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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.

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