Friday
1st Week of Lent
1st Reading: Ezekiel 18:21-28
The Good Effects of Conversion
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[21] But if a wicked man turns away from all his sins which he has committed
and keeps all my statutes and does what is lawful and right, he shall surely live;
he shall not die. [22] None of the transgressions which he has committed shall
be remembered against him; for the righteousness which he has done he shall
live. [23] Have I any pleasure in the death of the wicked, says the LORD God,
and not rather that he should turn from his way and live? [24] But when a righ-
teous man turns away from his righteousness and commits iniquity and does
the same abominable things that the wicked man does, shall he live? None of
the righteous deeds which he has done shall be remembered; for the treachery
of which he is guilty and the sin he has committed, he shall die.
[25] ”Yet 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? [26] When a righteous
man turns away from his righteousness and commits iniquity, he shall die for it;
for the iniquity which he has committed he shall die. [27] Again, when a wicked
man turns away from the wickedness he has committed and does what is lawful
and right, he shall save his life. [28] Because he considered and turned away
from all the transgressions which he had committed, he shall surely live, he
shall not die."
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Commentary:
18:21-32. These verses reply to a question that may arise from the doctrine of
personal retribution: If the sinner must live with the consequences of his sins,
what is the purpose of repentance? Ezekiel takes the question very much to
heart, and his reply includes one of the most beautiful summaries of divine mer-
cy: "Have I any pleasure in the death of the wicked..., and not rather that he
should turn from his way and live?’ (v. 23; cf. 33:11). It is true that the explana-
tion of divine justice and punishment develops over a long period until the New
Testament is reached; even so, from the very beginning of divine Revelation,
there is never any doubt but that God is always ready to forgive. Over the cen-
turies, Christian spirituality has written beautiful pages filled to overflowing with
heartfelt trust in God’s mercy. As an example, we will quote a prayer by a Chris-
tian writer of the Armenian Church: "You are the Lord of Mercy. Have mercy on
me, a sinner, who beseeches you with sighs and tears. [...] O kind and merciful
ord! You are patient with sinners, for you have said: "if a wicked man turns away
from all his sins which he has committed none of the transgressions which he
has committed shall be remembered against him" (Ezek 18:21-22). Look, see
how I have come before you and fallen at your feet: your guilty servant pleads
for your mercy. Do not recall my sins, nor spurn me because of my wickedness
[...] You are the Lord of goodness and mercy; you forgive all sin” (John Manda-
kuni, "Oratio", 2-3).
Of course, God’s forgiveness is closely interwoven with personal conversion.
Therefore, it is not surprising to find these verses of Ezekiel being quoted in
connection with the need for the sacrament of penance: "at all times, the prac-
tice of penance in order to obtain grace and attain righteousness was necessary
for all those who fell into mortal sin, even those who sought to be washed clean
by the waters of baptism, so that, when sinfulness had been purged and set to
rights, they would detest any offense against God through their hatred of sin and
the sorrow of their souls. Thus says the Prophet: 'Repent and turn from all your
transgressions, lest iniquity be your ruin' (Ezek 18:30)” (Council of Trent, Ses-
sion 14, 1). There is also a need for genuine contrition: "Contrition, which is the
most important element of penance, is a sorrow of the soul, a hatred of all the
sins that have been committed, and a desire not to sin again in the future. This
sense of contrition has always been a fundamental condition of forgiveness; the
man who falls into sin after his baptism can only receive pardon if he is contrite,
trusts in the mercy of God, and fulfills all the other conditions that are binding
in this sacrament. This Council declares that contrition encompasses not only
the end of sin and the beginning of new life, but the reparation of the old, sinful
life, as it was written: 'Cast away from you all the transgressions which you have
committed against me, and get yourselves a new heart and a new spirit!' (Ezek
18:31)" (Council of Trent Session 14,4).
Gospel Reading: Matthew 5:20-26
Jesus and His Teaching, the Fulfillment of the Law (Continuation)
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(Jesus said to His disciples,) [20] "For I tell you, unless your righteousness
exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the Kingdom
of Heaven.
[21] "You have heard that it was said to the men of old, `You shall not kill; and
whoever kills shall be liable to judgment.' [22] But I say to you that every one
who is angry with his brother shall be liable to judgment; whoever insults his
brother shall be liable to the council, and whoever says, `You fool!' shall be liable
to the hell of fire. [23] So if you are offering your gift at the altar, and there remem-
ber that your brother has something against you, [24] leave your gift there before
the altar and go; first to be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer
your gift. [25] Make friends quickly with your accuser, while you are going with
him to court, lest your accuser hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the
guard, and you be put in prison; [26] truly, I say to you, you will never get out till
you have paid the last penny.
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Commentary:
20. "Righteousness": see the note on Matthew 5:6 (see below). This verse
clarifies the meaning of the preceding verses. The scribes and Pharisees had
distorted the spirit of the Law, putting the whole emphasis on its external, ritual
observance. For them exact and hyper-detailed but external fulfillment of the
precepts of the Law was a guarantee of a person's salvation: "If I fulfill this I am
righteous, I am holy and God is duty bound to save me." For someone with this
approach to sanctification it is really not God who saves: man saves himself
through external works of the Law. That this approach is quite mistaken is ob-
vious from what Christ says here; in effect what He is saying is: to enter the
Kingdom of God the notion of righteousness or salvation developed by the
scribes and Pharisees must be rejected. In other words, justification or sancti-
fication is a grace from God; man's role is one of cooperating with that grace by
being faithful to it. Elsewhere Jesus gives the same teaching in an even clearer
way (cf. Luke 18:9-14, the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector). It was
also the origin of one of St. Paul's great battles with the "Judaizers" (see Gala-
tians 3 and Romans 2-5).
21. Verses 21-26 gives us a concrete example of the way that Jesus Christ
brought the Law of Moses to its fulfillment, by explaining the deeper meaning
of the commandments of that Law.
22. By speaking in the first person ("but I say to you") Jesus shows that His
authority is above that of Moses and the prophets; that is to say, He has divine
authority. No mere man could claim such authority.
"Insults": practically all translations of this passage transcribe the original Ara-
maic word, "raca" (cf. RSV note below). It is not an easy word to translate. It
means "foolish, stupid, crazy". The Jews used it to indicate utter contempt;
often, instead of verbal abuse they would show their feelings by spitting on the
ground.
"Fool" translates an ever stronger term of abuse than "raca"--implying that a per-
son has lost all moral and religious sense, to the point of apostasy.
In this passage our Lord points to three faults which we commit against charity,
moving from internal irritation to showing total contempt. St. Augustine comments
that three degrees of faults and punishments are to be noted. The first is the fault
of feeling angry; to this corresponds the punishment of "judgment". The second
is that of passing an insulting remark, which merits the punishment of "the coun-
cil". The third arises when anger quite blinds us: this is punished by "the hell of
fire" (cf. "De Serm. Dom. in Monte", II, 9).
"The hell of fire": literally, "Gehenna of fire", meaning, in the Jewish language of
the time, eternal punishment.
This shows the gravity of external sins against charity--gossip, backbiting, ca-
lumny, etc. However, we should remember that these sins stem from the heart;
our Lord focuses our attention, first, on internal sins--resentment, hatred, etc.--
to make us realize that that is where the root lies and that it is important to nip
anger in the bud.
23-24. Here our Lord deals with certain Jewish practices of His time, and in doing
so gives us perennial moral teaching of the highest order. Christians, of course,
do not follow these Jewish ritual practices; to keep our Lord's commandment we
have ways and means given us by Christ Himself. Specifically, in the New and
definitive Covenant founded by Christ, being reconciled involves going to the
Sacrament of Penance. In this Sacrament the faithful "obtain pardon from God's
mercy for the offense committed against Him, and are, at the same time, recon-
ciled with the Church which they have wounded by their sins"("Lumen Gentium",
11).
In the New Testament, the greatest of all offerings is the Eucharist. Although one
has a duty to go to Mass on Sundays and Holy Days of Obligation, an essential
condition before receiving Holy Communion is that one be in the state of grace.
It is not our Lord's intention here to give love of neighbor priority over love of God.
There is an order of charity: "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart,
with all your soul and with all your strength. This is the great and first command-
ment" (Matthew 22:37-38). Love of one's neighbor, which is the second com-
mandment in order of importance (cf. Matthew 22:39), derives its meaning from
the first. Brotherhood without parenthood is inconceivable. An offense against
charity is, above all, an offense against God.
[The note on Matthew 5:6 states:
6. The notion of righteousness (or justice) in Holy Scripture is an essentially re-
ligious one (cf. notes on Matthew 1:19 and 3:15; Romans 1:17; 1:18-32; 3:21-22
and 24). A righteous person is one who sincerely strives to do the Will of God,
which is discovered in the commandments, in one's duties of state in life and
through one's life of prayer. Thus, righteousness, in the language of the Bible,
is the same as what nowadays is usually called "holiness" (1 John 2:29; 3:7-10;
Revelations 22:11; Genesis 15:6; Deuteronomy 9:4).]
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Source: "The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries". Biblical text from the
Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of
the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.
Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States. We encourage readers to purchase
The Navarre Bible for personal study. See Scepter Publishers for details.
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