God Grants Life to Those Who Turn to Him"

Today's Mass Readings

It is easy to read today's readings and get depressed. "And if the virtuous man turns from the path of virtue to do evil, the same kind of abominable things that the wicked man does, can he do this and still live? None of his virtuous deeds shall be remembered, because he has broken faith and committed sin; because of this, he shall die" (Ezekiel 18:24). And we even have Jesus' statement: "I tell you, unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the Kingdom of heaven" (Matthew 5:20). And if we want to interpret Jesus as merely pointing out flaws of scribes and Pharisees, as if it were really easy to outshine them in holiness, Jesus does not let us, rather, if anything, Jesus raises the standard:

"You have heard that it was said to your ancestors, You shall not kill; and whoever kills will be liable to judgement. But I say to you, whoever is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment, and whoever says to his brother, Raqa [an Aramaic expression meaning something like "idiot"], will be answerable to the Sanhedrin" (Matthew 5:21-22).

Jesus even makes the punishment seem worse. In the Old Testament reading for today from the Book of the Prophet Ezekiel, physical death is the consequence of sin. Jesus makes eternal damnation in hell appear to be the consequence of sin. For an image of hell, He supplies His audience with Gehenna. Gehenna had been the muddy valley where Canaanites offered child sacrifices. In Jesus' time, it was a trash dump outside of Jerusalem, which was perpetually ablaze with fire consuming the waste. Jesus spoke of hell using the image of the fiery putrid trash dump Gehenna.

But this is not the ultimate message of today's readings. Today's readings are about hope, not fear. Yes there are stern warnings in today's first reading about what can happen to the righteous when they turn away from God to do evil. But the message of Ezekiel is that we all have hope, no matter how evil our past: "if the wicked, turning from the wickedness he has committed, does what is right and just, he shall preserve his life; since he has turned away from all the sins that he committed, he shall surely live, he shall not die" (18:28).

Jesus likewise does not lower the moral bar, but in fact raises it. The difference is that through Christ we have the Holy Spirit, God dwelling within us. Alone, apart from God, living as God desires us to live would be impossible. But with God, with the Holy Spirit dwelling inside of us, all things are possible.

What these passages should teach us is that we are in constant need of conversion. Lent is the perfect season for conversion. Let us take a moment to examine our lives. Are we living the lives that God wants us to live? If not, what can we do to change? The first step, after recognizing what is wrong, is turning to God. Let us turn to God to help mend our lives, and so choose life. For God is ever merciful, and will forgive us no matter how many times we fall, if we turn to Him.

Jeff Morrow