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In Christ, Mark
In Christ, Mark
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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
“‘Everyone who quotes proverbs will quote this proverb about
you: “Like mother, like daughter.” You are a true daughter of your mother, who
despised her husband and her children; and you are a true sister of your
sisters, who despised their husbands and their children. Your mother was a
Hittite and your father an Amorite. Your older sister was Samaria, who lived to
the north of you with her daughters; and your younger sister, who lived to the
south of you with her daughters, was Sodom. You not only followed their ways
and copied their detestable practices, but in all your ways you soon became
more depraved than they. As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign Lord, your
sister Sodom and her daughters never did what you and your daughters have done.”
“Now this was the sin of your sister Sodom: She and her
daughters were arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor
and needy. They were haughty and did detestable things before me. Therefore I
did away with them as you have seen. Samaria did not commit half the sins you
did. You have done more detestable things than they, and have made your sisters
seem righteous by all these things you have done. Bear your disgrace, for you
have furnished some justification for your sisters. Because your sins were more
vile than theirs, they appear more righteous than you. So then, be ashamed and
bear your disgrace, for you have made your sisters appear righteous.”
“You would not even mention your sister Sodom in the day of
your pride, before your wickedness was uncovered. Even so, you are now scorned
by the daughters of Edom and all her neighbors and the daughters of the
Philistines—all those around you who despise you. You will bear the consequences
of your lewdness and your detestable practices, declares the Lord.”
Ezekiel 16:44-52,
56-58
This ends today’s
reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.
Fair or not, we often get compared against other people.
Maybe you have experienced this before.
Culturally, we have seen singers or bands compared to other
singers or bands and, at times, graded against them. Ditto for actors and
actresses or politicians, writers, artists, or maybe even pastors.
On a more personal note, we can find ourselves compared to
others within our own families, especially when we talk about siblings. It’s
true, right? Younger siblings get measured against the older ones. One son will
get contrasted with another one. Sisters get evaluated, one against the other.
Yes, we can easily get matched up with someone else and scored
and/or ranked, even though everyone’s life path can be completely different
with no one series of experiences or occurrences ever the same as another’s.
But as we see in today’s scripture passage and our continued look at Ezekiel
16, there can be enough similarities to make valid assessments and associated
judgments between two entities. Look at these words again here to see how the
Lord introduces us to a sister syndrome in addressing the sinful behavior of
the Israelite people:
“Everyone who quotes
proverbs will quote this proverb about you: ‘Like mother, like daughter.’ You
are a true daughter of your mother, who despised her husband and her children;
and you are a true sister of your sisters, who despised their husbands and
their children. Your mother was a Hittite and your father an Amorite. Your
older sister was Samaria, who lived to the north of you with her daughters; and
your younger sister, who lived to the south of you with her daughters, was
Sodom. You not only followed their ways and copied their detestable practices,
but in all your ways you soon became more depraved than they. As surely as I
live, declares the Sovereign Lord, your sister Sodom and her daughters never
did what you and your daughters have done.”
“Now this was the sin
of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed and
unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy. They were haughty and did
detestable things before me. Therefore I did away with them as you have seen. Samaria
did not commit half the sins you did. You have done more detestable things than
they, and have made your sisters seem righteous by all these things you have
done. Bear your disgrace, for you have furnished some justification for your
sisters. Because your sins were more vile than theirs, they appear more
righteous than you. So then, be ashamed and bear your disgrace, for you have
made your sisters appear righteous.”
“You would not even
mention your sister Sodom in the day of your pride, before your wickedness was
uncovered. Even so, you are now scorned by the daughters of Edom and all her
neighbors and the daughters of the Philistines—all those around you who despise
you. You will bear the consequences of your lewdness and your detestable
practices, declares the Lord.” Ezekiel 16:44-52, 56-58
Note here how God uses a family analogy in order to drive
His point home about the severity of His people’s wickedness as displayed
through their idolatrous worship practices.
The Israelites are portrayed as having two sisters, an older
sister in Samaria and a younger one in Sodom. The Lord lets us know clearly
that all these sisters had one real problem in common regarding their behavior
in His sight: they all adopted detestable practices, a fancy way of saying that
they willfully chose to sinfully worship idols and false gods.
But did you catch the outcome when the Lord compared the
Israelites to their sisters?
He called out His people and elevated their transgressions
over their sisters by saying, “In all your ways you soon became more depraved
than they.” He finished by declaring, “Your sister Sodom and her daughters
never did what you and your daughters have done.”
Wow, wasn’t Sodom completely annihilated by God’s judgment?
And the Israelites’ behavior was more sinful that Sodom’s? That would not bode
well for the people of God who as we know faced their own judgment that
included not only destruction but also seventy years of exile and separation
from their homeland.
As we read on in God’s word, He tells us what got Sodom in
trouble. The people were “arrogant, overfed and unconcerned” and did not “help
the poor and needy.” They were “haughty and did detestable things” in plain
sight of the Lord. And so He did what He had to do under the circumstance. He “did
away with them” and the Israelites were well aware of what had happened as the
destruction of Sodom was a main event in the early days of God’s people.
As for Samaria, they sinned in God’s sight as well but He
tells us that they “did not commit half the sins” as the Israelites did.
Obviously, if the Israelites were worse than Sodom and Sodom was worse than
Samaria than it was obvious that God’s people had “done more detestable things”
than either of them and made Sodom and Samaria “seem righteous” when compared
to what the Israelites had done. Because of this, God called on His people to
bear their disgrace and be ashamed of their sinful conduct. For they were being
scorned, mocked, and despised by others, having fallen from the graces of
respect, the consequences of “lewdness and your detestable practices.”
Now, I don’t know about you but I pray that if the Lord had
to use the “sister syndrome” to describe my life and standing in His sight, it
would look far different than the Israelites in our scriptures for today. For
instead of experiencing consequences for lewd behavior and the outflow of a
detestable lifestyle, I would much rather experience God’s favor and blessings
for living a life fully devoted to Him, a life dedicated to His word, will, and
way, a life that would serve as a positive model for anyone else to follow.
How about you?
Amen
In Christ,
Mark
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