Each of today’s readings raises serious issues for the person who wishes to follow Jesus along the way. A few phrases strike me in a particular fashion and I would like to reflect on these against the background of God’s call in Christ to all of us to live according to His way of love, justice and compassion. Ezekiel says that the Spirit of God “set him on his feet.” This reminds me that without the Holy Spirit, without grace, without the energy that is God’s gracious gift, faith-life is not possible, inner transformation is not possible, change is not possible, the movement into the wholeness that Yahweh-Shalom offers is not possible.

In saying this I know that it is easier to do nothing than to do something, it is easier to be negative than positive, easier to be destructive than creative, and that I am an amalgam of these contradictory tendencies. That is why I have so often been stiff-necked, stubborn and rebellious, even cynical—because free-wheeling refusal to be responsible takes little effort and less understanding. To live the covenant, however, demands awareness; it calls for a commitment to be conscious of grace and of the practical implications of grace that needs to find expression in real, practical, reconciling, forgiving, growth oriented patterns of life and relationship.

Today’s gospel suggests we need to confront any tendency to judge others, take hurt and offence from them, reject them, and make them scapegoats of our own unrecognized aversions and resentments. We need to become more aware of how we spread negativity at home, among our friends at work—or wherever—lest we become like Pharisees or Herodians, or those of Jesus’ own people who so readily rejected him. We need to realize how easy it is to confuse reality with our own ingrained prejudices and preferred viewpoints. We need to see that every story has another side, every person has his or her own reasons for what they do.