Sunday September 27th 2020

First Reading
(Ezekiel 18:1-4 and 25-the end)
​
Individual Responsibility

The LORD spoke to me  and said,
“What is this proverb people keep repeating in the land of Israel?
‘The parents ate the sour grapes,
But the children got the sour taste.’
“As surely as I am the living God,” says the Sovereign LORD,
“you will not repeat this proverb in Israel any more. 
The life of every person belongs to me, the life of the parent as well as that of the child.
The person who sins is the one who will die.
............
“But you say, ‘What the Lord does isn't right.’
Listen to me, you Israelites.
Do you think my way of doing things isn't right?
It is your way that isn't right. 

When a righteous person stops doing good and starts doing evil and then dies,
he dies because of the evil he has done. 
When someone evil stops sinning and does what is right and good, he saves his life. 
He realizes what he is doing and stops sinning, so he will certainly not die,
but go on living. And you Israelites say,
‘What the Lord does isn't right.’
You think my way isn't right, do you? It is your way that isn't right.

“Now I, the Sovereign LORD, am telling you Israelites
that I will judge each of you by what you have done.
Turn away from all the evil you are doing, and don't let your sin destroy you.
 Give up all the evil you have been doing, and get yourselves new minds and hearts.
Why do you Israelites want to die? 
​
 I do not want anyone to die,” says the Sovereign LORD.
“Turn away from your sins and live.”

Second Reading
(Matthew 21:23-32)

The Question about Jesus' Authority
(Also in Mark 11.27-33 and Luke 20.1-8)

Jesus came back to the Temple;
and as he taught, the chief priests and the elders came to him and asked,
“What right do you have to do these things? Who gave you such right?”

Jesus answered them,
“I will ask you just one question, and if you give me an answer,
I will tell you what right I have to do these things. 
Where did John's right to baptize come from: was it from God or from human beings?”

They started to argue among themselves,
“What shall we say? If we answer, ‘From God,’ he will say to us,
‘Why, then, did you not believe John?’ 
But if we say, ‘From human beings,’
we are afraid of what the people might do,
because they are all convinced that John was a prophet.” 

So they answered Jesus,
“We don't know.”

​And he said to them,
“Neither will I tell you, then, by what right I do these things.