Friday, February 27, 2026
But if the wicked turn away from all their sins that they have committed and keep all my statutes and do what is lawful and right, they shall surely live; they shall not die. . . .
Have I any pleasure in the
death of the wicked, says the Lord God, and not rather that they should turn
from their ways and live?
But when the righteous
turn away from their righteousness and commit iniquity and do the same
abominable things that the wicked do, shall they live? None of the righteous
deeds that they have done shall be remembered; for the treachery of which they
are guilty and the sin they have committed, they shall die. . . .
. . Therefore I will
judge you, O house of Israel, all of you according to your ways, says the Lord
God. Repent and turn from all your transgressions; otherwise iniquity will be
your ruin. Cast away from you all the transgressions that you have committed
against me, and get yourselves a new heart and a new spirit! Why will you die,
O house of Israel? For I have no pleasure in the death of anyone, says the Lord
God. Turn, then, and live.
—
Matthew 5:21-22
You have heard that it was
said to those of ancient times, You
shall not murder; and whoever murders shall be liable to judgment. But I say to you that if you are angry with a brother or
sister, you will be liable to judgment; and if you insult a brother or
sister, you will be liable to the council; and if you say, You fool, you
will be liable to the hell of fire.
So when you are offering
your gift at the altar, if you remember that your brother or sister has
something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go; first be
reconciled to your brother or sister, and then come and offer your gift. Come to
terms quickly with your accuser while you are on the way to court with him, or
your accuser may hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the guard, and
you will be thrown into prison. Truly I tell you, you will never get out until
you have paid the last penny.
—
How our understanding of emotions has deepened within my lifetime. Someone who has an alcohol use disorder now, would have been previously an "alcoholic" and the problem would be the alcoholism. It seems like within a couple of generations we have begun to shift our gaze collectively to seeing a substance-use disorder as a damaging symptom or result of other, more salient problems.
Similarly, the
label "angry person" seems to be giving ground to a way of thinking
that looks to where the anger might be coming from, what it might be expressing
that has not been given voice through healthier channels.
If it isn't talked out it's acted out.
There are no overreactions, you just don't always see what the person is reacting to.
These are two of my favourite observations
shared by my friend, Judith, a social worker and therapist, who has been
walking with people on their personal journeys for over 40 years.
My head is living in this space now, especially,
after having taken in three astonishing pieces of contemporary work this
winter: the Barbara Kingsolver novel Demon Copperhead, the
Netflix series Adolescence, and the Gaylit Atlas memoir Emotional
Inheritance. That I experienced all of these within weeks of each
other was coincidental, in the sense that I did not plan to, they kind of
seemed to just come my way.
All three deal with inter-generational trauma and
its effects. Each deals with societal and familial
dysfunction as it carves its way through generations around abuse and trauma.
Each work also embodies hope — not in happy endings, but in community. Hope is found in talking, listening,
trying to understand; hope is found when what one person has to say is
valued by another.
Ezekiel's words bring hope in the power of repentance. At first glance,
it seems like Ezekiel may be setting a different standard for the righteous than
for the wicked. But I think the idea is that the good deeds of the righteous
do not give them a special license to sin. When the righteous do wicked things
they go directly to jail, do not pass go, may not collect $200. In order to
repent the righteous need to follow the same procedure as the wicked.
Perhaps the main point, though, is
that there is a way out. That God wants us all to live and to live
well. The passage that calls out the sin (names the wound?) also creates
the space for its correction, or healing.
Ezekiel is not an apologist for bad
behaviour when he says we can be saved even if we do bad things. We need to correct course and return faithful to God's ways, then we will be spared. This second, (third? 1723rd?) chance makes room for grace.
And grace affords us the
room we sometimes need to fumble from the thistle back onto the clear path — space to flail, again and again. The Chicks’ song "Wide Open
Spaces" suggests itself — room to make our big mistakes. This is what God offers.
The parents have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge. Ezekiel brings news that this adage has outlived its usefulness: As I live, says the Lord God, this proverb
shall no more be used by you in Israel. And then Ezekiel preaches in a way that loosens the grip of inherited troubles.
Jesus, in his Sermon on the Mount,
peers more deeply into these troubles. He zeroes in on the underlying emotion: whoever
murders shall be liable to judgment. But I say to you that if you
are angry with a brother or sister, you will be liable to judgment.
I think of the anger present
when a parent berates their child in the grocery aisle or on a ski hill, the harshness, quiet aggression, the means, so harmful, we sometimes use, consciously or not, to express our anger.
It is easy to judge. And I guess, it might also be helpful to ask: where is this anger coming from? What is the anger responding to that can't be seen? — even if we can't know the answers, the question can open up the moment, ease the pressure to judge, create room for another's feelings, our own feelings, space to lurch our way towards where God needs us to be.
. . . he saved us, not because of any works of righteousness that we had done, but according to his mercy, through the water of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit. Titus 3:5
Alison Goodwin
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