Skip to main content

Sour Grapes

 Ezekiel 18:1-4: The word of the Lord came to me: “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’?

  “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."

             This was a popular saying among those in exile. It suggests that the reason why the exiles are suffering is because of what their parents had done. Our parents rebelled. Our parents were stiff necked.  Our parents forgot about the poor and the needy. Our parents desecrated the temple. Thus the reason why we are hundreds of miles of home is because our parents sinned and God is punishing us for what our parents did. Our parents ate sour grapes and now our teeth are on edge. This proverb became very popular and is shows up in other OT books including the book of Lamentations. In Lamentations 5:7 we read “Our Parents sinned and are no more and we bear their punishment”.

This is why my life is hard. This is why my life goes the way that it does. That is why everything goes against me. This is why I have bad luck after bad luck. My parents did this and I am getting judged for it. My parents screwed stuff up and I am taking the punishment. My parents made destructive choices and I am the one who lives feeling condemned. These exiles are miserable and they have bought into the conventional wisdom that obviously the reason why we are miserable is because of our parents. Are parents aren’t even around anymore and it is our lot in life to simply suffer for what they did. Ezekiel comes to the exiles and says God wants to know why you keep quoting this proverb because “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”.

That is a very strong way of saying stop blaming your misery on others. Everybody belongs to me. You live with the consequences of your actions. You do not have to live at the mercy of what those who came before you did. The conventional wisdom of the exist suggests said that you are not free. You must carry around all of the destructive things that your parents did. So there was this common way of understanding things. You had group think. I mean everybody thinks like this right. I mean everybody cuts corners in business. I mean how are you going to get ahead if you don’t cut corners. Dude like everybody sleeps around. All the kids get wasted on the weekends. Sometimes conventional wisdom is destructive.

The only healthy response is to move beyond the conventional thought and realize that this is destructive. You look at what everybody else is doing and analyze it and you say “No” I am not going to do that anymore. When you look at what Jesus said in the Gospels you see him doing similar things. How many times does Jesus offer his teaching by saying “You have heard it said but I tell you”. Jesus is saying I know that conventional wisdom says eye for and eye and tooth for a tooth. If somebody wrongs you then they should pay for it. If somebody does something destructive then they should live with the consequences. Everybody should suffer if they do something wrong. Jesus says conventional wisdom is revenge but I tell you love, forgive. So what you find Jesus doing is suggesting a move beyond conventional wisdom. To follow Jesus is to be in a place where you can question conventional wisdom. Jesus is saying that by questioning conventional wisdom you will find spiritual growth. This is what we find with Ezekiel. I know that everybody says the reason why we are in such misery is because we are being punished for our parent’s sin. God says stop quoting that proverb. God wants to bring them to a new place of understanding. I don’t care how many people have bought into this it is not true. Everybody stands before me as they are. You don’t drag other people in with you. God says each person is mine. Notice how Ezekiel ends chapter 18.

 “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. 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? For I take no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Sovereign LORD. Repent and live!”

When it comes to the whole sour grapes thing the word repent is not just to turn away it can also mean to get a new mind. Turn away from that thinking and receive a new heart and a new spirit. Essentially what Ezekiel is suggesting is that on our own there may be some pain that it too great. Let God give you a new heart and a new spirit. One of the most radical statements in scripture is “This is the Day that the Lord has made”. But I just got in a car accident, my relationships have fallen apart and I hate my job. It is not about comparing days it is a statement of consciousness. Today, right now, right here, God is working and we do not have to live with our teeth on edge. Ezekiel brings us good news that the old can be put away and something new can be birthed. Maybe today we might accept that gift of a new heart that God desires to give and take our teeth off the edge.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

What is 666 all about?

There are a lot of things that can totally creep us out. Certain foods. A dark hallway. Halloween night with a full moon. Watching a fast food worker cough into their hands and then use their hands to wrap up your burger. Clowns. People who have way too many cats. Lots of stuff creep us out.  For many the number 666 is creepy. The number is often connected to the Devil, evil happenings or viewed as a bad omen. A few years ago I was doing some visiting rounds as a hospital chaplain. I visited a man who was in room 6XX. The hospital knew that people were creeped out by the number 666 so they changed the room number to 6XX. As I visited with the man in the room he informed me that he was a good Baptist, had been going to church for years, and was mad. I mean he was really mad.  He expressed his great displeasure at being in “the Devil’s room.” He got loud, so loud that I am sure the people at the other end of the hallway could hear him. He had quickly figured out that 6XX was rea...
3 comments
Read more

Battle Fatigue? Try Peace

I heard a story about a church minister that had put on a marriage seminar. One of the skills that the minister taught the couples in attendance was reflective listening. It is a method of listening to what someone is saying and then reflecting or repeating what you heard the speaker say back to them. It is a slow and methodical way for couples to communicate. Yet it can be highly effective, especially if things between the couple are tense emotionally. Once the minister explained the skill he then asked the couples to practice. After a few moments one of the guys spoke up and said “I don’t think this is going to work for my marriage.” The minister replied “Why not?” The gentleman explained, “This seems nice and all but when I fight I just want to have a fight.” That’s fair. There is some emotional release in fighting. A good fight can make us feel alive and vigorous. Sometimes a fight can remind us about the things that are meaningful and important to us. Anger isn’t always bad. It is...
Post a Comment
Read more

You can always stop Barabbas

So why release Barrabas instead of Jesus?      “Very simple: if you let Barabbas go, you can always stop him. The most Barabbas will do is go out, round up another bunch of guerrillas and start another riot. And you will always stop him by rolling your tanks into his neighborhood, bringing out the National Guard and putting his riot down. Find out where he is keeping his ammunition. Raid his apartment without a search warrant and shoot him while he is still asleep. You can stop Barabbas.      But how do you stop Jesus? They took and nailed him to a cross. But they did not realize that, in nailing Jesus to the cross, they were putting up on that cross the sinful nature of all humanity. As Christ was nailed to the cross, it was more than just a political radical dying; he was God's answer to the human dilemma. On that cross Christ was bearing in his own body my sin, and he was proclaiming my liberation on that cross. And on that cross he shed his ...
Post a Comment
Read more