Sermon on Ezekial 18
There are many voices in the world today.
One does not need to listen hard to hear them, or to sense their number.
Many are those who tell us we are all in this life together and how 'this person' is not at fault and 'that person' is not at fault, but really it is society that is at fault.
Or the government ... or 'big' business ...
And if there is sorrow, these voices say it was their fathers who set their teeth on edge, that our parents are the ones to blame. Or our children are to blame. Or the public is to blame.
And they make the understanding of justice so complex ...
They preach that the path to goodness is a matter of having the right circumstances ... of having the right education, the right resources, the right ideology.
But the God of Israel has determined that our solution is a new heart, and a new spirit.
The voices speak today as they spoke in the time of Ezekiel. They are a chattering of gossipers, a slandering against God, and yet they talk of proverbial wisdom. In their craftiness they accuse God of being unjust.
Are God's ways unjust? Or are our ways unjust?
Certainly there are occasions when misfortune strikes the just, and God allows His rain to fall on the evil as well as the obedient.
Yet, God assures his people that the soul who sins will die.
A man who appears to do evil seems to succeed, but death is already coming for him.
God is not blind to the cries of the oppressed. We may not see the work he does to protect and to change, and we may not hear clamboring voice drawing the least attention to it, but the one who sins will die.
The word of God is a different voice. One only needs to catch a glimpse of it to see that it is not like the voice of worldly wisdom.
The world never singles out a person and says, "If you hear me and follow my ways you will certainly live." The world only understands probabilities, trivia, and generalities.
'If you steal the sour grapes, someone else will (probably) be punished...'
How great is the depth of the scorn and deceit of the world!
It first sets itself up as a judge to scoff at the criminality of others, when it is clearly one's own life that is at stake. Mixed with the pride in judging these invisible criminals, it begins to envy them and say, 'How much better I am than the evil-doers, and how much I would wish to be like the evil-doers eating the sour grapes!'
The second practice of the world is to join in the acts it condemns. To what can we call the agony of duplicitly holding such opposite intents, but death? We have the assurance of God Himself that death waits for those who sin and do not turn from their evil ways.
How unlike the voices and proverbs of the world, to say everything is left up to the individual! To say that life and death are at hand! To identify the singularity of the moment and say, 'This is when you must decide!'.
To count a man's sins against him no longer!
Very often a worldly man will welcome someone with a tarnished background. He will smile and excuse his acts with societal proverbs about grapes -the very proverbs he excuses his own behavior- and even before the lowly one reluctantly agrees the worldly man is already saying to himself:
The worldly man is quick to recall the injustices of others, but unable to survey the criminality of his own ways.
The ways of the Lord are set apart. When a wicked man turns from his ways and sets in his heart to obey all the decrees of God's Word, the Lord himself says,
When a famous person errs, he often gathers the crowds and apologizes. The spectacle draws many, but no one forgets and the condition of the man is the same.
But when a sinner errs and turns to God, it is as though the jabbering of the crowd quiets down and vanishes away. His offences will not be remembered against him, and, behold! He is a different man because he is alive!
In the same way God calls everyone -the ones who have deaf ears as well as the ones with ears that hear- to repent and be saved from the downfall of sin and death.
Teach us, O Lord, to view our sins, and to turn from them that we may find our wrongs forgotten and our hearts full of life.
One does not need to listen hard to hear them, or to sense their number.
Many are those who tell us we are all in this life together and how 'this person' is not at fault and 'that person' is not at fault, but really it is society that is at fault.
Or the government ... or 'big' business ...
And if there is sorrow, these voices say it was their fathers who set their teeth on edge, that our parents are the ones to blame. Or our children are to blame. Or the public is to blame.
And they make the understanding of justice so complex ...
They preach that the path to goodness is a matter of having the right circumstances ... of having the right education, the right resources, the right ideology.
But the God of Israel has determined that our solution is a new heart, and a new spirit.
The voices speak today as they spoke in the time of Ezekiel. They are a chattering of gossipers, a slandering against God, and yet they talk of proverbial wisdom. In their craftiness they accuse God of being unjust.
There's nothing for the criminals to do. They have to turn to crime.
The rich just keep getting richer -and they don't deserve their riches.
People that do good things are punished for them.
Are God's ways unjust? Or are our ways unjust?
Certainly there are occasions when misfortune strikes the just, and God allows His rain to fall on the evil as well as the obedient.
Yet, God assures his people that the soul who sins will die.
A man who appears to do evil seems to succeed, but death is already coming for him.
God is not blind to the cries of the oppressed. We may not see the work he does to protect and to change, and we may not hear clamboring voice drawing the least attention to it, but the one who sins will die.
The word of God is a different voice. One only needs to catch a glimpse of it to see that it is not like the voice of worldly wisdom.
The world never singles out a person and says, "If you hear me and follow my ways you will certainly live." The world only understands probabilities, trivia, and generalities.
'If you steal the sour grapes, someone else will (probably) be punished...'
How great is the depth of the scorn and deceit of the world!
It first sets itself up as a judge to scoff at the criminality of others, when it is clearly one's own life that is at stake. Mixed with the pride in judging these invisible criminals, it begins to envy them and say, 'How much better I am than the evil-doers, and how much I would wish to be like the evil-doers eating the sour grapes!'
The second practice of the world is to join in the acts it condemns. To what can we call the agony of duplicitly holding such opposite intents, but death? We have the assurance of God Himself that death waits for those who sin and do not turn from their evil ways.
How unlike the voices and proverbs of the world, to say everything is left up to the individual! To say that life and death are at hand! To identify the singularity of the moment and say, 'This is when you must decide!'.
To count a man's sins against him no longer!
Very often a worldly man will welcome someone with a tarnished background. He will smile and excuse his acts with societal proverbs about grapes -the very proverbs he excuses his own behavior- and even before the lowly one reluctantly agrees the worldly man is already saying to himself:
What a despicable man, wholly inferior and a reminder of my greatness.
The worldly man is quick to recall the injustices of others, but unable to survey the criminality of his own ways.
The ways of the Lord are set apart. When a wicked man turns from his ways and sets in his heart to obey all the decrees of God's Word, the Lord himself says,
None of the offenses he has committed will be remembered against him.
When a famous person errs, he often gathers the crowds and apologizes. The spectacle draws many, but no one forgets and the condition of the man is the same.
But when a sinner errs and turns to God, it is as though the jabbering of the crowd quiets down and vanishes away. His offences will not be remembered against him, and, behold! He is a different man because he is alive!
In the same way God calls everyone -the ones who have deaf ears as well as the ones with ears that hear- to repent and be saved from the downfall of sin and death.
Teach us, O Lord, to view our sins, and to turn from them that we may find our wrongs forgotten and our hearts full of life.
Labels: Bible Reflection, Death, Ethics
2 Comments:
Beatiful!
Pam
Ummm, sorry, that's "Beautiful!"
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