TLDR: The reading from John 9:1-41 presents us with a question that had been present in the Jewish mind for at least a thousand years before Jesus and continues to hunt Jews and Christians even today. Read on for more.
At the end of John 8, the Judean authorities picked up stones to kill Jesus because of his statements regarding his relationship with the Father and what he had to say about Abraham, “Your father Abraham rejoiced at the thought of seeing my day; he saw it and was glad.” Jesus then hid himself and was able to slip away from the temple grounds, escaping the stoning. So, you would think that after such a close encounter with death, Jesus would have taken the disciples back to Galilee where he would have felt safer. But this is not what happened.
In the next episode, at Chapter 9, Jesus saw a man blind from birth near the pool of Siloam, and his disciples wanted to know, “Who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” It would have been understandable if Jesus gave his friends a quick and simple answer as he hurried them along on their journey out of the city. But Jesus uses the opportunity to answer a very old question, one that had deep consequences during the Babylonian exile, hundreds of years before his own birth. The question is whether or not God punished children for the sins of their parents. This well-known biblical teaching comes from Exodus 20:5-6 and Deuteronomy 5:9. Both passages have to do with the ten commandments, specifically the command against worshipping false gods, “for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me.”
In antiquity, suffering of any type was often attributed to God’s punishment for the sins of the ancestors. But others believed that suffering was the punishment for a person’s own sin. Since the person in John’s story was born blind, that personal sin would have had to take place prenatally, which in itself is a ridiculous proposition. None the less, some believed it possible. Jesus’ disciples themselves are conflicted. They don’t know whose sin the man is paying for and they pose the question to their beloved Rabbi. You would expect that after three years of instruction and relationship-building with Jesus they would already know the answer to this question, but in many ways, they remain as confused about Jesus as they ever were.
The verses from Exodus and Deuteronomy had severe consequences during the time of the Babylonian captivity. Several decades into the exile (586 BCE-538 BCE), at a time when many of the original Judeans that came into Babylon had died, the people still believed God was punishing them for the sins of their ancestors, and they felt completely powerless to reverse the punishment. They had lost all hope of redemption and believed they would die in foreign territory. All hope to return to the Promised Land was lost.
Against this background, Ezekiel 18:2-3 states, “What do you mean by repeating this proverb concerning the land of Israel, ‘The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge’? As I live, declares the Lord God, this proverb shall no more be used by you in Israel.”
Jeremiah 31:29 agrees with Ezekiel, “In those days they shall no longer say: ‘The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge.’” Suffering is the result of one’s own sin and has nothing to do with the behaviors of parents. But even if the people in Babylon felt that they themselves had sinned in some way, these prophets preach a message of forgiveness that challenges the known orthodoxy of the day. (See Isaiah 40:1ff).
God does not punish the children for the sins of the parents. Even if sometimes we are the victims of decisions made by our ancestors, this is not the result of our sin and this is not God’s intent. Think for example of a wealthy man who gambles all his fortune at poker. Needless to say, his children are then condemned to grow in poverty, although they did nothing wrong. Sometimes we are the sinners, and sometimes we are the people sinned against. When we are the victims of the sins of others, God grieves with and for us and our misfortune can never be seen as punishment. This is antiquated theology that has caused much anxiety in the Church.
During the age of the Mishna (200-220 CE) and the Talmud (around 400 CE), the Jewish commentaries, Israel’s Rabbis often took positions on this same question. “In general the rabbinic sages rejected the notion that children could be punished, even at the hands of God, for the sins of their parents. However, the real intent of this verse (Exodus 20:5) is our responsibility to contain societal evil. If we fail to honor our responsibilities as parents, then though no law will hold us responsible, society’s children will pay the price. They will suffer because of our sins.” (Sacks, Jonathan, “Covenant and Conversations,” Volume II: Exodus, the Book of Redemption.)
Jesus has something to say about this in John 9:3. Even if some suffer because of the behaviors of ancestors, they are not culpable and this is not God’s will for their lives. Likewise, even if someone is suffering the consequences of their own sin, for those who repent, God’s Hesed (unmerited, abounding grace) is infinitely larger than the total sum of our sins. In the case of the blind man, however, his blindness was neither the sin of parents nor his own sin. Some people are simply born blind, but God can glorify His name through the man’s suffering because of the action the Messiah will perform on him. Through this miraculous healing by the Messiah, God’s name is glorified and the man’s life is restored. It is the same with needy people everywhere. The Messiah is always at work in our lives and all we need to do is to open our eyes to see it.
Now, back to the original injunction about God visiting the sins of the parents on the children. The next verse at Exodus 20:6 gives us a correction to the jarring message of 5b by emphasizing God’s Hesed (steadfast love) to thousands of generations. God is personally invested in the loyalty and faithfulness of Israel and will bless the nation’s obedience for thousands of years. This is the message Jesus announces to his people. God’s glory is manifested in his mercy and compassion toward sinners. This love and mercy extends for thousands of generations, as Jesus himself announced, “I am with you to the very end of the age.”
May our Lord continue to bless you. Amen!
Fr. Roman +
