Ezekiel 18:25-28; Philippians 2:1-11; Matthew 21:28-32

The prophet Ezekiel was challenged by the people who didn’t agree when it comes to ultimate justice. The main question they asked then is still relevant today: how come that someone who doesn’t offend for most of their life but then commits a sin seems to be judged harsher than someone who has sinned most of their life and then repents and stops sinning.
Ezekiel explains that God always gives us a chance. God is always ready to forgive. No matter if the sinful past is part of our own life or goes back to that of our ancestors, if we turn to God, God will embrace and welcome us. However, there is no such thing as a ‘book of good deeds’ and that once you have done many good deeds you could easily balance out sinful behaviour.
God’s justice is not our justice. God is generous, merciful and forgiving. God doesn’t judge according to how long someone has been a good person. Equally, if someone turns away from God, this person will be judged according to this very behaviour.
The challenging part of the account is the punishment by death if someone commits sins. This raises the question of how a person can be saved as God seems to punish the sinner with death? It is not clear, but maybe we are not asked to take it literally or to refer to eradicating bad behaviour and preparing the soil for good behaviour?

Paul writes to the Philippians from his prison cell. He wants to encourage the people to live their lives in integrity, in a way that would please God. Paul urges them to be a good community based on love, support for each other and the common good.
Jesus Christ is an example of someone who put the other person first. Despite being divine, he humiliated himself and dedicated his life to us. He sacrificed himself and died on the cross for us. If we think of what Christ has done for us, the least we can do is to love and support one another. God raised up Jesus Christ. Hence, if we do God’s will and follow in Jesus’ footsteps, we might also be raised up. In the Gospel according to Matthew Jesus had just been challenged for teaching the people in the temple courts. The chief priests and the elders, those with earthly religious authority, asked Jesus who gave him the authority to teach. Jesus didn’t answer the question.
Instead, Jesus challenges them with a parable: a father asks his sons to work in the vineyard. One says he would but doesn’t and the other one said he wouldn’t but then does. Which one has done his father’s will? The answer seems obvious.

However, if the work in the vineyard means to believe in God and to do God’s will, then the authorities who have just challenged Jesus would have to reconsider their answer.
The chief priests and the elders, with the authority of religious leaders, are known by the people for proclaiming that they do God’s will. Yet, they can’t agree on who John the Baptist was and want to know by which authority Jesus is teaching. Where is their faith? If their faith was strong and they would be really ready to do God’s will, they would have listened to Jesus and would have heard God’s voice through his teachings and the teachings of John the Baptist. Instead, they are more interested in the rules and regulations – the authority behind Jesus.
Jesus reminds them of their disbelief in John while others who never claimed to be righteous or religious believed in him. Some of these believers were known sinners, such as prostitutes and tax collectors. These people, despised by society, listened to God’s message and turned their lives around. They were transformed through their belief and ready to start a new life that would please God.
So, if God has mercy with these sinners but disregards those who believe they are entitled to be given preference when aspiring to enter the kingdom of heaven – would these leaders feel that God is just? Their answer to the parable is correct. The question is if they understand what the parable really means.
The priests and elders would be familiar with the prophecies of Ezekiel. They would know the Scriptures that reiterate that God is merciful and gives everyone a second chance. It is never too late to turn one’s life around. We can’t pretend that we do something but then don’t do it. God is with us and sees our actions. God asks us to believe and to act righteously.

BM