SIXTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST
Christ Our Savior Lutheran Church
Repentance and Sour Grapes
Ezekiel 18:1-11a,13b, 25-32
The word of the LORD came to me: 2 “What do you
people mean by quoting this proverb about the land of
Israel:
“‘The parents eat sour grapes,
and the children’s teeth are set on edge’?
surely as I live, declares the Sovereign LORD, you
will no longer quote this proverb in Israel. 4 For everyone
belongs to me, the parent as well as the child—both
alike belong to me. The one who sins is the one who will
die.
10 “Suppose
he has a violent son, who sheds blood or
does any of these other things 11 (though the father has
done none of them)…
Will such a man live? He will not! Because he has done
all these detestable things, he is to be put to death; his
blood will be on his own head.
3 “As
5 “Suppose
there is a righteous man
who does what is just and right.
6 He does not eat at the mountain shrines
or look to the idols of Israel.
He does not defile his neighbor’s wife…
7 He does not oppress anyone,
but returns what he took in pledge for a loan.
He does not commit robbery
but gives his food to the hungry
and provides clothing for the naked.
8 He does not lend to them at interest
or take a profit from them.
He withholds his hand from doing wrong
and judges fairly between two parties.
9 He follows my decrees
and faithfully keeps my laws.
That man is righteous;
he will surely live,
declares the Sovereign LORD.
25 “Yet
you say, ‘The way of the Lord is not just.’ Hear,
you Israelites: Is my way unjust? Is it not your ways that
are unjust? 26 If a righteous person turns from their
righteousness and commits sin, they will die for it;
because of the sin they have committed they will die.
27 But if a wicked person turns away from the
wickedness they have committed and does what is just
and right, they will save their life. 28 Because they
consider all the offenses they have committed and turn
away from them, that person will surely live; they will not
die. 29 Yet the Israelites say, ‘The way of the Lord is not
just.’ Are my ways unjust, people of Israel? Is it not your
ways that are unjust?
30 “Therefore,
you Israelites, I will judge each of you
according to your own ways, declares the Sovereign
LORD. Repent! Turn away from all your offenses; then sin
will not be your downfall. 31 Rid yourselves of all the
offenses you have committed, and get a new heart and a
new spirit. Why will you die, people of Israel? 32 For I
take no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the
Sovereign LORD. Repent and live!
“The parents eat sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge” (Ezekiel 18:2).
So what do you think this ancient and popular Israelite proverb quoted in the First Lesson meant and what are we
supposed to learn from it about repenting today? That’s what the sermon is about.
First, let’s try to understand the words themselves. “The parents eat sour grapes,” is simple enough to understand.
It’s “the children’s teeth are set on edge” that’s needs a little explanation. The original Hebrew means something
like the children grit their teeth. We usually think of one’s reaction to extremely sour food in terms of the mouth or
lips, not so much the teeth. Regardless the proverb’s point is clear: children suffer for what the parents do.
Next, let’s understand why such thinking was common when the First Lesson was written. It’s because there had
already been two deportations of the best and brightest of Israel into captivity. Young, talented Israelites like
Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego and scores of others had been taken prisoner as the Babylonians
extended their dominion over Judah. Then eight years later the Babylonians took another 10,000 up and coming
Israelites hostage, including the son of a priest named Ezekiel. At first the captives held out hope that the Lord
would intervene and they would soon return to their homes and families. But then Ezekiel received from the Lord a
heart-rending, hope-crushing message that would be the first third of his prophesy. There’d be no divine-
intervention, no eleventh hour rescue. Jerusalem would soon be destroyed by the Babylonians as divine judgment
for generations of Israelite unfaithfulness to God’s covenant with them. It was the same message Jeremiah was
proclaiming to their parents back in Jerusalem … the same message Isaiah had proclaimed to their grandparents and
great-grandparents decades before. Destruction was inevitable. No one would be going home before the prophesied
seventy-years of captivity were completed, which meant never at all for most of them.
So the Exiles got into the habit of complaining, “The parents eat sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on
edge.” In other words, our parents broke the Covenant and our grandparents worshipped idols, and we’re the ones
taken into captivity? God’s punishing the wrong people! The wrong people are suffering.
Your parents don’t have to be idol-worshipping Israelites in order to understand where such complaints were
coming from. We often attribute the suffering of children to the shortcomings of their parents and think it’s unfair.
For instance, there’s the landmark 1995 study which determined children hear between 45 million and 13 million
words spoken to them by the time they are four years old. It then went on to establish a direct link between academic
performance in third grade and the number of words heard during the first four years of life (Hart & Risely). The
greater the number, the better the grades. And vice versa. Social workers and educators who must deal with the
children comparatively ignored by absent or broken or dysfunctional parents have termed this phenomenon “the 32
million word catastrophe.” Israelites would say, ‘See! “The parents eat sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set
on edge”’ (Ezekiel 18:2).
But what might be true in modern developmental psychologically, God wasn’t buying neither as a complaint about
how he was administering justice to Israel in Ezekiel’s day nor as an excuse not to put off personal repentance. “As
surely as I live, declares the Sovereign Lord, you will no longer quote this proverb in Israel. For everyone belongs to
me, the parent as well as the child—both alike belong to me. The one who sins is the one who will die …Therefore,
you Israelites, I will judge each of you according to your own ways,” (Ez 18:3-4, 30).
What the self-pitying, exiled children of those covenant breaking parents back in Jerusalem forgot was they
themselves had plenty of their own sins to repent of too. You heard them in those descriptions of those hypothetical
men representing different generations of a family. They ranged from blatant idolatry to “innocent” little
compromises with it (18:6 a). There were mentions of sexual sins (18:6 b) and of not returning a security deposit
(18:7). Of oppressing the poor (18:12) and taking advantage of a neighbor in need of a loan (18:13). Of playing
favorites (18:8) and of getting mixed up in all sorts of questionable practices (18:12). They weren’t suffering some
unfair punishment for their ancestors’ sins in Israel, they were getting what they deserved for their own sinning even
while in captivity!
Randy and Heidi brought little Eleanor to be baptized today primarily because the Bible lists all sorts of blessings
God gives through this Sacrament and they wanted their daughter to enjoy them like they do. But they also brought
her to address a problem the Bible said she had. You see, Eleanor and all children are born with “inherited” or
“original sin.” Some object to this teaching of God’s Word, saying it is unfair for God hold someone liable for
offenses their parents and grandparents committed. But it’s not so much about punishment as it is about human
nature. As in “fleshing giving birth to flesh” (John 3:6). As in cats giving birth to kittens. As in dogs giving birth to
puppies. As in the children of two sinners being natural born sinners … not saints. To get hung up on the
hypothetical and the supposed unfairness of God’s justice in regard to sins of commission and sins of omission
during Eleanor’s first weeks of life is disingenuous and distracting from God’s call for everyone to repent… which
incidentally is one of the blessings he gives through Baptism even to little babies.
So if repentance is not about blaming your parents for the sour grapes of their sins … if it’s not about self-pity …
and if complaining about God’s unfairness doesn’t put you on the path to actually do it … then what exactly does
repentance consist of? God told his captive children in Babylon, “Turn away from all your offenses; then sin will
not be your downfall. Rid yourselves of all the offenses you have committed, and get a new heart and a new spirit.
Why will you die, O house of Israel? For I take no pleasure in the death of anyone … Repent and live!” (Ez 18:3032). Repentance for those people consisted of turning away from and ridding oneself of sin. This required
continuous and conscious effort to identify how they were sinning and to try to stop it. It also consisted of getting a
new heart and a new spirit. Perhaps today we’d say a new attitude, but it’s more than that. It is a new creation of
God within those in whom God’s worked the gift of faith (Another blessing given through Baptism, by the way!).
And it’s totally influenced and empowered by the mercy and grace of God to act live like Jesus did.
That’s what today’s Second Lesson is really all about. After describing the obedience of Christ for all sinners in
eating all the sour grapes of their sins and gritting his teeth unto death on a cross because of it, Paul appealed to this
new heart and new spirit in the Philippians and in us to: “continue work out your salvation with fear and trembling,
for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose” (Philippians 2:12,13). Which is
what again? The same thing he wanted for the Israelites held in Babylon: “Repent and live!” (Ez 18:32).
So let’s summarize what we learned about repentance:
1.
While it might be true developmentally or practically true that the bad actions of the parents cause their children
to suffer, it is nevertheless no excuse before God to not recognize your own sins and repent of them.
2.
Self-pity is not synonym for repentance.
3.
Repentance involves continuous and conscious effort to turn away from sin and to rid ourselves of it.
4.
Repentance also requires God to give us through the Gospel new hearts and minds that want to repent and even
to forgive those whose sour grape eating habits may have set our teeth on edge.
Amen.
Sermon No.1324
September 25 & 28, 2014
Pastor Tim Gauger
cosrock_pastor@hotmail.com
Prayer of the Day
L:
C:
Mercifully grant, O God, that your Holy Spirit may in all things direct and rule our hearts, for without your
help we are unable to please you. We ask this through Jesus Christ, your Son, our Lord.
Amen.
Prayers of the Church
L:
God of our salvation, we falter before the demands of your law and have not always heeded your
continuing call to repent. Pour out your mercy on us as you showed to your people of old and forgive our
sins; Lord in your mercy,
L:
Lord Jesus, we thank you for today having applied your Law and Gospel to our lives. Give us new hearts
and new spirits so that we would be quick and constant in repentance and thus continue to work out our
salvation with fear and trembling. Lord in your mercy,
L:
O merciful Lord Jesus Christ, we do not presume to come to your table trusting in our own righteousness
but we come at your invitation with humility, gratitude, and in the spirit of true repentance. By your body
and blood given to us in, with and under the bread and wine of the Sacrament work in us to will and to act
according to your good purpose. Lord in your mercy,
Petitions
Lord in your mercy,