What about the Younger Generation?

Sermon on Ezekiel 15:1-8

“The Lord is my shepherd, he loves his lamb chops. He leads me to the quiet barbeque, and makes me lie down on the grill. Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I still cannot escape him. Your rod and your staff, they tenderize me. You prepare a table, for eating of course. You anoint my head with oil, and my juices overflow. Surely my tastiness and flavour will follow you all the days of your life. And I will dwell in the tummy of the Lord forever. Amen.” How do you like my new version of Psalm 23? It is still the same imagery of shepherd and sheep. But now it changes from a comforting message into a terrifying one.

This is essentially the same effect Ezekiel was trying to achieve with today’s passage. The imagery of Israel as the vine of God was familiar to the Israelites. It was touching and comforting.
From the Psalms it says: Psalm 80: 8 “You transplanted a vine from Egypt; you drove out the nations and planted it. 9 You cleared the ground for it, and it took root and filled the land.”
The prophet Isaiah similarly proclaimed this more than a hundred years before Ezekiel’s ministry: Isaiah 5: 1 “I will sing for the one I love a song about his vineyard: My loved one had a vineyard on a fertile hillside. 2 He dug it up and cleared it of stones and planted it with the choicest vines. He built a watchtower in it and cut out a winepress as well.”

In these imageries, God is the gardener who loves his vine. He is the one who planted it. He is the one who laboured on it. He is like your uncle with his favourite bonsai that he trims every day. He is like your aunty with her favourite pot of flowers. He is like Pastor Daniel with his favourite humongous cactus. This was a great source of pride to the Israelites, because they were chosen by God to be his special vine. To illustrate this intimate relationship between the gardener and his vine, allow me to show this clip from the movie ‘A walk in the clouds’[i].

In the movie, the vineyard was burnt because of an accident. But they dug up the root and asked if there was still hope. Did you see the expression on the gardener’s face? “It’s alive! Plant it, it would grow.” In the wood of the vine was life. And as long as it was alive, the vineyard that was burnt could be resurrected. The life of the vine and the life of the gardener are inter-connected. With the vine, the gardener can grow his fruits, his family and his vision. Israel is the choice vine of God.

Yet, using the same imagery of the gardener and his vine, Ezekiel ridiculed the notion that, as the vine of God, the Israelites were special in any way. From a source of pride, the imagery then became a target of insult. First, he asked if the wood of the vine was of any use by itself. Compared with the wood of trees, it is not useful. It is not strong; it cannot be used to make anything. It is only good to be thrown into the fire as fuel. Then he asked if the burnt wood of the vine was of any use. Again, it is not useful compared with metal which is purified by fire. It is useless to begin with, and it is even more useless after being burnt by fire.

Then Ezekiel explained the shocking imagery to his audience. The inhabitants of Jerusalem were just like a vine to God. But instead of using the imagery to express how intimate they were to God, he used it to show how useless they were to him. They were only good for burning. Not only that, after they were burnt to the core, they become even more useless. In the same way, God was going to destroy these people by fire. And even though there may be some that will survive the initial destruction, God will continue the destruction until it is complete. Before the destruction, the inhabitants of Jerusalem were of no value to God. The remainders of the vine after being burnt by fire, referring to those who escaped the siege of Jerusalem, they were worth nothing as well. The imagery of the vine illustrated the thoroughness and completeness of the destruction. There was nothing worth preserving, nothing worth saving, and nothing worth pitying. Twice in the passage God said “I will set my face against them”. It was stated once before the burning and once after the burning. Both times, the phrase means God will pour out his fury. This fury will continue even after the siege of Jerusalem, until all the escapees are destroyed. This is the imagery of the vine. The vine is useless before being burnt by fire. It is useless after being burnt by fire. God burns until the vine is absolutely consumed.

What could be the reason for this prophecy? It seems excessive to us that God has to spell out his intentions so explicitly. Yes, we know he was judging Israel. Why did he have to go to the extent of telling Ezekiel's audience that his judgment would also be thorough and complete? I believe the reason is this: God was addressing the opposing voices who might question the validity and severity of his judgment. The argument they raised was: what about the younger generation? When God is exercising his judgment, what about the younger generation? Won't somebody please think of them? Citing the interests of the young is an argument often used to justify or to prevent certain actions.[ii] In this case, some may argue that God’s judgment is wrong since the younger generation are harmed in the process. How can God choose a course of action which results in the sons and daughters of the evil Israelites becoming collateral damage? This argument has some merits. We often presume the youth to be less liable for any misdeeds. They need to be protected. They represent the future and the future has an unknown potential for change.

Therefore, God has to address this charge against him. What about the younger generation? They are part of the inhabitants of Jerusalem. He would responsible for harming them when he destroys Jerusalem in his judgment. Surely their interest is a reason to stop his judgment. To this charge, God gives his answer in the preceding passage:

Ezekiel 14: 19 “Or if I send a plague into that land and pour out my wrath on it through bloodshed, killing its people and their animals, 20 as surely as I live, declares the Sovereign LORD, even if Noah, Daniel and Job were in it, they could save neither son nor daughter. They would save only themselves by their righteousness.
 21 “For this is what the Sovereign LORD says: How much worse will it be when I send against Jerusalem my four dreadful judgments—sword and famine and wild beasts and plague—to kill its men and their animals! 22 Yet there will be some survivors—sons and daughters who will be brought out of it. They will come to you, and when you see their conduct and their actions, you will be consoled regarding the disaster I have brought on Jerusalem—every disaster I have brought on it. 23 You will be consoled when you see their conduct and their actions, for you will know that I have done nothing in it without cause, declares the Sovereign LORD.”

In the coming judgment of God, only those who are righteous will be saved. But they can only save themselves. No one else, not even their own children, can be saved by their righteousness. The next generation are not presumed to be innocent, they will be judged for their righteousness just like every other individual. And to those who are upset or angry about this, God will show them proof. There will be some survivors who will escape the destruction of Jerusalem. These survivors belong to the younger generation, they are “the sons and daughters”. They will eventually reach the exiles in Babylon. Ezekiel's audience can see for themselves their conduct and their actions. They will see that the next generation are just as evil as their parents. This is why God’s judgment has to be complete. This is God's justification to the argument of those voices. He has shown that he does not punish without cause.

This is the imagery of the vine. It was useless before being burnt by fire; it is just as useless after being burnt by fire. The vine before being burnt represents the inhabitants of Jerusalem. God poured out his fury on them by burning them. The vine that is burnt by fire represents the survivors who escaped the destruction of Jerusalem. They were the “sons and daughters” who are of the next generation. Yet God says, (v.7) “Although they have come out of the fire, the fire will yet consume them. And when I set my face against them, you will know that I am the LORD.” God will continue his fury on these sons and daugthers. Their conduct and actions are living proof that they deserve God’s judgment. They are just as evil as their parents. Like a vine, being burnt in fire does not change their value. God has no use for these burnt useless vines.

The imagery of the vine serves as a strong warning to all of us. A vine is useless unless it bears good fruits. Like the clip we saw earlier, a vine is only useful if it is alive on the inside. Sometimes I meet people who brag about how pious their parents are. They talk about how much their ancestors or their family have contributed to this church. That is of course good and commendable. But it means very little if the good works of the earlier generations do not have an influence on you. There once was grace, when your family was chosen to serve the Lord. You are the choice vine of the divine gardener. But are there fruits now? Once the vine turns useless, it becomes even more useless when it is burnt by fire. We cannot rely on the righteousness of others, even that of our forefathers, to escape judgment from God. So, how do we ensure that we always bear good fruits, glorifying and witnessing the grace of God in our lives?

Jesus says in John 15:  5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. 6 If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. 7 If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8 This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.

Just as how the imagery of the vine was transformed by Ezekiel to knock the Israelites out of their comfort zone, Jesus also transforms the imagery. This time, God is not just the gardener; God is within the vine itself. As so Jesus says “remain in me” because “in him was life”(John 1:4). “And that life was the light of man”. Brothers and sisters, this sermon series on Ezekiel is a good time to review God’s calling for us. There is the useless vine, and there is the fruitful vine. The determining factor is faithfulness. “8 I will make the land desolate because they have been unfaithful, declares the Sovereign LORD.” This is why Jesus calls us to abide in him. We have to let his words remain in us. These words are manifested in our actions and in our conduct, the same test as it was for the sons and daugthers of the Israelites. Bearing fruits is the way for us to show that we are the true disciples of Jesus. May God remember our faithfulness and count us as righteous on the day of judgment.

i This clip can be found at: http://movieclips.com/HvK9-a-walk-in-the-clouds-movie-the-root-of-your-family/
ii See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Children’s_interests