Person-2-Person - October, 2017

Dr. Anil Kr Sinha observed, “We all should be wise enough not to make the same mistakes twice. We should all learn to make amends, forgive and move on. Regret nothing because this has taught you something valuable. Do not forget the right way that your mistakes have taught you.” Unfortunately, most of us, myself included, aren’t that wise. We don’t always learn from our mistakes or the mistakes of others, and neither did the early disciples who came before us.

Ezekiel proclaimed that succeeding generations would no longer suffer for the sins of their parents (18:2-3). Reading the passage, you can’t help thinking it’s common sense: you shouldn’t have to pay for someone else’s sins. Not your ancestors’, or your parents’, or your children’s, just your own. Ezekiel lived during the Exile, when his people had been conquered by the Babylonians, and thousands had been taken captive. People believed they were being punished unjustly for the sins of their parents. But Ezekiel said, “Not so fast. You’re not exactly sinless, you know. If you want to escape guilt, you need to confess and repent your own sins.”

It’s true, though. People do suffer for their parents’ and ancestors’ sins. Folks in our parents’ and grandparents’ day weren’t good stewards of the environment, and today we’re dealing with the results. Pregnant women who use drugs can give birth to children who are born addicted, or have learning or developmental problems. And the young people known today as “DREAMers” are criminals because their parents brought them into the country illegally.

Ezekiel wasn’t saying anything new. Deuteronomy 24:16 (ESV) says, “Fathers shall not be put to death because of their children, nor shall children be put to death because of their fathers. Each one shall be put to death for his own sin.” While the idea of being put to death for your sins isn’t exactly comforting, at least the idea that you won’t be punished for someone else’s is.

But even after Ezekiel proclaimed his message, the idea still wouldn’t die. In John 9, Jesus and his disciples pass a blind man, and the disciples ask, “‘Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?’” (2b ESV). But Jesus says, “Neither.” He tells them there’s a reason the man is blind but it has nothing to do with sin. Ezekiel was written between 560 and 570BC, about 600 years before this conversation took place, but the disciples still didn’t “get it.” They still thought in terms of children being punished for their parents’ sins. Time and again, Jesus had to teach them the same lessons. Do you think maybe sometimes Jesus wanted to say to the disciples, “Yea, verily, what is thy problem?” Do you think maybe sometimes he wants to say it to us?

It’s possible he might, because we do it too, all the time. Except, instead of not “getting” lessons that are six hundred years old, we “don’t get” lessons that are two thousand years old. Part of the problem is that we have short memories. We need to keep learning the same lessons. It’s the reason why preachers keep preaching sermons, and why we keep having bible studies and Sunday school classes. We keep learning the same lessons about sin, being human, grace, and redemption.

But we have a God who doesn’t give up on us, who understands that we can have short memories, that we forget what we should remember and remember what we should forget. We have a God who helps us remember (Psa. 111:4). And so, we shouldn’t give up on each other or on the world. The gospel is a message of hope, a message we relearn as needed, a message we can share with other “forgetful” sinners.

“The word of the Lord came to me: ‘What do you mean by repeating this proverb concerning the land of Israel, “The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge”? As I live, declares the Lord God, this proverb shall no more be used by you in Israel. Behold, all souls are mine; the soul of the father as well as the soul of the son is mine: the soul who sins shall die.’” (Ezek. 18:1-4 ESV.)