Sermons from St. Luke's Episcopal Church in Atlanta
Eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost
Sep 27, 2026 · 13 min · 6 segments
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- God×32Ezekiel×7Jesus×11Israelites×2Jerusalem×2
Sermons from St. Luke's Episcopal Church in Atlanta
Sep 27, 2026 · 13 min · 6 segments
You say my ways are unfair, but isn't it your ways that are unfair? Through the prophet Ezekiel, this is God's response to the lament of the ancient Israelites who have been exiled.
People have been kidnapped and killed and deported.
The structures that organize their political, religious, and communal life have crumbled.
They're trying to figure out how they got there, who is responsible, what it means.
and what in the world they're supposed to do now.
And in the middle of all that, they've developed this little saying.
The parents have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge.
In other words, we inherited this mess.
We are suffering because of what the generations before us did.
And therefore, somehow, what happens now isn't really our responsibility.
That's not how this works.
You are not condemned because of the sins of your ancestors, but neither can you simply shrug your shoulders at what those sins have wrought and continue on perpetuating them.
What an invitation.
The verses in the middle of today's passage that sit between paragraphs 1 and 2 in your bulletin, there are about 20 verses that we don't hear today.
And those verses name the sins that people participated in.
They name them specifically and repeatedly.
They name sins that dehumanize and exploit others.
Sins that concentrate power and privilege while neglecting the poor and the hungry and the vulnerable and those pushed to the margins.
Sins inherited from generations past that make death and destruction seem all but inevitable.
You say my ways are unfair, but isn't it your ways that are unfair? Through the prophet Ezekiel, this is God's response to the lament of the ancient Israelites who have been exiled.
People have been kidnapped and killed and deported.
The structures that organize their political, religious, and communal life have crumbled.
They're trying to figure out how they got there, who is responsible, what it means.
and what in the world they're supposed to do now.
And in the middle of all that, they've developed this little saying.
The parents have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge.
In other words, we inherited this mess.
We are suffering because of what the generations before us did.
And therefore, somehow, what happens now isn't really our responsibility.
That's not how this works.
You are not condemned because of the sins of your ancestors, but neither can you simply shrug your shoulders at what those sins have wrought and continue on perpetuating them.
What an invitation.
The verses in the middle of today's passage that sit between paragraphs 1 and 2 in your bulletin, there are about 20 verses that we don't hear today.
And those verses name the sins that people participated in.
They name them specifically and repeatedly.
They name sins that dehumanize and exploit others.
Sins that concentrate power and privilege while neglecting the poor and the hungry and the vulnerable and those pushed to the margins.
Sins inherited from generations past that make death and destruction seem all but inevitable.
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