Ezekiel 18:1-4, 25-32
Everyone likes personal accountability, as long as it’s someone else being held accountable. Everyone likes a good fire and brimstone sermon when the law rains down on some other sinner. Everyone likes a good call to repentance, but it’s not so comfortable when the spotlight lingers a little too long on my own faults, my own corrupt heart, my own sinful thoughts, words and deeds.
Today’s reading from Ezekiel has God calling the people of Israel to repentance once again. They were in a bad spot. They had suffered the indignity of being conquered by a foreign nation, seen their beloved Jerusalem and its holy temple destroyed. And now, they were living in exile, in a foreign land, among a pagan people, cut off from all that they held dear. And they tried to make sense of all this calamity.
That’s not so unusual. When bad things happen, we often ask ourselves, “why?” We look for reasons, try to make it all make sense.
They had come up with a slogan: ‘The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge’ They were telling themselves a story to explain their pitiful situation. They were blaming their fathers. They ate the sour grapes, and we have the bad taste in our mouth. They sinned and rebelled against God, and we are the ones who have to bear the punishment.
Humans are good at blaming others. It’s a tradition that goes all the way back to Eden, when Man blamed Woman and Woman blamed Serpent. But blaming others is just a poor attempt at shifting focus from our own sin and guilt. It’s a way to squirm out of repentance, and deny that my own sin is my real problem.
God does not accept their slogan, or their blame, or their refusal to see their own sin. The one who sins is the one who dies. And we know that all sin, and so all must die. You can’t blame someone else, your parents, your ancestors, even Adam and Eve. God holds each of us accountable for our own actions, and calls each of us to repentance, individually.
It seems their blame went even further, though. Ultimately, it was God they were blaming for their predicament. As if he was not just. As if he had some sadistic delight in sending them this calamity. “Why is he punishing us? We aren’t the ones who sinned!”
But he doesn’t accept this either. He puts their focus squarely back on their own wicked actions.
It reminds us of Jesus’ own teaching about the need for repentance. From Luke 13:
There were some present at that very time who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. 2 And he answered them, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered in this way? 3 No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. 4 Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them: do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who lived in Jerusalem? 5 No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.”
The same God who spoke through Ezekiel is the one who takes human flesh in Christ, and helps us make sense of suffering. Rather than try and decipher who is to blame for this disaster, or that calamity. Rather than try to make everything in this corrupt and fallen work make sense. Rather than try to know the mind of God when it comes to these things – Jesus calls us to repentance!
Any suffering, any sorrow, any disaster or disease or death which brings us low – ought to make us repent of our own sins. There’s no point in trying to micromanage God’s treatment of another sinner, when you and I have enough sins of our own to keep us in daily repentance.
Ezekiel continues. If a righteous person turns away and does injustice, he will die. Here we learn that it is possible to fall from faith, and what a serious thing that is. It ought to serve as a stern warning to all of us, never to stray from a life of repentance. Never to rely on our own self-righteousness, or think we don’t need God. You can fall from faith. You can turn away from God. Save us from this, dear Father in heaven!
And likewise, if a wicked person repents and turns to God in faith, he will live. God will forgive. God wants to forgive the wicked!
The God who sent the prophets like Ezekiel, also sent John the Baptist, with a message of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. And then came Jesus, preaching the same – repent and be forgiven. But Jesus doesn’t just preach about that forgiveness, he provides it.
The God who takes no pleasure in the death of anyone, and desires not the death of the wicked, sent his own Son to die in place of the wicked. Jesus redeemed us from our debt of sin, by the price of his holy, precious blood. He brings us out of bondage, not in Egypt, or exile in Babylon, but from the dungeon of our sins, and the valley of the shadow of death. The righteous one dies for the wicked ones. The Son of God for all the sons of men. For you.
Repent, dear friends. Turn away from your sins. Rend your hearts and not your garments. Forsake your wicked ways. And God the merciful Father will always forgive you for the sake of his Son our Lord Jesus Christ. His death on the cross guarantees it. And his resurrection proves it.
Turn away from your sins, and turn to Christ in faith. Receive the righteousness that he freely gives. And you will see its fruits bourn out in your life. A new heart and a new spirit lead to new compassion for others, and a desire to serve.
And the promise here in Ezekiel is the same promise for the righteous in Christ. Repent, and live! The Christ who overcame the grave by his death and resurrection has paved the way for your resurrection, and made your death but the gate to eternal life. Yes, the soul that sins shall die. But whoever lives and believes in Jesus will live, even though he dies. And whoever lives and believes in him will never die.
We are accountable to God. Each person must stand on his own before the Judge of the living and the dead. No one else’s good name or good works or vouchsafe will avail you.
For the wicked, there is no hope. But for the righteous, that is, for those who are in Christ, the account has already been settled. The accountability was resolved at Calvary. And there remains for you only life in Christ, and that, in abundance.
With Christ, there are no more sour grapes. Instead, he gives us wine that is his blood of the new covenant, shed for you for the forgiveness of sins. He feeds you his own body, given into death for you. And at his table our transgressions are forgiven, our iniquity is absolved, and our ruin is averted.
So turn away from your sins, again, and always. Turn to Christ and live, now, and forever. Amen.
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