The Pawn

The Pawn
April 6, 2025    5th Sunday Lent – C
by Dcn. Bob Bonomi    

Have you ever played Chess? When I was very young, my dad taught me how to play. In order to keep me from being discouraged, though, he would play without his queen. He would still beat me, of course, but it helped prolong the game and taught me the value of strategy, and to look ahead at the bigger picture - the consequences of my actions. And it taught me that the value of sacrifice was sometimes necessary.

Of course, once I reached a point where I could beat him, he brought his queen back into the game.  

Today's gospel is often referred to as A Woman Caught in Adultery. but it might have been better called, The Pawn in a Game of Chess."

It follows the strategic moves by the scribes and Pharisees as they try to capture Jesus.  They are angry and afraid of Jesus as he confronts and disputes their teaching, and he backs up his words with his many miraculous signs such as the multiplication of the loaves and walking on water.  It follows his Bread of Life discourse and the increasing attempts by the authorities to capture and kill him.  They need to discredit Jesus and destroy his popularity among the people, so that they can execute him without turning the people against themselves.

You see, today's gospel isn't about the woman.  She is merely a pawn.  According to Jewish law, those caught in adultery were to be stoned as specified in Deuteronomy 22:20-24 and Leviticus 20:10. She was dragged through the streets by the Jewish authorities and placed on “trial” before Jesus.  She no doubt was humiliated, and more than a little scared – probably terrified.  The irony is that rarely was stoning used in similar situations at that time.  And where’s the man who was with her? According to the law, both were to be stoned.

And so, this Gospel isn’t about a woman’s sin and potential punishment, but about the use of bullying and intimidation to get something done.  Face it, I’ll bet that just about everyone here – young AND old – has been bullied or intimidated at some time in our life for the things we have done or not done.  It happens every day to the young people in our schools; and it happens every day to adults in the workplace.  Forced to do something because someone doesn’t like you?  Put down because you aren’t as handsome or cute or strong or smart or … whatever?    Harassed?  Bossed about at work?  How about pressured just because your beliefs differ from someone else’s?  You get the picture.  As we get older, we think that we can deal with bullying better but it never goes away.  It only changes form.

Or maybe, just maybe, we ourselves are the bully.  I know that while there have been many times in my life that I’ve been bullied and afraid, to be honest, there have been times when I’ve been the bully.  It is easy to be intimidating when you don’t like or approve of someone and you’re convinced you are in the right.

In this story, however, while the young woman was bullied and threatened by the scribes and Pharisees, Jesus was their real target.  Again, the woman was a mere pawn in their efforts to trap Jesus – to pressure him into saying or doing something that they could turn against him.  For the threat of taking a life by stoning WAS real – as witnessed to by Paul, who was stoned for professing Christ crucified (and survived), and Stephen the deacon, the first martyr, who was stoned for witnessing to the Gospel (and died).

Like a good chess game, the pieces have been moved strategically around the board in order to trap the King. And the pawn was to be sacrificed in order to position the more powerful pieces for success.

But Jesus does a curious thing.  He doesn’t disagree with the scribes and Pharisees; he doesn’t protest the cruelty of the proposed sentence; he doesn’t even engage them in a discussion about the validity of their interpretation of the law as he had done elsewhere.  He refuses to be drawn into the confrontation and instead merely states that the person who was without sin should throw the first stone.

Think about it.  In the Law of Moses as given in Deuteronomy 17:7, it was the witnesses to the sin who were to cast the first stone.  But Jesus, in directing that a person among the crowd be without sin to throw the stone, places the burden on the elders.

These leaders of the community had to be afraid that, should one of them pick up a stone, Jesus would reveal THEIR sins to all present.  After all, after listening to Jesus preach, they had to know that he could – somehow – find out about something they had done.  Maybe their own adultery?  One by one, they all go away.

Then Jesus turns to the woman.  I think we tend to forget that the woman WAS guilty of the crime she was accused of, and probably still afraid.  But Jesus neither condemns her nor condones her sin.  He merely commands her to “not sin any more.”  He responds to her with mercy.  In fact, by allowing the scribes and Pharisees to leave without a confrontation, Jesus has responded to them with mercy as well.

So, how should we respond when we are bullied or intimidated?  Are we afraid and allow someone to bully us because of something we have said or done? How do we overcome the fear or the sense of helplessness we feel when we are put on the spot?

In other words, whether we are bullied or are the bully, how do we respond “with mercy”?

This echoes through my mind as I've been watching closely the ongoing moves by the various world powers in order to gain advantages on the world chess board. And it is those very people that Jesus came to save - the poor, the elderly, the widow and homeless that are the pawns in this game that is unfolding before or eyes.

But unlike a game of chess where there are only two players, we all have a part in this game - as either the knight or the rook, the bishop – or the pawn.  And while we are often manipulated by unseen hands, we still possess the gift of free will from God in order to make our own moves - even if for sacrifice, to protect our King, Jesus Christ.

I think we may have been given some guidance by Pope Francis on how to face our challenges shortly after his election as pope in 2013.  In his first homily in the Sistine Chapel, Pope Francis asked that he would like all of us to have the courage to walk in the presence of the Lord, with the Cross of the Lord.  “Walk in the presence of the Lord, with the Cross of the Lord.”  What does that mean?  

That may mean standing up to those who threaten us, but not in a violent or confrontational manner.  It may mean being rejected, or worse, to suffer the Cross of Christ through the loss of so-called friends, of jobs, or, in many parts of the world today, even our lives.  In other words, it won’t always be easy, but as Pope Francis said in that first homily, his hope for all of us “is that the Holy Spirit, that the prayer of Our Lady, our Mother Mary, might grant us this grace: to walk, to build, to profess Jesus Christ Crucified.”  And, like Jesus, we ask for the grace to do it all with charity and mercy to others, even those who accuse or bully us.  For we WILL be bullied, intimidated, and persecuted for our faith.  

And yet, if we profess Christ without the Cross – if we don’t accept it and try to walk without it then we are not true disciples of the Lord.  Let us, then, be brave, be strong, be merciful – but most of all, let us continue to grow in faith and trust in our Lord, Jesus Christ.  Jesus, I trust in You.