Wickedness & righteousness

As I live, says the Lord God, I do not wish for the death of the wicked, but for the wicked to repent of his way so that he may live. Repent, repent of your evil ways, for why should you die, O house of Israel! And you, son of man, say to the members of your people: The righteousness of the righteous will not save him on the day of his transgression, and the wickedness of the wicked-he will not stumble upon it on the day of his repentance of his wickedness, and a righteous man cannot live with it on the day of his sinning. When I say of the righteous that he will surely live, and he relied on his righteousness and committed injustice, none of his righteous deeds will be remembered, and for the injustices, which he committed, he shall die. And when I say of the wicked man, "You shall surely die," and he repents of his sin and performs justice and righteousness, the wicked man will return the pledge, he will repay the theft; in the statutes of life he walked, not to commit injustice-he will surely live, he will not die. All his sins that he sinned will not be remembered for him: he performed justice and righteousness; he will surely live.

Ezekiel 33: 11-16

I’ve seen a lot of people mention Ezekiel: 33:11 in connection with Osama Bin Laden’s death, and while it makes sense to me, I think that taking it in a broader context illuminates an important idea. It reminds us that we can’t simply rest on our merits nor should we dwell on our failures and mistakes. For we will be judged not by our past actions but on our current actions, neither the wickedness nor righteousness of past actions matters only what we do in this moment. That is the central teaching found here and it is an important lesson for us all.

L’Shalom