Not My Problem!
“If I tell the wicked, ‘O wicked one, you shall surely die,’
and you do not speak out to dissuade the wicked from his way, the wicked shall die for his guilt,
but I will hold you responsible for his death.”Ezekiel 33:8
On one episode of the sitcom Seinfeld, Elaine asks her then boyfriend Puddy if he believed in God. Puddy said yes. Elaine then asked him if it was a problem that she was not religion. Puddy says, “Not for me.” “Why not?” Elaine asks. Puddy answers, “I’m not the one going to hell.” What Puddy does not understand or realize is that it is and should be a problem for him. The role of each individual within a couple is to help the other become a saint and get into heaven. “Not my problem” is not an acceptable answer; yet, how often is that the answer in our post-Christian world today. But, if we keep going in this direction, not only will those who whole-heartedly reject God go to hell, we too will go with them.
The Lord reminds Ezekiel of his role as prophet. He says that if He tells the wicked the will die because of their evilness and Ezekiel does nothing to persuade them to leave their wicked ways, the wicked will die and Ezekiel will be held responsible for their death. It is not enough for Ezekiel to believe in God and know His will; he must also work to help those around him know the will of God and the consequences of their actions.
In our world today, with Objective Truth tossed out the window, we often hear “your truth” or “my truth,” and people doing whatever their heart pleases even if it goes again natural law and the moral ethical code. We cannot simply turn a blind eye to this. For those of us who have been baptized and partake in the Divine Life of God, we have the duty and responsibility to help our brother and sisters get to heaven. We must never tire of living out of the Gospel truths and we must never say “Well, if God wants them to believe, God will do it.” Yes, God will. He sent you!
When our earthly pilgrimage is over and when we kneel before the throne of God, we have to give an account of our stewardship. We will be asked if we have done our very best to promote the sanctification of all the peoples; in other words, did we tirelessly remind everyone around of the love of God and did we inform them of the dire and eternal consequences of a life that is lived contrary to love and Truth. It is one thing for us to continually preach and live out the Gospel and others still choose to reject God, and it is another thing if we simply gave up sharing the Gospel because “they won’t listen anyways.” The Lord taught that by the former we will have lived out our baptismal calling, but the latter will be evidence that we ourselves have rejected our baptism.
So, unlike Puddy who said that it didn’t bother him that Elaine did not believe in God, it should and must bother us that our society no longer believes in God and that it has chosen to adapt a culture of death. Let us today cast off the “not my problem” mentality and renew our commitment to the love of God and promise to live out our baptismal call in building up one another, sanctifying one another so that the Kingdom of God might be realized here on earth as it is in heaven.
