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Our Teeth Set On Edge: Ezekiel on Personal Accountability



This Sunday (9/27/2020), the First Reading is from Ezekiel 18:25-28. It is short and it is easy to miss its point.

Generational Curse

The Old Testament is known for its teaching on the generational curse. God "visiting the iniquity of the parents upon the children and the children's children, to the third and the fourth generation" is a classic example (from (Exodus 34:7).

Ezekiel's Objection

Ezekiel, a prophet in Exile (6th cent. B.C.), does not agree with that. The popular saying, "The parents have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge" is not necessarily true.

He argues that each person should bear responsibility for his or for her own conduct.

You committed an evil act? Only you alone deserve punishment. Punishment is non-transferable. "A child," says the Prophet, "shall not suffer for the iniquity of a parent, nor a parent suffer for the iniquity of a child; the righteousness of the righteous shall be his own, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be his own" (Ezekiel 18:20).

Personal Accountability

Ezekiel writes: "When someone virtuous turns away from virtue to commit iniquity and dies, it is because of the iniquity he committed that he must die. But if he turns from the wickedness he has committed, he does what is right and just, he shall preserve his life" (Ezekiel 18:26-27 - from the First Reading).

Ezekiel's idea predates the modern understanding of individual culpability.

And if corruption thrives as it was in Ezekiel's time, could it be due to a lack of personal accountability?
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Fr. Randy is the current Parish Priest and Rector of the Sacred Heart Parish Shrine in Quezon City, Philippines. He is also the Director of the Biblical Apostolate of the Diocese of Cubao and the coordinator for the Biblical Apostolate of the SVD Philippine Central Province. He teaches Biblical courses at the Divine Word Seminary, Tagaytay City. He holds a doctorate from the Ateneo de Manila University (PhD, 2015) and from the Loyola School of Theology (STD, 2014); Licentiate in Sacred Scripture (SSL, 1999) from the Pontifical Biblical Institute in Rome); an M.A. in Pastoral Ministry from the Divine Word Seminary  (1995). He served as president of the Catholic Biblical Association of the Philippines (CBAP), chairperson of the Tagaytay Religious Association (TRA), Dean of Studies (Divine Word Seminary), and editor of the academic journal  Diwa: Studies in Philosophy and Theology. He founded the Certificate in Theological Studies (CTS) at the Divine Word Seminary and the SVD Tagaytay Alternative Learning System (SVD-ALS), an educational program for the out-of-school youth. Visit also his YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/c/biblicalapostolateph

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