1st week in Lent, Friday – 3rd March 2023 – Ezekiel 18,21-28; Mt 5,20-26
Choice to be Faithful
The first reading reminds us that we will live eternally by the final choice we make and in our relationship with God. On the one hand, if the man who has done evil genuinely repents of what he has done he will be totally forgiven. Because it is God’s desire that we should live rather than die. On the other hand, if the formerly good man turns to a life of sin, he will die in his sin. Just because people have been faithful most of their lives, if they reject God in the final moments of their lives, God will respect their final choice. Likewise, if sinful individuals turn from their sinful ways and turn toward God at the end of their lives, God will grant them life based on their final choice. Until Ezekiel’s time, people believed that they were not only guilty of their past sins, but even of the sins of their parents. Here, Ezekiel is affirming that sin is something that belongs to an individual. And that it is a person’s present dispositions and choices, and only these, that determine God’s judgement. However, it is not God who condemns us; it is we who make the choice to be with God or to alienate ourselves from him. And God recognizes our choice. Obviously, the best choice is to be faithful throughout our lives. Judas, a chosen apostle, was lost because of the final choice he made in life. The murderous thief on the cross with Jesus repents, and goes with Jesus to heaven.
