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By Greg Carey<\/a><\/p>\n Ezekiel speaks compellingly to the current situation in the United States.\u00a0 But is the prophet\u2019s message true?<\/p>\n Precise Diagnosis<\/strong> <\/p>\n It\u2019s 2011.\u00a0 Could a passage possibly speak more directly to a society still encumbered by the effects of unjust lending?\u00a0 With politicians waging a national campaign against the poor \u2013 \u201cTax them more, and liberate the job creators!\u201d \u2013 could Ezekiel\u2019s message strike closer to the heart?\u00a0 In the United States the private corrections industry actually writes the laws by which we incarcerate immigrants, and we imprison more of our citizens than does any other \u201cfree\u201d society.\u00a0 How can we ignore this prophet, who demands equal justice for all people? With so many people waving Bibles around and holding prayer meetings, one would expect some familiarity with the way of God. Instead, it seems the loudest Christians declare Ezekiel\u2019s message unjust.<\/p>\n Thank God some religious leaders<\/a> are stepping up to resist my home state\u2019s draconian immigration law. Ezekiel\u2019s God surely acknowledges the other religious leaders<\/a> who challenged both Democrats and Republicans to remember the poor in their response to the federal deficit.<\/p>\n <\/br><\/p>\n Nagging Question<\/strong> Ezekiel refutes a common proverb: \u201cThe parents have eaten sour grapes, and the children\u2019s teeth are set on edge\u201d (18:2<\/a>). Remarkably, Jeremiah also rejects this same proverb (Jeremiah 31:29-34<\/a>).\u00a0 But there\u2019s a stubborn thing about such proverbs:\u00a0 they usually convey profound truth. One generation\u2019s sins (of omission and commission) often manifest themselves in the suffering of the next.<\/p>\n Painful family legacies confirm the old proverb. One generation\u2019s alcoholism is the next generation\u2019s disability. Domestic violence and sexual abuse migrate from generation to generation. The surest predictor of one\u2019s poverty is the poverty of one\u2019s parents.<\/p>\n The proverb speaks not only to households but also to societies. It speaks powerfully to our current situation in the United States. Those of us who came of age in the 1970s and 1980s looked after ourselves. Our grandparents made enormous sacrifices so that we could prosper. They tilled farms and toiled in factories \u2013 many of them did both \u2013 so that we could finish school and find steady employment. We pursued wealth, and some of us attained it. We demanded lower taxes.\u00a0 We bought houses far larger than our parents even desired. Our 401(k) accounts were more important to us than building our society\u2019s infrastructure.<\/p>\n We ate the grapes, but our children will taste their full sourness. Ezekiel and Jeremiah are only partly correct. Children do suffer the consequences of their parents\u2019 sins.<\/p>\n <\/br><\/p>\n A Compelling Vision<\/strong> Ezekiel knows the truth of that very proverb he rejected. Due to his ancestors\u2019 unfaithful ways, he resides as an exile in Babylon. The bitter taste in his mouth comes from his parents\u2019 generation. Yet the word of the Lord that comes to him reveals an alternative truth.<\/p>\n In other words, Ezekiel calls us to break from our former patterns to embrace God\u2019s ways. As we parents move farther and farther toward retirement and beyond, the prophet\u2019s vision calls us to set our children free.<\/p>\n <\/br><\/p>\n Follow Greg Carey<\/a> on Twitter.<\/em><\/p>\n <\/br><\/p>\n Learn more about the ON Scripture Editorial Board Click here<\/a> <\/p>\n Learn more about ON Scripture Click here<\/a><\/p>\n Like ON Scripture Click here<\/a><\/p>\n Follow ON Scripture Click here <\/a><\/p>\n ON Scripture is made possible by a generous grant from the <\/strong>Lilly Endowment<\/a> <\/strong><\/p>\n
\nThe society the prophet addresses suffers from a severe lack of perspective.\u00a0 It knows God\u2019s standards.\u00a0 These appear in the verses our Lectionary passes over, Ezekiel 18:5-24<\/a>.\u00a0 God condemns idolatry, sexual immorality, exploitative lending, and violence. God demands that people look to the needs of the poor and ensure that the powerless receive the same justice as do the powerful.\u00a0 The society knows God\u2019s ways, and yet it rejects them.\u00a0 \u201cThe way of the Lord is unfair!,\u201d it cries.<\/p>\n
\nAmazing that an ancient prophet would speak so truthfully to the specifics of our own circumstances. But is Ezekiel correct?<\/p>\n
\nBut a prophet\u2019s truth does not reside in accuracy assessment of the contemporary situation. It lies in the power of the prophet\u2019s vision. Ezekiel reveals the enormous gap between our ways of accounting things and the ways of God. Our actions do resonate through the generations. But God\u2019s graciousness grants each generation a fresh start. True prophets reveal God\u2019s world to us, and that world judges the inadequate truths by which we live.<\/p>\n
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