Lectionary: Proper 21(A)
Text: Ezekiel 18:1-4, 25-32
For most of us, fairness is often synonymous with equality:
equal distribution of goods and equal treatment as people. Fairness is also a
way of expressing a facet of justice: being treated in a way that is deserved
by one’s actions.
Now, we do see fairness with a bias. For example, if we have
more than someone else, we don’t think that is necessarily unfair, but if
someone else has more than us, we tend to think of that as unfair to us. And if
we are treated more generously than our words and actions deserve, we don’t
think that is unfair, but if we see someone else not receiving the just deserts
of their bad behavior, we quickly label that unfair and unjust.
We also want to believe that everything that happens is a
direct consequence of some other action or state of being. If something good
happens to us, it must be because we are good or did something right.
Conversely, if something bad happens to someone else, it must be because they
are morally lacking and did something bad. Notice too, the cognitive bias
implied in the last two sentences. We tend to think that for ourselves, good is
causal but bad is not, whereas when we think of others, we tend to think that bad
things happening to them are causal and deserved.
It should then be no surprise that people through history have
asked how God and gods fit into the scheme of fairness. In many mythologies,
the gods are like humans, except with vastly greater powers. Their concern is
with themselves and have little regard for minor creatures such as humans. With
these gods, humans’ relationship to the divine is appeasement and hoping they
stay out of whatever schemes the gods are involved in.
In other mythologies, gods do have regard for created
beings, but mostly as servants whose worship, offerings, and sacrifice offer
increased power to the gods. In return the gods might offer the worshipers
power, protection, and other benefits, so long as the worshipers obeyed all the
god’s demands.
And then we come to the God who first revealed a Godself distinct
from the other gods to Abraham. The God who would be known as Yahweh, the God
who claimed Israel and worshiped by the Jews, the God whom Christians believe
was incarnated in Jesus and the God whom we worship. We might hope that our
scriptures would provide a clear and unambiguous answer about how God responds
to human behavior. But what we find in the Bible are different ideas, some of
them contradictory.
One of the early texts where we find information about how
God punishes and rewards is found in Exodus 20:4-6.
4 Do not make an idol
for yourself—no form whatsoever—of anything in the sky above or on the earth
below or in the waters under the earth. 5 Do not bow down to them or
worship them, because I, the LORD your God, am a passionate God. I punish
children for their parents’ sins even to the third and fourth generations of
those who hate me. 6 But I am loyal and gracious to the thousandth
generation of those who love me and keep my commandments. (Exodus 20:4-6 CEB)
The final section of the book of Deuteronomy echoes and
expands into detail what will happen if the people obey God and what will
happen if they disobey God. If the people obey, they should expect lasting
blessings and prosperity from God. If they disobeyed, they should expect curses
and calamity to fall upon them until they are wiped out.
When the predicted calamity falls upon the kingdom of Judah
and they are taken exile into Babylon, Ezekiel (and Jeremiah) offers a
different perspective on God and God’s actions toward human behavior. These
prophets now say that everyone is responsible for their own actions and that
neither righteousness nor sin transmits across generations.
There are at least two hypothetical scenarios that depict
what the people may have been thinking at this time. The first is that they
might have thought that since they were suffering for the sins of their
predecessors, that nothing they did would change their future circumstances.
The second is that there were those among the exiles who did not participate in
the sins attributed to the community, yet they were suffering alongside those
who did. Neither of these sounds fair.
What Ezekiel offers is a new perspective on how God works
with human choice. Here is a summary of the verses skipped in today’s reading
from Ezekiel. A hypothetical example of a father, a son, and the son of the son
(grandson) is given. The father is righteous and he finds life. The son,
however, rejects his father’s ways and lives wickedly. The son does not gain
the benefits of his righteous father. He is judged according to his own deeds
and dies. The son’s son turns away from his father’s wicked ways and lives a
righteous life. The sins of the father are not transmitted to the son. This
last son, the grandson, also finds life. But more crucially is that the text
then goes to state that those who turn from their wicked ways and live righteously
will live, and none of their sins will be considered.
23 Do I take pleasure in
the death of the wicked? says the LORD God. Certainly not! If they change their
ways, they will live… 32 I most certainly don’t want anyone to die!
This is what the LORD God says. Change your ways, and live! (Ezekiel 18:23, 32
CEB)
To those who suffer under the hands of the wicked might
consider this aspect of God, unfair. How can God simply ignore the evil that
was done? But keep in mind that we are predisposed to want grace for ourselves
but judgment for others. God is not like us. God wants life for everyone, even
for those that have committed the most heinous evils.
As we move into the gospels, Jesus offers further
perspective on evil. John 9 starts with a story about a blind man.
1 As Jesus walked along,
he saw a man who was blind from birth. 2 Jesus’ disciples asked,
“Rabbi, who sinned so that he was born blind, this man or his parents?”
3 Jesus answered,
“Neither he nor his parents. This happened so that God’s mighty works might be
displayed in him. (John 9:1-3 CEB)
And in Luke 13, we read:
1
Some who were present on that occasion told Jesus about the Galileans whom
Pilate had killed while they were offering sacrifices. 2 He replied,
“Do you think the suffering of these Galileans proves that they were more
sinful than all the other Galileans? 3 No, I tell you, but unless
you change your hearts and lives, you will die just as they did. 4
What about those eighteen people who were killed when the tower of Siloam fell
on them? Do you think that they were more guilty of wrongdoing than everyone
else who lives in Jerusalem? 5 No, I tell you, but unless you change
your hearts and lives, you will die just as they did.” (Luke 13:1-5 CEB)
In these two passages, the people are holding to the idea
that all evil must have a distinct cause, or that those who suffer evil must
have done something to bring it onto themselves. But Jesus counters that
thought. He explains that bad things just happen in this world. There does not
have to be any direct cause or effect relationship involved.
Suffering and evil is a consequence of living in this world.
The Exodus text when interpreted with what we know about history is that it is
correct in that evil and harmful actions do have downstream effects that could
last over generations. The field of epigenetics has shown that those conceived
and birthed in stressful environments can carry epigenetic markers that are
transmitted across generations.
The Ezekiel text is correct in that no one can choose life
or death for us but each of us individually. The Ezekiel text (the ones that
were skipped) also speak at length to how righteousness is exhibited primarily
in how one treats others. This is fully in line with Jesus’ teachings found in,
for example, Matthew 25. A profession of faith or belief in God and Christ is
meaningless if it does not change us to conform to the kind of life Jesus
lived.
As Jesus explained, evil and suffering is a consequence of
living in a world of human. Sometimes the consequence can be directly traced.
But often, consequences add up over time.
This world will never be fair. I think it is unrealistic to
think that any of us can ever be fully fair, and perhaps we don’t want to be
fair.
God is not fair. Because God is gracious and generous. And I
think gracious is what we are called to be when we take on the mantle of
Christ.
It is through acts of grace that Jesus overcame and defeated
the power of sin and death. When the political and religious powers joined to murder
Jesus, he did not demand fairness and justice. He offered forgiveness and grace
instead.
The Bible shows a progression from retributive justice to
grace and restorative justice. May we grow and mature from merely wanting
fairness to offering grace.
In the name of God our Creator,
In the name of God our Restorer,
And in the name of God who challenges us to be more
gracious, Amen.
Bibliography
Bartlett, D. L., & Brown Taylor, B. (2010). Feasting
on the Word: Year A, Volume 4. Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox
Press.
Bühler, J. C. (2018, November 14). Even
three-year-olds have a keen sense of fairness. Retrieved from BOLD:
https://boldscience.org/even-three-year-olds-have-a-keen-sense-of-fairness/
Sweeney, M. A. (2013). Reading Ezekiel: A
Literary and Theological Commentary. Macon, GA: Smyth & Helwys.
Van De Laar, J. (2026, September 21). Being Fair
in an Unfair World. Retrieved from Sacredise Your Life!:
https://sacredise.substack.com/p/being-fair-in-an-unfair-world
William B. Eerdmans. (2003). Eerdman's Commentary
on the Bible. Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans.
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