The Lord says: You say, “The Lord’s way is not just.” Hear now, house of Israel: Is my way unjust? Is it not your ways that are unjust? When the righteous turn away from their righteousness and commit iniquity and die, it is because of the iniquity that they have committed that they die…
Twenty-Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time
EZEKIEL 18:25-28
Thus says the Lord:
You say, “The way of the Lord is not just.”
Hear now, O house of Israel: Is my way not just? Is it not your ways that are not just?
When the righteous turn away from their righteousness and commit iniquity and die, they die for the iniquity that they have committed.
Again, when the wicked turn away from the wickedness they have committed and do what is lawful and right, they shall save their life.
Because they considered and turned away from all the transgressions that they had committed, they shall surely live; they shall not die.
We are already familiar with the Prophet Ezekiel (23rd Sunday). He was a priest who first preached in Jerusalem, witnessed its destruction, and continued his preaching in exile in Babylon.
One of the recurring themes of his preaching is conversion. “Return to the Lord, and He will receive you, He will save you and restore you to the land.”
In today’s text, a specific topic is addressed: Israel is convinced that there is an immediate punishment for sin, and that these punishments are passed down from generation to generation: that the son pays for the sin of the fathers. Ezekiel clarifies that the sinner pays for their sins, and if they return to God, they will always find forgiveness. It is worth reading the entire chapter 18. It ends like this:
Cast away from you all the transgressions that you have committed against me, and get yourselves a new heart and a new spirit!
For I have no pleasure in the death of anyone – declares the Lord –
Turn, then, and live!
PHILIPPIANS 2:1-11
If then there is any encouragement in Christ, any consolation from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind.
Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.
Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.
Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus,
who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Today’s text has two very clear parts:
· an exhortation to remain in unity, in simple and fraternal life;
· the example of Christ, in which a different and higher level of Christology is shown, more “descending” than that of Luke-Acts, as if it were in contact with the Christology of the Incarnate Word, typical of John (we cannot forget that Ephesus is, almost certainly, the center of the “community of the beloved disciple”).
José Enrique Galarreta, S.J.