Readings: Ezekiel 18:21-28; Psalm 130; Matthew 5:20-26
In the first reading of today, God speaking through the Prophet Ezekiel revealed to His people, the mystery of His mercy and justice.
He says the door of mercy and restoration is open to any wicked person who repents. Their past wickedness is forgiven and their present righteousness will be all that matters. The thief on the cross with Christ benefitted from this (Luke 23:39-43).
On the other hand, God says anyone who abandons his/her righteousness, one who compromises, one who turns from righteousness to sinfulness loses the reward of past righteousness, nothing like “I was once righteous or I used to be very spiritual.”
Having said this, I want us to focus today on the nature of God. The people of God during the time of Ezekiel saw God as a God who delighted in judging and punishing, a sadistic and cruel God, a God who loves to see humanity suffer.
They needed a new vision of God, a God who delights in the salvation of humanity, a God whose delight is to forgive, who wants to save, who doesn’t delight in condemning us, He is not a God who rejoices when we cry, not a God who is cruel.
One of the things the devil tries to do is to distort our vision of God. This is the tactics He used for Eve. He presented God to Eve as dubious and dishonest.
Maybe we also need a new vision of God or better still, a true picture of God.
Sometimes we think that God is indifferent to our sins, He doesn’t mind. This is a wrong picture of God because He does mind.
Sometimes we think God is harsh and He enjoys keeping account of our sins. This is also a wrong picture; God is merciful and forgiving and takes no delight in punishing us.
Sometimes we think that God should be impressed and satisfied with our partial surrender and past faithfulness, God says I want total surrender and continuous faithfulness.
Sometimes we think God is indifferent to how we treat others. He is not. This is the message of today’s gospel. He cares about how we treat other people and our relationship with others also impacts our relationship with Him.
Sermon preached by Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Baraka-Gukena Okami on February 26, 2021