If this is your first viewing, please see my Introduction before reading this.
5 June. Ezekiel chapters 18-20
A couple of days ago [link] I mentioned that Ezekiel’s message was directed against individual, rather than communal sin. In Chapter 18 that principle is taken further, and the idiom (common in English too) “like mother, like daughter” does not apply when it comes to God’s judgement of individuals. I am guilty neither for my parents’ sin, nor my children’s. Nor can I blame them for my own sin or expect them to suffer for it. The simple and universal principle is, “if you sin you will die. If you are good you will live”. Neither is an unchangeable outcome: sinners can repent and live, while even normally good people can commit sins that lead to death.
In this sense, “die” and “live” obviously cannot refer to mere physical death, for everyone does die, and one of life’s apparent injustices is that evil people do not necessarily die younger or live less successful lives than holy people. No, what is meant is spiritual life and death, in the same sense that Jesus later claimed that anyone who believed in him would be “born again”. This means having an acceptable relationship with God in this life, free from guilt and open to his blessings, and which will lead to happiness in the life to come (whatever that may be).
After a “lamentation” (song of mourning) in chapter 19, In chapter 20 Ezekiel returns to the principle of each generation being responsible for itself, as he confronts the leaders of the exiles with their nation’s history. It is one of repeatedly wasting God’s promises, missing the opportunities for right and holy living, and turning away to idols. But time after time, God’s anger against one generation is replaced by his compassion for the next – provided they will do right. And in this generation to which he speaks, will they do right? Will they accept the opportunity they are about to be given to return to Jerusalem and live as God’s people were intended to do, starting from scratch? More importantly, what will our generation here and now do? And going back to the previous lesson about the responsibility lying with individuals rather than whole communities, what are you or I going to do with the opportunities given to each of us to return to God and live his way? The responsibility is ours.