ourselves into the fantastic thinking that we can be by ourselves, and
then proceed to distort reality and the proper order of things. That’s
when we can start thinking that God cannot be in everything.
And if this trends goes uncorrected, then we can arrive at the
conclusion that there is no God, that everything simply depends on us,
that our sense of righteousness would simply be our own making, not
anymore referred to God or to any external standard or law. We make
ourselves our own law and standard.
This is what is called self-righteousness, a predicament clearly
referred to by St. Paul in his letter to the Philippians. “For his
sake I have accepted the loss of all things and I consider them so
much rubbish,” he said, “that I may gain Christ and be found in him,
not having any righteousness of my own based on the law but that which
comes through faith in Christ...” (3,9-10)
When we succumb to this predicament, then we can prostitute our human
structures and systems. They are supposed to be inspired by God’s law
of love. Instead they become inspired by mere human machinations that
can cleverly cover the workings of pride, vanity, greed, revenge,
lust, etc.
That’s when our legal system, for example, can be manipulated into
legalism to allow the hideous play of wicked human interests while
showing it as an act of justice and benevolence. In this situation, no
justice can truly be given, as those with more power, money,
influence, talent, etc. would have the unfair advantage over the
others.
That legal system then becomes open to the promiscuous tendencies of
human machinations, hitching it to whatever selfish and unfair motives
drive the parties involved. Loyalty and fidelity would disappear from
their vocabulary. We end up adulterous in the use of our laws.
We need to clearly rectify our intentions, constantly referring
things to Christ by closely hewing them to God’s will as expressed in
his commandments, in his teachings which are now authoritatively
taught and handed down to us by the Church. We also need to have
frequent recourse to the sacraments that channel God’s grace to us.
In short, we need to be with God to use our laws and other systems properly.
adultery. It’s a story packed with lessons. Among others, it throws
light on a terrible aspect of our sinful condition, lived even in our
human structures and systems, that continues to afflict us in
increasingly sophisticated ways.
A woman was dragged before Jesus. As sanctioned by the law then, she
ought to be stoned. But Christ knew what was behind the accusers’
actions, and decided to keep quiet and to write something on the
ground instead.
When pressed what to do with the woman, Christ simply said that he
who has no sin may cast the first stone. That was when the accusers
started to leave, beginning with the eldest. At the end Jesus simply
dismissed the woman with the admonition to sin no more.
Christ clearly shows here how we ought to use of our law and other
structures and systems we have in our society. They have to be used
with the proper spirit, that of love and understanding, and not that
of mere revenge, of humiliating someone, or in this particular case,
of testing Jesus to fish something that can be used against him later
on.
We need to be wary of the reasons and real motives behind our
actions, especially those that can affect the lives of many people in
a direct way. Very often, we take these intentions for granted, since
after all they are too personal and intimate that they can hardly be
known by others.
This is where we have to be most guarded. We are our own most
insidious enemy, since we can easily rationalize our own selves,
especially when we choose to be by ourselves rather than be always in
the presence of God, which is the ideal situation we ought to find
ourselves in.
And because we are supposed to be in the presence of God, then we
also ought to be in the presence of others also, since being with God
and loving him necessarily involves being with others and loving them
too. God and others should always be in our mind and heart.
Outside of that orbit, the only possibility left to us is to delude
ourselves into the fantastic thinking that we can be by ourselves, and
then proceed to distort reality and the proper order of things. That’s
when we can start thinking that God cannot be in everything.
And if this trends goes uncorrected, then we can arrive at the
conclusion that there is no God, that everything simply depends on us,
that our sense of righteousness would simply be our own making, not
anymore referred to God or to any external standard or law. We make
ourselves our own law and standard.
This is what is called self-righteousness, a predicament clearly
referred to by St. Paul in his letter to the Philippians. “For his
sake I have accepted the loss of all things and I consider them so
much rubbish,” he said, “that I may gain Christ and be found in him,
not having any righteousness of my own based on the law but that which
comes through faith in Christ...” (3,9-10)
When we succumb to this predicament, then we can prostitute our human
structures and systems. They are supposed to be inspired by God’s law
of love. Instead they become inspired by mere human machinations that
can cleverly cover the workings of pride, vanity, greed, revenge,
lust, etc.
That’s when our legal system, for example, can be manipulated into
legalism to allow the hideous play of wicked human interests while
showing it as an act of justice and benevolence. In this situation, no
justice can truly be given, as those with more power, money,
influence, talent, etc. would have the unfair advantage over the
others.
That legal system then becomes open to the promiscuous tendencies of
human machinations, hitching it to whatever selfish and unfair motives
drive the parties involved. Loyalty and fidelity would disappear from
their vocabulary. We end up adulterous in the use of our laws.
We need to clearly rectify our intentions, constantly referring
things to Christ by closely hewing them to God’s will as expressed in
his commandments, in his teachings which are now authoritatively
taught and handed down to us by the Church. We also need to have
frequent recourse to the sacraments that channel God’s grace to us.
In short, we need to be with God to use our laws and other systems properly.
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