Ezekiel 18:1-4, 25-32

Status or behavior, upon which shall a person be judged? Challenging the practices of Israel that deferred to the righteous and punished the wicked based on status, Ezekiel’s vision directs the people to focus instead at behavior. Rejecting the ranks and relationships of local society (even to the point of casting aside the authority of parents over their children), God considers behavior instead and indeed warns of the alternative. For if we are to be judged according to our status, then we are surely doomed for the sinners we are. But if given the chance to turn from our sinful status through our conduct, we surely will be saved.

Psalm 25:1-8

God teaches us how to be in faithful covenant. Through the scriptures, through our experience in prayer, through the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives, we are guided in the ways of the Lord. And in that teaching we come to know the love and faithfulness that God shows for us and for all who open their hearts to the Spirit. So we need not despair about the sins of our youth and the transgressions of our lives. For we are blessed by God’s everlasting salvation. And so we need not worry about whether or not we measure up. We don’t, but God loves us anyway. Let us have joyful trust in that.

Philippians 2:1-13

Humility – possibly the hardest of all the principles of our faith. Jesus’ humble service to the world that rejected him stands as both the model for how we ought to be, and a reminder of all the reasons why it is so hard to live up to that ideal. Paul invites us to look to the interests of others rather than ourselves, to be free of the petty concerns of status and and stature. For when we are concerned with others, what happens to ourselves becomes of little account. A better path surely than the alternative that we see too often in our world today – preoccupation with self and indifference to others. And it all begins with humility, modeled by the ruler of the universe, before whom every knee shall bow.

Matthew 21: 23-32

The religious authorities are silenced. They don’t dare answer Jesus’ question about John the Baptist – unwilling to accept John’s divine prophecy, but at the same time afraid of challenging the expectations of the crowd. Sort of like the two sons – one who talks the talk and then runs away, the other who rejects his father’s instruction and only later complies for reasons we can only guess at. Jesus calls us to follow and also to follow through – to say (in those familiar words of the Hebrew Scripture) ‘here I am,’ and then to be there. With God’s help, let us find the strength to affirm our faith and act on it.