This is the first of three parables which have the same basic teaching Jesus tries to make it clear to the leaders of the Jews that the fact that they were God’s chosen People and that they were strict in their observance of the details of the Law does not assume them of a place in God’s kingdom. They will exclude themselves because of their pride and their refusal to see their mistakes and to answer God’s call to repentance. In the meantime the sinners, whom they despise, will see their mistakes and repent and be accepted into God’s kingdom. The son, who first refused his father’s call to work in his farm, later repented and went. That tax-collectors and harlots, whe were regarded as the worst kinds of sinners, would have a place in the kingdom, while the priests and scribes and Pharisees would be excluded, was a shocking thing for Jesus to say, but it did not shock them enough to make them realise there was truth in what he said. The Jewish leaders gave the right answer to the question Jesus asked, but did not see that they thereby condemned themselves. Even when the Public sinners had repented in answer to John’s preaching and had begun to follow Christ, the leaders paid no attention to him. John preached the need for us to be aware of our sinfulness and to repent. Jesus preached the need for us to be aware of our sinfulness and to repent. It is the summary of Christ’s preaching in the eyes of St. Mark. The second son repented. Repentance is the necessary condition for anyone to gain entry into God’s kingdom. The Jewish leaders failed in that awareness of their sinfulness and failed to repent. No one would have expected the Pharisees to be told that they might not get into heaven. Every body thought they were the good people, because they always kept the laws, yet there was something seriously wrong with them. In our own day too we have the people whom everybody considers to be good Christians and we have the people whom everybody considers to be bad Christians. We all, whichever group we belong to, need to take a good look at ourselves and see where we need to repent. And when we have seen it, we must not just say we are going to repent, as so many do, but really start doing something about it. There are so many Christians who need to change their life in some way. When you ask them, they say they will do something. And they do nothing. And years pass and they do nothing. And then death comes and takes away one of them. Still the others do nothing. And death comes and takes another of them. And still the others do nothing. If you still do nothing, at least you cannot say you were not warned about the need for you to change while there is time.
Chapters 4-24 are a record of Ezekiel’s prophetic work in Babylon between the “first deportation” in 597 and the destruction of Jerusalem and “second deportation” 587. He is a prophet of doom and gloom. It was a common notion among the Jews that suffering was a punishment for sin. The exiles seems to have been blaming their suffering on the sins of previous generations by repeatedly grumbling in the words of the proverb “that the Fathers ate sour grapes, but it is the teeth of their children that are set on edge.” They did not want to feel that it was their own sins for which they were suffering and they accused God of acting unjustly because he punished them for their parent’s’ sins. It was another common notion among the Jews that the sins of parents were punished in their children. We even have an example of this in the Gospel when the disciples asked, “who has sinned, this man or his parents, that he has been born blind?” (Jn.9,1-2) Ezekiel, however, was convinced, by the vision he had of the sins of Jerusalem in cc 8-10, that the punishment that had come and was still going to come was due to the present sins of the people and this is one of the main doctrines in Ezekiel, that each person is responsible for his own sins and if he does wrong he must not blame his parents or his ancestors or his friends. The grandfather lives a good life. His son lives a bad life the son will “die” because of his bad life; and he will not “live” because of his father’s good life. The grandson lives a good life, he will “live because of his good life, he will not die because of his father’s bad life. Neither praise nor blame passes on from one generation to another. Even, within the space of one man’s life, if he has been bad and becomes good, he will not be punished for his former badness, and if he has been good and becomes bad he will not be rewarded for his former goodness. But it is God’s wish that a man should be good and “live” and not that a man should be bad and “die”. But everyone is free, and it is possible for a good person to turn to sin, and for a bad person to turn to goodness. Each of us is responsible for his actions and according to his actions will each of us be rewarded or each of us be punished.
It is permissible to read only verses 1-5. There seems to have been a danger of disunity in the church of Philippi and Paul suggests three sources from which it could come, that people are working to advance themselves in some way and gain a prominent position in the local church, that they are trying to win the praise and admiration of people, that they are trying to satisfy their own interests at the expense of other people. On the other hand, there are certain things the fact that they are all one in Christ, the fact that they should have the true christian love that enables us to show good-will even to people we-do not like for some reason and to people who do not like us, the fact that we all have the same Holy Spirit to help us to be like Christ, the fact that ordinary natural human goodness makes people want to live in harmony and not in strife, finally if they want to make Paul happy about them – all these are things that must help them to avoid disunity and division and help them to live and work together in unity and harmony. But to live like this they need to have the same attitude of mind and heart that Christ had, because he must be their example, and he was concerned only to be obedient to his father and to be at the service of others. Paul’s appeal to the Philippians to imitate the humility and unselfishness of Christ in their relations with one another blossoms into a marvellous piece of poetry expressing the doctrine that Christ is truly God and truly man and that after being deeply humiliated as a man, the Father highly glorified him and established him as Lord and God. Each verse of the poem expresses an aspect of the mystery of Christ. He was truly God but did not jealously hold on to the glory that was his as God, Instead he emptied himself of his glory because his Father wanted it and took a true human nature, so that all could see that he was “a man like us in all things but sin” He lived a life of complete obedience to his: Father to make up for all our disobedient lives. Having stripped himself of his divine glory to become a man he even allowed himself to be stripped of his human dignity by accepting the shame and disgrace of death as a criminal when he had done no wrong, executed by crucifixion. And all this only for our sake. But then the Father glorified him by the resurrection and by the ascension took him back into the glory which he had as God in the beginning (see Jn. 17,5) Henceforth all creation will confess that Jesus is Lord. The word which was uses in Greek to translate the OT Hebrew word for God. “He is Lord, He is Lord, He is risen from the dead and he is Lord. Every knee shall bend, every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.” N.B. The Greek’ says “raised him super-high,” “high pass mark”. If we could only realise from a passage like this the degree of humility and unselfishness there was in Christ for our benefit, we would also realise how far we fall short, of having the same attitude of mind and heart that he had and imitating him in the service of others. If he lowered himself so much for the good of us, how could we possibly dare to raise ourselves up at the expense of others!
Kefa W. MHM
What you’ll find here is my personal reflection on Scripture. I don’t claim to have all the answers, only a sincere desire to seek truth. Some of the references used are drawn from past study and experience, and I may no longer be able to recall all their exact sources. Feel free to leave your comments or personal reflections below as we continue to grow deeper together in the Word of God. I’ll see you next Sunday.
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