Word to the Wise
Saturday, August 14, 2010 - St. Maximilian Mary Kolbe, ofm.conv
[Ezekiel 18:1-10, 13b, 30-32 and Mathew 19:13-15]The word of the Lord came to me: Son of man, what is the meaning of this proverb that you recite in the land of Israel: "Fathers have eaten green grapes, thus their children's teeth are on edge"? As I live, says the Lord God: I swear that there shall no longer be anyone among you who will repeat this proverb in Israel. For all lives are mine; the life of the father is like the life of the son, both are mine; only the one who sins shall die.
It is an ancient question! Are the sins of the parents visited upon the children? From the times before Ezekiel to the present day, there are ways in which one might answer "Yes" to the question. We do inherit certain things from our ancestors, especially our parents - either by DNA or by external behavior (e.g. as a result of abuse). The issue in Ezekiel, however, is a moral one. Are the children responsible or punished for the sins of the parents? The issue arose in the Gospel of John when the disciples ask Jesus if a man born blind was being punished for the sins of his parents. Both Ezekiel and Jesus answer the question with a "NO!" The proverb quoted in Ezekiel must have been the popular way of expressing the ancient belief that God punished later generations for the conduct of earlier ones. (We hear a secular version of this often in matters of the environment and the national debt!) Ezekiel and Jesus plainly state that we are each responsible to God for our own conduct. Ezekiel provides a wonderful list of what a righteous person should be doing. The Lord, through Ezekiel, begs us all to take responsibility for our lives and to walk in his ways. If we fail to do so, we have only ourselves to blame. AMEN
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