Friday of the 1st Week of Lent
Eze 18:21-28
Mt 5:20-26
“When the sinner renounces sin to become law-abiding and honest, he deserves to live.”
At first glance, the reading from Ezekiel felt unfair. Imagine Heaven filled with notorious people who had committed hideous crimes; but because they repented, all their sins were forgotten. How can God so easily forget all their sins? And how would the victims who suffered under them feel?
And what about the righteous, who have lived their lives with integrity, yet because of one moment of weakness commit sin — so much so that “all the integrity they have practised shall be forgotten from then on…and for this they shall die” (Ezekiel 18:26)? This hardly seems fair!
In our secular wisdom, we are taught that if you are a good person, you get rewarded; if you are a bad person, you get punished. Yet here is God, telling us that His justice is somewhat different. At first, it might seem as if God is keeping track of every misstep — like a meticulous accountant ready to strike us off His “Heaven list” at the first sign of sin.
If this is the image of God we hold, then we go about our lives in fear of punishment, rather than truly living the life He desires for us. For years, I too lived in constant fear — seeing God as a fierce father, ready to punish every misstep and condemn me to hell. I became ‘law-abiding’ — obeying school rules, traffic laws, church laws — solely out of fear of the consequences of breaking them.
But in today’s passage, when read within the broader context of Ezekiel 18, a different image of God emerges — one of love, mercy, and forgiveness. The God of the Old Testament is often misconceived as an angry and unforgiving God who offers no second chances — wiping out nations when they turn away from Him and passing the penalty of the father’s sins on to the next generation. Yet here, He is revealed as loving and forgiving.
He reassures the Israelites that they no longer have to suffer for inter-generational sin: “The son shall not suffer for the iniquity of the father, nor the father suffer for the iniquity of the son; the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself” (Ezekiel 18:20).
Rather, each will be judged according to their own ways. We are responsible solely for our own actions and sins — not for those of our family or previous generations — and only the unrepentant sinner shall die, for:
“I have no pleasure in the death of any one, says the Lord God; so turn, and live” (Ezekiel 18:32).
This is good news — an assurance of God’s abundant love and mercy for each one of us. Salvation is for all: both for the sinner who renounces all his sins and for the ‘righteous,’ even if they have fallen into sin — as long as they repent. It is not for us to judge who is more deserving of salvation. Instead, we should always look inward and be grateful that we have a merciful Father who offers each of us the opportunity to repent, be forgiven, and have all our sins forgotten so that we may truly live.
(Today’s OXYGEN by Esther Leet)
Prayer: Lord Jesus, please guide me as I examine my conscience and prepare for the Sacrament of Reconciliation this Lent. Grant me the courage to confess all my sins so that our relationship may be restored and renewed.
Thanksgiving: Thank you, Lord, for the gift of Your love and forgiveness, which gives me life in You.
OXYGEN 
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