The Reluctant Disciplinarian

Passage: Ezekiel 18

When God introduces the Law to his people early in their life together, God tells them,
I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.
It’s a pretty harsh pronouncement. So much so that it lodges itself inextricably in the consciousness of God’s people. Even though they forget most everything else God says, they remember this one isolated statement: “…punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation…” Over time God’s people even develop their own little proverbial riff on it: “The fathers eat sour grapes and the children’s teeth are set on edge.” They’ve gotten the message: children will be punished for the sins of their parents and grandparents and even great-grandparents.

In Ezekiel 18 God addresses the proverb. Ezekiel records,
“As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign LORD, you will no longer quote this proverb in Israel. For every living soul belongs to me, the father as well as the son—both alike belong to me. The soul who sins is the one who will die.”
Initially this sounds bad. But for a people who are convinced that the sins of their grandparents have disqualified them from salvation, it’s very good news. It’s now clear that every person is separated from God only by his or her own sins. Here, says God, is your motivation to live a new life.

To drive the point home, God says this:
“…if a wicked man turns away from all the sins he has committed and keeps all my decrees and does what is just and right, he will surely live; he will not die. None of the offenses he has committed will be remembered against him. Because of the righteous things he has done, he will live. Do I take any pleasure in the death of the wicked?” declares the Sovereign LORD. “Rather, am I not pleased when they turn from their ways and live?”
God, it turns out, wants nothing more than for his children to repent - literally, to return.

I recently watched an episode of Modern Family in which Phil and Claire, parents of three school-aged kids, struggle to become better disciplinarians. It’s Christmas Eve; Phil, Claire and the kids are talking with the grandparents over the computer. And Claire notices a cigarette burn on the sofa. Immediately they confront their kids. And Phil, in an effort to establish parental credibility, declares, “That’s it! If whoever’s responsible doesn’t come forward, we’re cancelling Christmas!” No one confesses. Phil and Claire take down the tree. But then they spend the rest of the episode trying to figure out how they can, as a family, reinstate Christmas. They don’t delight in punishing their kids (contrary to what their kids allege). They discipline them reluctantly, as a means toward a greater end.
God doesn’t delight in punishment. God delights in his children, and wants nothing more than for them to be reconciled to him and to each other.