April 6, 2025

Fifth Sunday of Lent Cycle C

Isaiah 43:16-21; Philippians 3:8-14; John 8:1-11

One of the trends recently is for hit movies to come out with what they call a prequel, or the backstory behind the hit movie. In that spirit I want to give you the prequel to our first reading, how Isaiah happened to be saying what he was saying. Here it is in a nutshell.

During the time of Isaiah, the glorious kingdom that King David and King Solomon ruled over was in complete shambles. After Solomon’s death, it had broken into two kingdoms, the northern Kingdom of Israel and the southern Kingdom of Judah. Both kingdoms had horrible kings by and large. The accounts of these kings in the bible in the books of Kings and Chronicles are scathing in their condemnation. In the end, all northern kings, every one of them, and all but three of the southern kings are portrayed as bad, either evil, corrupt, ignorant, or a combination. The northern Kingdom of Israel ceases to exist in the year 720 BC, when they are conquered by the Assyrian Empire. The Assyrians also conquered the southern Kingdom of Judah but allowed it to continue as a puppet state. After the Assyrians fell, the Babylonian Empire took over control of Judah. The Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar replaced one Judean king who caused him trouble with his brother. When the brother continued to rebel, around 589 BC, Nebuchadnezzar then finished the destruction of Jerusalem and exiled everyone of importance to Babylon. There they stayed for 50 years, until Babylonians are themselves conquered and replaced by the Persians, who allow the people of Judah, now called Jews, to return home.

So this is the context for our first reading today. It is from the prophet Isaiah, which has a before and after aspect to it. The book up to chapter 40 are written before the Babylonian Exile and consist of the prophet warning the Kingdom of Judah and her kings to turn back to the ways of the Lord. Along with other prophets, most notably Jeremiah, they condemn the king for spending all of their time trying to get out of paying tribute, of playing politics, of not attending to the worship of God, and, worst of all, allowing pagan practices to be introduced. These prophets said that God will punish these practices, and the Babylonian Exile is seen as the fulfillment of that.

However, starting with chapter 40, Isaiah changes his focus. The exile has occurred, and now Isaiah is speaking to those in Babylonia, and the tone changes from one of warning to one of bringing hope to the people, telling them that God will relent and allow them to go back to their homeland. Today’s First Reading is from this section, chapter 43. The prophet is aiming to bring hope to a people who are facing adversity. And he does this in a curious manner in our reading. He tells them to remember that God has saved them in the past, citing the example of their release from the slavery in Egypt, and then, in the very next sentence, he tells them: “Remember not the events of the past, the things of long ago consider not; see, I am doing something new!” [Isaiah 43:18-19a NABRE]. Telling them in rapid succession to remember and then to remember not might seem to be contradictory. However the command to remember not shouldn't be taken as telling them to forget about it but rather to not dwell on it. Forgetting about it would be inappropriate, since the lessons it might teach would be lost. Not dwelling on it is appropriate since people can be held captive by their past, their own sins or the sins of others perpetrated on them, and therefore cannot receive the hope that Isaiah in the First Reading, Saint Paul in the Second, and Jesus in the Gospel want to provide.

Today’s readings are a call to us here today. This Lent we should draw closer to God by being pilgrims of hope, sharing the hope of Isaiah, Paul, and Jesus. Ignoring our mistakes in the past or injuries that we’ve received would be folly, since they help guide us away from sinning again or allowing people to hurt us. However, they will serve as an anchor if we can’t let them go, and we will not be able to start our pilgrimage to grow and be better. We don’t know the backstory of the woman in the Gospel, only that she was caught in the act of committing sin. We do know that Jesus is careful not to condemn her, does not shame her for her mistakes. But neither does he say that everything is alright, and that she need not change and become better. Jesus is echoing Isaiah, telling her to remember and yet remember not, he wants to do something new with her, something better, something closer to what God calls her to be.

So how do we respond to this message? Is there something from our past that is preventing us from moving forward in some aspect of our lives? Is there something that we cannot forgive ourselves for? Maybe we believe that there is something God will not forgive? Or is there something that we cannot forgive of another, a grievance festering in our mind and soul? Isaiah reminds the Jews and us that God wants to do something new will always forgive us if we come back to him. We have our Lenten penance service this week, and this is a great opportunity to practice what is in the First Reading. We can remember the past long enough to confess it to God, but then we need to leave the confessional and move on from that sin. Remember and then remember not. Isaiah tells the Jewish people in Babylon to put their mistakes behind them and get ready to return to God's promised land. Saint Paul tells the Philippians “Just one thing: forgetting what lies behind but straining forward to what lies ahead” [Philippians 3:13b]. Jesus tells the woman to put her life behind her and sin no more. They are all telling us to do the same.

As we continue with the Mass, may the Eucharist we will receive give us the grace to journey beyond our old selves and, as pilgrims of hope, arrive at a new, better life in Christ. May we all remember, and then remember not. May we have the courage to learn from our mistakes and listen to Jesus as he tells us: “Neither do I condemn you. Go, and from now on do not sin any more” [John 8:11b].