Thus says the Lord God: If the wicked man turns away from all the sins he committed, if he keeps all my statutes and does what is right and just, he shall surely live, he shall not die. None of the crimes he committed shall be remembered against him; he shall live because of the virtue he has practiced. Do I indeed derive any pleasure from the death of the wicked? says the Lord God. Do I rather rejoice when he turns from his evil way that he may live?
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. You say, “The Lord’s way is not fair!” Hear now, house of Israel: Is it my way that is unfair, or rather, are not your ways unfair? When someone virtuous turns away from virtue to commit iniquity, and dies, it is because of the iniquity he committed that he must die. But 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. [Ezekiel 18: 21-28]
In today’s first reading, the prophet Ezekiel makes two points: On the one hand, if the man who has done evil genuinely repents of what he has done, all his sins will be totally forgiven, and his eternal life would not be taken from him. On the other hand, if the formerly good man turns to a life of sin, he will lose his eternal life. He will be punished even if he did much good in the past.
This consequence reminds me of my earlier life when I was the director of a large contingent of scientists and support staff. We used to say that when we accomplished what we were tasked to do we would get an “ata boy (or girl)”. As we accumulated more and more “ata boys (or girls)”, we would get a promotion and progress up the ranks. But if we messed up even once, earning an “oh s**t”, we would lose not one “ata boy (or girl)”, but every “ata boy (or girl)” we had ever earned.
There was a tendency among the people of the Old Testament to believe that people were not only guilty of their own past sins, but even the sins of their parents. We remember in John’s Gospel how Jesus was asked whether the man born blind was that way because of his own sin or the sin of his parents. Chronic disabilities, blindness, paralysis, deafness, and the like, were often seen as punishment for sin. When the paralyzed man let down through the roof came to the feet of Jesus, the first thing Jesus said to him was: “Your sins are forgiven.” And his subsequent healing was taken as proof that indeed his sins were really forgiven, because the cause of his blindness had also been removed.
But here Ezekiel is affirming that sin is something that belongs to only the individual. That a person’s present dispositions, and only these, that determine God’s judgement.
One thing that comes out clearly in the Scriptures, especially in the New Testament, is that God has a very short memory. Far from being a defect, it is a quality that very much favors us. The person that God sees is the person that I am NOW. What matters is my relationship with him NOW. The past, good or bad, is forgotten. There is not a divine account book (or QuickBooks® in this digital age) with credits and debits that have to be balanced out at the end of the day.
Judas, a chosen apostle, was lost because of the final choice he made in life. The murderous brigand on the cross next to Jesus was saved because he repents at the very end of his life, and he goes straight to heaven.
Some complain that what the Lord does is unjust. But today’s reading makes the situation clear: When someone virtuous turns away from virtue to commit iniquity, and dies, it is because of the iniquity he committed that he must die. But if the wicked, turning from the wickedness he has committed, does what is right and just, he shall preserve his life. Understand that it is not God who condemns us. It is WE who make the choice to be with God or to alienate ourselves from him. God recognizes and grants us our choice.
We people of faith need not be anxious about our past. All that matters is how we relate to God today and each day. The choice to be with God or away from him is all ours. If today we reject God, directly or through the way we relate to those around us, however virtuous we have been in the past, we have put him out of our lives. If, on the other hand, today we choose God, then we have nothing to fear, whatever we may have been guilty of in the past.
For our own reflection, we can be consoled that it does not matter what we did in the past. It will have no effect on our future relationship with God, provided we reach out to him here and now. On the other hand, there is no room for complacency. We know neither the day nor the hour when God will call us. And our past good record can be completely undone by our turning away from God at any time.
May God Bless You and Grant You His Peace!