Confessing Our Parents' Sins

The ancients thought more communally than we do today, and part of their community was in the past. That’s one of the reasons that Yahweh was called “the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob” (Mt 22:32) - all the generations were still somehow present to God and to those still alive.

One implication of that communal way of seeing life is that sometimes we see confession of sin including the sins of former generations. That may sound strange to our ears, but it’s entirely biblical. It can be completely healthy and honoring to confess the sins of your family for the generations that came before you. Listen in on this prayer prayed by the leader Ezra:

I am too ashamed and disgraced, my God, to lift up my face to you, because our sins are higher than our heads and our guilt has reached to the heavens. From the days of our ancestors until now, our guilt has been great. Because of our sins, we and our kings and our priests have been subjected to the sword and captivity, to pillage and humiliation at the hand of foreign kings, as it is today. - Ezra 9:6-7

Nehemiah has a very similar approach in his exhaustive prayer of confession in Nehemiah 9. There’s this sense of ownership, of responsibility for the ways that their ancestors mistreated people and broke covenant with God.

As we’ve been thinking about reparations this week, one of the most common objections is this: “I’m not responsible for something that my ancestors did.” Well, that may be an American way of thinking, but it’s not a biblical way of thinking. And since we’re trying to follow Jesus and he honored these scriptures, let’s try to do that as well.

Take some time today to confess the sins of your ancestors as best as you know how. The goal is not to shame yourself or to shame their memory, but simple to name and own the ways they hurt people and broke covenant with God. You may know some specifics. You may suspect some broader strokes. Talk with God. Confess. Lament.