Ezekiel 16:49-58: a reflection

49“‘“Behold, this was the iniquity of your sister Sodom: pride, fullness of bread, and prosperous ease was in her and in her daughters. She also didn’t strengthen the hand of the poor and needy. 50They were arrogant and committed abomination before me. Therefore I took them away when I saw it. 51Samaria hasn’t committed half of your sins; but you have multiplied your abominations more than they, and have justified your sisters by all your abominations which you have done. 52You also bear your own shame yourself, in that you have given judgment for your sisters; through your sins that you have committed more abominable than they, they are more righteous than you. Yes, be also confounded, and bear your shame, in that you have justified your sisters. 53“‘“I will reverse their captivity, the captivity of Sodom and her daughters, and the captivity of Samaria and her daughters, and the captivity of your captives among them; 54that you may bear your own shame, and may be ashamed because of all that you have done, in that you are a comfort to them. 55Your sisters, Sodom and her daughters, will return to their former estate; and Samaria and her daughters will return to their former estate; and you and your daughters will return to your former estate. 56For your sister Sodom was not mentioned by your mouth in the day of your pride, 57before your wickedness was uncovered, as at the time of the reproach of the daughters of Syria, and of all who are around her, the daughters of the Philistines, who despise you all around. 58You have borne your lewdness and your abominations,” says the LORD.

In this passage, God names the sin of Sodom, and the naming may surprise us. We might expect a catalog of dramatic wickedness; but God says: This was the sin of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters had pride, plenty of food, and prosperous ease, but did not aid the poor and needy. Pride, excess, comfortable ease, and the neglect of the poor, these are named as the heart of Sodom's guilt.

Notice the sins God highlights here: not only open wickedness, but pride, overindulgence, and prosperous ease that ignored the needy. Sodom had plenty, and lived at ease, and grew proud, and in the midst of its comfort it did not stretch out a hand to help the poor and needy around it. This comfortable, self-satisfied neglect of the needy was itself a grave sin in God's sight, part of the guilt for which Sodom was judged.

That challenges our assumptions about what sin is. We often think of sin in terms of dramatic wrongdoing, and overlook the quieter sins of comfortable prosperity: the pride, the overindulgence, the ease that grows indifferent to the needy around us. But God names these as serious. It is possible to commit no dramatic wrong while living in a comfortable ease that never troubles itself about the poor and needy, and this itself is a sin God takes seriously. Examine whether your own comfort has made you indifferent to those in need. Do not let prosperous ease make you proud and blind to the poor. Stretch out your hand to the needy around you, rather than resting in a comfort that ignores them, for the comfortable neglect of the poor is a sin God does not overlook.

Lord, when you named the sin of Sodom, you highlighted pride, plenty, and prosperous ease that did not aid the poor and needy; the comfortable neglect of the needy was itself a grave sin in your sight. Challenge my assumptions about what sin is. I often think of sin in terms of dramatic wrongdoing, and overlook the quieter sins of comfortable prosperity: the pride, the overindulgence, the ease that grows indifferent to the needy around me. But you name these as serious. It is possible for me to commit no dramatic wrong while living in a comfortable ease that never troubles itself about the poor, and this itself is a sin you take seriously. Show me whether my own comfort has made me indifferent to those in need. Keep my prosperous ease from making me proud and blind to the poor. Help me stretch out my hand to the needy around me, rather than resting in a comfort that ignores them. Do not let me neglect the poor from the midst of my ease.