<p><em>The statement Old habits die hard dates back at least to 1758 and an article in The London Chronicle by Benjamin Franklin. But the truth behind the truism that people get stuck in patterns of behavior has been around much longer than that. This weeks passage from Isaiah dates from the 6th century BCE and it refers to Gods action to get the people of Israel unstuck. Isaiah seems to understand doing something new as a particularly divine act. Perhaps that is because so much of what we humans have been doing over and over again shows our tribalism our misogyny and our fear of the Other all traits laid bare in todays gospel. In this light the season of Lent becomes a 40-day exercise in trying something new in persistent attempts to break the habitual ways of thinking and acting that keep us separate from one another.</em></p><div class=oldwebkit>&nbsp;</div><div class=oldwebkit><p><strong>April 3 2022: Fifth Sunday of Lent</strong></p><p>Isaiah 43:16-21</p><p>Psalm 126:1-2 2-3 4-5 6</p><p>Philippians 3:8-14</p><p>John 8:1-11</p><p></p><h3><strong>The Key Ingredient to Lent: Something New</strong></h3><p><em>A reflection by Richard P. Young</em></p><p></p><p>My husband likes to watch The Food Network.&nbsp; Occasionally we will see a cooking competition that really tests the creativity of the contestants.&nbsp; You may hear the host say something like this: chefs you have one hour to come up with a dessert that incorporates an ingredient that you cant imagine would ever go with a dessert.&nbsp; Your ingredients ispepperoni!&nbsp; What?!&nbsp; In a dessert?!&nbsp; Sometimes a preacher looks at the readings for a particular Sunday and feels like he or she has been given a big slab of pepperoni: just try coming up with a homily using this passage.&nbsp; Well todays readings are not THAT challenging but we do have a problem reading today a problem ingredient if you will and another one that is fairly simple.&nbsp;</p><p>First the easy one from Isaiah.&nbsp; It was written to give encouragement to Israels exiles in Babylon.&nbsp; They really needed encouragement.&nbsp; They were stuck there far from home and they felt as though God had abandoned them.&nbsp; The prophet channeling God reminds them of the story of the exodus when their ancestors were stuck in Egypt enslaved by Pharaoh.&nbsp; Gods people were rescued then and it could happen again.&nbsp; But Isaiah tells the exiles dont just think about the past; think about now the new thing that God is doing for you now.&nbsp; See I am doing something new.&nbsp; Do you not perceive it?&nbsp; In the desert I make a way for you a way that will get you un-stuck.&nbsp;</p><p>Now about that problem passage: the gospel reading.&nbsp; Its a problem for at least a couple of reasons.&nbsp; First whats it doing in Johns gospel?&nbsp; The story is not in the earliest manuscripts of the gospel.&nbsp; Scholars almost universally agree that it was composed by someone other than John or one of his associates.&nbsp; Some speculate it may have been written by Luke and they did a little word processing a cut copy and paste and presto! &nbsp;Now its John 8: 1-11.&nbsp; Thematically and linguistically it just doesnt fit well with the rest of Johns gospel and whoever edited the gospel to include this passage clearly had an agenda which I will mention shortly.&nbsp;</p><p>But the more glaring problem with this ingredient is one that has us asking not whats it doing in Johns gospel but whats it doing in our lectionary?&nbsp; To hear this passage is to be reminded of the gross inequality the insane patriarchy the ugly misogyny of biblical times.&nbsp; Of course not just biblical times a lot of that goes on these days as well.&nbsp; Its a hard passage to hear even though an inclusive language lectionary makes a noble attempt to clean it up acknowledging that there was also a man involved in the adultery but his male privilege protected him from any consequences.&nbsp; It is hard to stomach this story of sexism and humiliation and shame and most of us can probably understand the argument that it should just be stricken from the lectionary if not from the Bible altogether.&nbsp;</p><p>Outside of Jesus the men in the story dont give a damn about the woman.&nbsp; She is a prop exhibit A in a legal argument the purpose of which was to trap Jesus.&nbsp; They had no authority to condemn someone to death; only the Roman occupiers could do that.&nbsp; But Moses Law says she is to be stoned.&nbsp; Jesus is asked what should be done.&nbsp; If he says Let her go they could say he has no respect for religious law.&nbsp; If he says Let her be stoned they could say he doesnt care about Roman law or even his own teachings about forgiveness.&nbsp; What to do?&nbsp; He does what any of us would do when stuck between a rock and a hard place.&nbsp; He stalls for time.&nbsp; Jesus stoops down and traces something in the dirt although the storys author doesnt tell us what.&nbsp; Heres my theory: Jesus was making a list of all the things that were wrong about this situation: the insensitivity and cruelty of the womans accusers their failure to see her as a child of God their rude interruption of Jesus teaching their fake outrage at the violation of Jewish law their lack of compassion their hardness of heart.&nbsp; Perhaps to Jesus her transgression seemed minor compared with all of that. Perhaps it was just such a list that made Jesus realize that everyone there needed to get un-stuck so he turned his attention to the crowd and called them to a fuller and deeper humanity.&nbsp; Look at my list he might have said.&nbsp; If you can honestly say that you always avoid these unloving attitudes then heres a rock; go to it.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</p><p>Our nation our world has an ugly history.&nbsp; It hasnt all been ugly of course but its hard not to get a bit depressed when you study it.&nbsp; We have a history of brutal exploitation of people who are not well-off white heterosexual and male.&nbsp; We havent been able to go very long between wars sometimes conducting more than one at a time.&nbsp; The last century was by far the bloodiest ever.&nbsp; Greed has fueled our interference in other countries. &nbsp;There have also always been powerful people who have behaved as if they could harm the environment without paying an awful price. Thats our heritage.&nbsp; It is what it is and in many ways it continues to this day.&nbsp; So we know that if we dont honestly look at what Jesus may have written in the dust if we dont assess our historic contribution to the worlds pain we wont get un-stuck. We will continue throwing stones and miss out on a richer and more fulfilling life.&nbsp; Our history including our Biblical history exposes our frequent lack of compassion. &nbsp;The stories that remind us of that need to be told!&nbsp; As hard as they are to hear they need to be told.&nbsp; Its like the need to keep telling the story of the Holocaust as well as the story of our own enslavement of human beings from Africa. I remember years ago seeing Schindlers List.&nbsp; It was disturbing beyond words.&nbsp; I never want to see it again but its good that I did.&nbsp;</p><p>I mentioned earlier about an agenda that the author of todays gospel story might have had.&nbsp; To understand that agenda a question that is always good to ask is this: what is it about Jesus that inspired the writing of this story?&nbsp; Im thinking that this person may have been pondering the Isaiah passage that we heard where God says I am doing something new.&nbsp; Do you not perceive it?&nbsp; Perhaps the author is telling us how Jesus embodies that something new.&nbsp; Christ as the Eternal Word as humanitys light a light that shines in the darkness a light no darkness can extinguish all descriptions of the Christ that are in the prologue to Johns gospel. As all of that Christ is the new thing that God is doing.&nbsp; Jesus the Christ is the one who breaks down barriers between male and female rich and poor old and young.&nbsp; The Christ is the new thing of God that expands our consciousness and teaches us to see beyond nationality or ethnicity or religion or sex or sexual orientation or gender identity the new thing that moves us beyond the limits of religious law or civil law or custom and makes us instead move toward building a morality based on compassion.&nbsp; Our gospel story today with all the old ugliness it exposes presents a contrast with the Christ the new thing that refuses to condemn that disarms the rock-throwers that brings us home from spiritual exile that gets the stuck unstuck that makes a way for us through the desert of our darkness and shame.&nbsp; That as I see it is the agenda of our mystery author.&nbsp;</p><p>God says through Isaiah See I am doing something new and then asks Do you not perceive it?&nbsp; Sadly the answer too often is no we dont.&nbsp; A problem with Christians is that we fail so often to see the newness inspired by the one after whom we are named and whose Spirit is within us.&nbsp; The gospel stories and sayings which can stir the imagination are often seen as just too old and familiar to move us to create our own Good News.&nbsp; The truth is whenever violence is avoided in the name of Christ thats something new.&nbsp; When I refuse to pick up a stone and condemn someone thats something new.&nbsp; Each time love and compassion triumph over misogyny or racism or heterosexism thats something new.&nbsp; When grudges are let go of when kindness is preferred over the demands of the law when people fighting depression anxiety addiction are given support even when theyre a huge pain in the butt thats something new.&nbsp; When renewable energy is chosen over fossil fuels when even the smallest step is taken to reduce ones carbon footprint thats something new.&nbsp; There is always newness glorious newness when in the name of Christ Gods people drop their stones and choose justice and love and peace.&nbsp; All are therefore rendered a little less stuck in ways that are old and selfish.</p><p>Lent as I see it is a time to sharpen our perception so that the newness that God does through Christ does not pass us by.&nbsp; Do you not perceive it?&nbsp; What newness are you are encountering or doing during this season of renewal?</p></div><div class=oldwebkit>&nbsp;</div><div class=mobile-full><img class=mobile-full src=https://www.dignityusa.org/sites/default/files/civicrm/persist/contribute/images/uploads/static/botsrichardyoung_1_a85aff17ab9b33cd626469e07030c3c1_9ca7a8f46d638af35a7c81c14c81707f.png alt= width=166 vspace=0 hspace=0></div><p><strong>Rev. Richard P. Young</strong>&nbsp;is a retired Catholic priest and mental health counselor. He co-chairs the Social Justice Committee of Dignity/Daytons Living Beatitudes Community and has worked with several Dignity chapters since the late 70s.</p><p>He once served for a term on the national board of DignityUSA and has attended all the national conventions/conferences since 1981. He is married to DignityUSAs national secretary Bob Butts.</p>