Saturday 14 August 2010

Background

You could easily imagine that the Jewish exiles in Babylon wouldblame 'them', the lucky ones who didn't get deported the firsttime, for their current plight. But Ezekiel will have nothing ofit. They are just as responsible for their situation as anyoneelse. Ezekiel's message is to all of Israel, not only the presentbut to the entire historical nation.

Ezekiel raises a question that crops up in several places in theBible: Are the sins of the parent passed on to the children? Hetakes three examples: good parent - bad child; bad parent - goodchild; and more generally, a person moving either way between goodand evil. In each case the message is clear and unambiguous. Thosewho are righteous will live and those who are unrighteous will die,unless they repent.

The Lord God does not want people to die but to live. The holy LordGod wants us to be holy too, but that responsibility lies withourselves, not with 'them' - the government, our parents - notanyone. How easy it is to blame poor parenting or poor governmentfor social problems without taking responsibility for themourselves.

The holy Lord God wants us to be whole people, in wholesomerelationships. But that means taking responsibility for ourthoughts and our deeds ourselves, not blaming someone or somethingelse for our shortcomings. God wants us to respond to whoever andwhatever affect us in a way that is both holy and wholesome.

To Ponder

How much are your attitudes and opinionsinfluenced by your parents?

How do we escape from blaming others for what wefeel are our own shortcomings?

How much is blaming poor parenting the modernequivalent of the 'sins of the parent' being passed on to thechild?