Proper 18
“Like Father, Like Son?”

We’ve all heard the old adage: “Like father, like son.” We can all point to instances where this is true. We look at someone and clearly see a physical family resemblance, or observe that a certain personality trait or vocational aptitude has been passed on from one generation to the next. But many times a child will have traits that are different from, if not the exact opposite of, their parents.

Our passage quotes a proverb that had been floating around the exilic community: “The fathers eat sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge.” The Living Bible paraphrases this proverb well: “The children are punished for their fathers’ sins.” Certainly children can and do suffer for the decisions of those who came before them (cf. Exodus 20:5). But there were two problems with this worldview the exiles had come to adopt. First, they had adopted a fatalistic, “woe are us,” view on life. Secondly, many people were hiding behind this belief and using it as an excuse to continue sinning. “We can’t help it, that’s the way we are.” Sound familiar?

Yahweh, speaking through Ezekiel, used a case study to try and correct this erroneous worldview. In verses 5-18, he described a father who was righteous in nearly every sense of the word, who has a son who lived a wicked life. This son had a son of his own who followed in his grandfather’s footsteps rather than living the righteous wicked of his father. We see from this case study that a child cannot “cash in” on his parents’ religious beliefs or righteous behavior but must make his faith his own or else suffer the consequences. We can also see that a child growing up in a sinful home environment is also not automatically condemned to a life of sin. The child may rise above it and live to please God.

Yahweh is not a God who prefers hellfire and brimstone. Rather, he is a God who delights in seeing us turn from sin to a holy way of life! On the flip side of the coin, Ezekiel did not preach “once saved, always saved” theology. A follower of God’s law may turn from God to sin and pay the penalty.

This passage concludes with a call to respond: “Repent and live!” As John the Baptist exhorted, “Produce fruit in keeping with repentance” (Matthew 3:8).