The Great Fixer-Upper

From the Catholic Liturgy for the 5^th Sunday of Lent, April 7, 2019. Gospel: John 8:1-11. Theme: The Great Fixer-Upper

I have to confess that I am an ardent viewer of the home improvement shows that are so popular these days. The designers and carpenters are amazing fixer-uppers who have a real gift of being able to look beyond the mess and destruction of a run-down house and seeing its possibilities. I enjoy watching the various stages of renovation that result in the same old bones of a building being totally transformed into the best version of what it can be!

And you know, it dawned on me that we can also look at Jesus, the Carpenter from Nazareth, in that light.  He really is the Great Fixer-Upper who looks beyond the outside of who we are or who we pretend to be, and peers into our depths and sees we can truly become.

Unlike the self-righteous men in today’s Gospel who only see a woman guilty of sin and deserving of death, Jesus looks beyond the mess and destruction in her life.  He sees – and as God he knows – her possibilities.  He touches her heart with divine love and grace, enabling her to get up and move forward. He gives her a fresh new start for a new way of living, if she wishes to embrace it.

And you know, every one of us – in one way or another - are very much like that woman, very much like those salvageable homes on TV that I like to watch.  Some of us might be like houses that have endured quite a lot of wear and tear over the years, having only have the cement foundation going for them, because everything else has been so terribly mistreated and broken down. Others of us might not have had it so bad and only need a few cosmetic touches.  But all of us - without exception - need some kind of work to be done, so that we can become the best version of the persons God created us to be.

And Jesus has both a burning desire and the power to do this for us, if we allow Him. He came to planet Earth and lived among us precisely to heal what is sick, to drive out what is evil, and to fix what is broken.  That was His mission; it is what He gave His very life to accomplish.  He has his mind and heart set firmly on carrying out this work of restoration in each one of us just as He did for the adulterous woman. And He invites us to accept it just a she did.

So, I suppose a big question on our minds would be: How do we let Jesus be this Savior, this Master Carpenter, who can enable us to remodel our lives and bring about this beautiful transformation? By simply talking with Him in prayer from the heart.  Speaking plainly about what’s on our minds, what’s burdening our souls, what we are struggling with in our lives. With trust and hope we need to hand over and surrender to Him all of our pain, all of our shame, all of our sins and all of our brokenness.

I think we can learn how to do this by looking at the woman in today’s Gospel and following her example.  Like her, we must personally encounter Jesus, make no excuses for our sins but instead, own up to them, reach out for his hand and open ourselves to the new life of interior peace, healing and freedom that He offers us.

When we come before Him and own up to our sins, asking forgiveness and reaching out for His hand, we are so very much like that sinful but repentant woman at His feet.  And His heart is as moved with mercy for us as it was for her. We should hear His parting words to her as being also addressed personally to us: “Neither do I condemn you. Go and from now on do not sin anymore.” With the help of His grace, these parting words can become a reality in our lives, enabling us to embrace a new way of thinking, a new way of living, a new way of loving God and others.

Of course, as with any renovation job, there are bound to be obstacles and setbacks in this task of changing our lives. When you open up the walls of a house you never know what you are going to find behind them. Similarly, when we tear down the walls we have built up in our lives and open our hearts to Christ, we are bound to discover hurts and wounds, behaviors and attitudes that need to be fixed, rewired and repaired. Some of these discoveries may be so great that they might even seem to threaten the whole job itself!

But we need to trust in the Master Carpenter and always keep in mind that Jesus is able to see beyond the cracked walls and scuffed up floors that often make up our lives. He has a plan in mind to remake each one of us into the person as we were created to be. And He is going to make that plan a reality and rebuild us step by step, no matter how long it might take.  And no matter how long it might take, we can be confident that Jesus can and will do all this for us, because He is indeed that Great Fixer-Upper who always sees a renovation job through to its completion.