Do what is right and just

 

I’m sometimes a little taken aback whenever I read scripture readings like those I read today.  A reading from Ezekiel seems so harsh and scary and yet the message is clear, “do what is right and just” [Ezekiel 18:21-28].   I’m reminded of my need to pay attention to what God has told us and not to confuse civil law with God’s law(s).  I thought about the death penalty when reading Ezekiel and how imposing this civil law defies God’s call for allowing people, who have committed grave acts of violence, to come to accept responsibility for their actions; to ask for forgiveness and then to choose to live according to God’s laws.

Then, after reading a Psalm [Psalms 130:1-8] and a Gospel I thought, “most people in my daily life are pretty good people.”  The Psalm made me begin to reflect upon how easily we can become complacent in our daily living, believing, “I’m a pretty good person, so I’ll just continue on with my life.”  We become less critical about our shortcomings, or what we might consider minor infractions against others.  Our opportunities to grow in understanding how God is asking us to live our lives is easily forgotten.

Lent isn’t just about giving up candy or soda; it’s about giving up sin.  It’s about giving up anything that keeps us away from God and spirituality.  And as I understand my reading of Ezekiel today, there’s a huge benefit to giving up sin.  Anyone who turns away from sin will be rewarded.  Anyone, even someone very sinful, can turn away from that sin, and God will rejoice at the conversion.  God doesn’t rejoice in punishing sinners, but rather in having sinners turn away from sin to be reclaimed.  Of course, we have to stay away.  A virtuous person who turns toward sin will suffer the same fate as the unrepentant sinner.  It’s an on-going process.  We can’t just turn away from sin like giving something up for Lent.  We can’t ‘give up’ sin for 40 days, and then start up again.  But even the worst sinners who truly turn their lives around and stay that way can be saved.

The problem can be, as we see in Matthew’s Gospel [Matthew 5:20-26], that we’re not just talking about ‘big’ sins.  Even things that seem ‘little’ can take us away from God and His mercy.  Sure, we can say, “Oh, I’ve never killed anyone or done anything horrible like that. I’m fine.”  But have we ever ‘wished someone dead’?  Jesus says that anger toward our brother takes us away from God as well.  By spitting on our brother or calling names, we’re separating from our family and from God.  In condemning our brothers, we’re in effect condemning ourselves.

Lent is about giving up more than candy.  It’s about giving up our negative attitudes and whatever keeps us from God.  It’s about reconciliation.  By reconciling with our brothers, we take the first step to reconciling with God and the Church.