Today Ezekiel begins his proclamation by saying, ''Thus says the Lord God.'' Jesus, however speaks in his own name with authority and not like the scribes who just repeated the Law. He said, ''I have not come to abolish the law but to bring it to fulfilment''(Matthew 5:17) The Jews gave total reverence and obedience to the Law considering that the decrees of Moses were everlasting and unchangeable. When Jesus said that he had come to perfect the Law, his words would have been shocking to the Jews. For centuries the Law taught them that to kill another was a grave sin to be brought before the court but Jesus says that it in the same way a person must be face the court if he is angry with his brother or calls him a fool. During this time of Lent, we can hear Jesus asking us, ''What have you done with the life I have given you?'' How often has he reminded us that the first commandment is to love God and the second is to love our neighbour as we love ourselves? If he asked us to raise our hand if we have never been angry with a brother or sister would there be many hands in the air? Yet John tells us that ''those who do not love a brother or sister who they have seen, cannot love God whom they have not seen.'' (1 John 4:20). Today's reading reminds us that we have a lot to do during this time of Lent.
Don Hornsey
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