(Begin with a video of the song “Gee Officer Krupke” from West Side Story.)
(I’ve
always thought it was funny that all the characters in the 1961 cast of West
Side Story all look pretty-well dressed and clean cut!)
Here
we have the street gang calling themselves The Jets making any and every
excuse for their problemed lives. They
blame their home lives, their parents, societal systems, and on and on for
their numerous problems. But what do
they not do at all? Take ownership of
their own actions!
Now
I do not at all want to minimize the serious challenges and obstacles people can
face because of their upbringings. You
do not get to choose your family of origin, or your gender, or your race, your
nationality, and a host of other things.
I also do not want to minimize the life-long trauma that can be created
in an abusive home. Children need safe
places and safe people. That goes a long
way to helping create an upstanding and productive adult. At the same time, sooner or later people need
to take ownership of their lives and realize they are more than the hand life
dealt them initially.
That
doesn’t necessarily mean that they’ll ever totally overcome everything. But being a conscientious adult means
ultimately being a productive part of society and a safe and constructive
person.
In
our reading from Ezekiel we encounter a message from God to the ancient Jews
living in exile in Babylon. It’s
impossible to know what their lives were like, but scholar Thomas Renz, in The
Rhetorical Function of the Book of Ezekiel (Pg.44-45) says this,
“Having
been part of Judah’s upper class, they had left behind family, social status
and material possessions. They had seen
people dying during the siege and must have had further losses of life on the
long and arduous journey to Babylonia, where they received a humiliating
“welcome,” as certainly as Nebuchadnezzar made sure he received a hero’s
welcome. Even with these events receding
somewhat in the background, the reality was that they had exchanged their hilly
homeland and the pleasant climate of Jerusalem for the flat and hot Babylonian
low lands, and at least some of them were certainly not used to the hard manual
labor now required of them. To this must
be added, at the time before the fall of Jerusalem, the mixture of hope and
fear concerning their own Jerusalem’s situation.”
Indeed,
if the chronology of Ezekiel is correct, what we read today is from the time
shortly before the Jewish exiles received word that Jerusalem had been
destroyed.
Their
feelings were certainly complex and mixed.
Some scholars suggest they were despairing. In terms of faith, they appear to be angry;
or ready to give up. Perhaps like the
gang in West Side Story they were blaming all sorts of situations that were
beyond their control. They seem to have
been quoting a then popular saying, “The parents have eaten sour grapes, and
the children’s teeth are set on edge.”
And thinking things like the Ten Commandments where it says, “…I the
Lord your God am a jealous God, punishing children for the iniquity of their
parents, to the third and fourth generation…”
(Exodus 20:5) They were thinking
that they were being punished by God for the sins of their parents. This is understandable. For centuries the prophets had proclaimed
that punishment would come from God if the people did not change their
ways. Those in exile felt they were
being punished by God for the sins of their ancestors. It just didn’t seem fair!
It
is into this mindset that Ezekiel’s word from God comes. Through Ezekiel God says this is not
true. Those who are righteous will
live. Those who are wicked will suffer
the consequences. If the righteous
change their ways and become bad then they too will be treated like the wicked. And if the wicked change their ways, and make
restitution for their past, then they will live.
In
other words, each is responsible for him or herself. Indeed there may be bad things in the past
that have contributed to the present.
But as for a person’s relationship with God, and how God treats that
person, that is up to that own person.
God is just.
That
reality is easy to put into a statement.
In reality it is much more complex.
As we live in a complex world it is hard to realize the full impact of
our decisions. We may be doing great
good or great harm and not realize it.
Ultimately we always need to come before God with humility recognizing
that God alone knows the fullness of the truth and God alone is judge.
As
we have looked at Jeremiah and now Ezekiel I think I have accurately portrayed
the two major branches of Judaism. In
Jeremiah we see those who were left behind in Jerusalem and eventually moved
away. In Ezekiel we see those who were
taken into exile. In both cases God has
placed a major prophet to continue to speak to the people. In other words, God has not abandoned them at
all. God is still with them. They may not like the truth that God is
telling them, but God is residing with them and will not let go. Ultimately it is God who brings them back to
their homeland again.
It
is also God who will not let them get away with excuses. God sees.
God knows. Whether life seems
fair or not God’s justice will prevail.
With
God taking care of justice we can then fully apply ourselves to the work of
God’s kingdom. Perhaps that means
working for earthly justice for those who are not getting it. Perhaps it is rolling up our sleeves and
doing the hard work the world requires.
Perhaps it is being a quiet steady presence in the midst of calamity. Whatever it is, it is embracing the goodness
God created in us and in the world around us and making it flourish.
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