Can you imagine how that woman felt in Sunday's Gospel. She was the one who was dragged before Jesus. She was caught breaking the sixth commandment. Yes, she was just a pawn in the diabolical determination of the scribes and Pharisees to discredit Jesus.
Sunday Readings' Discussion Questions
Fifth Sunday in Lent, Mar. 17, 2013 (5LentC)
From the Center for Liturgy at Saint Louis University
Sunday Readings
Podcast of the Readings
Video of Reflections on Readings
Lecturas y Comentarios
New American Bible
Prayer of the Hours
BQ: What influence does the Pope have on your life?
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Questions on Sunday's Readings for use by discussion groups,
prayer groups, or for individual prayer.
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First Reading
Isaiah 43:16-21
1. Did God take care of the needs of the Israelites at different times on their journey? Or did God say, "See you. You're on your own now," once he got them out of Egypt. Does your answer have meaning for you?
2. God said, "Remember not the things of the past, the things of longs ago, consider not; see, I am doing something new!" What was the "something new" God was talking about? What is the "something new" God gives to us in our day? What does God give to you in your own life?
Responsorial Psalm
Psalm 126: 1-2, 2-3, 4-5, 6
1. Our psalmist speaks of the the Jewish captives being set free and brought back from Babylon. Tell of your own liberation this Lenten season from being captive to sin.
2. The psalm contains a message of hope for us all -- that we shall reap joyfully in the days ahead. Share how you expect to be raised up with the Lord as we approach our Easter celebration.
Second Reading
Philippians 3:8-14
1. Comparatively speaking, what are all your other possessions worth, compared to Christ? How far are you willing to "accept the loss of all things" in order to gain Christ? What helps you accept your own cross?
2. St. Paul says in this reading that he was "forgetting what lies behind." So do you forget what lies behind? Or do you drive down a highway, so to speak, constantly looking in your rearview mirror? Do you "strain forward to see what lies ahead?" What happens to "now" if you are always looking forward or backwards?
Gospel
John 8:1-11
1. What do you think Jesus was writing on the ground with his finger? Why did the people drop their stones and walk away?
2. What do you think the woman felt when Jesus said, "Neither do I condemn you. Go and from now on do not sin any more?" What do you think Jesus thought about law's stoning dictate? What would he think of torturing prisoners?
Sunday Bible Study Group
Please share your thoughts on these Sunday Readings. And please do use these questions for your own Bible study sessions with family and friends.
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“When the Lord restored the captives
ReplyDeleteof Zion, we thought we were dreaming.”
What the Lord did for the Israelites, he does
also for us. The Jews were liberated from
their captivity by the wicked Babylonians,
and we are liberated from the captivity of sin
by that same Lord who sent His Son to save us.
Just as the woman in the Gospel this Sunday
is saved from being stoned to death, Jesus
redeems all of us from our wicked ways.
God takes pleasure in restoring us, as the
psalmist says, and his pleasure is reflected
by the joy in our hearts when we are reconciled
with Him. “Our mouths [are] filled with laughter;
our tongues [sing] with joy.” It may seem like
we are dreaming when we make our own Exodus
from our past lives of disobedience. The future
may be filled with a few of our own “dry stream beds,”
but if we are diligent and sow the seeds of repentance,
we will be rewarded with a bountiful harvest and
as the psalmist says, “we will reap with cries of joy.”
We join with our psalmist who says,
“The Lord has done great things for us,”
because there is good news for us too --
we have the Messiah to lead us in our own
spiritual Exodus, away from slavery to sin,
and put us under the gentle yoke of Christ
our Savior.
This is a message of hope; it is a calling that
is future oriented – Isaiah, in our 1st reading,
says the Lord is doing something new;
St. Paul (2nd reading) says that faith will lead us
to an “upward calling” in Christ, and to the goal
of our own resurrection from the dead.
For a better future we must do our part --
we must sow the seeds in order to gain repentance.
“Those who sow in tears will reap with cries of joy.”
Jesus did not condemn the woman caught in
adultery – she is given a chance to repent and
to pass from death to life. In the same way
a seed dies and produces a harvest – “Those who
go forth weeping, carrying sacks of seed, will return
with cries of joy, carrying their bundled sheaves.”
Amen