The lament over the chosen people, which the prophet Ezekiel in chapter 19 casts in the form of a kind of parable, is very important, if one may put it this way, in the emotional context of his book. Through almost the entire first half of it, the prophet gives the words of the Almighty, who with bitterness and sorrow exposes sin, calls for amendment, and foretells calamities. And if you do not know Him very well, you may hear in these words shades of vengefulness and even of some strange sadism. There is nothing of the kind there; we simply at times do not know how to perceive the essence of prophetic words. And this lament puts everything in its place.

It is hard to say with certainty whether this lament sounds from the person of Jerusalem grieving over its sins, or from the person of God weeping over the same sins. But something else matters: in the previous chapter the Lord says directly that He does not want the death of the sinner, but wants him to live. And the lament is needed here so that we understand: a person's destruction in his own sins is not the triumph of higher justice, but a tragedy. A tragedy for us and, most importantly, for God Himself. For the sake of our salvation He Himself will do what is great and incomprehensible - and will weep over Jerusalem, because "My heart has turned within Me out of pity for you, My people."

At times it appears to us that such "experiences" as grief cannot belong to God. This is hard to imagine. But Ezekiel's lament bears witness: this very pity and grief are the true manifestations of His love.

The figurative parable about the princes and kings of Israel and Judah, like the parable about the vine - Jerusalem, speaks of the ruinous nature of lawless and unrighteous life, both for a whole people and for an individual person. Death follows sin. But the Evangelist reminds us of the prophet's words that God desires the salvation of sinners and opens for them the path to repentance - the possibility of radically changing one's life, which God gives us by His mercy.

In this parable the vine is called a sturdy tree whose branches are fit for royal scepters. Such a comparison contradicts the recent words about the vine’s fragility and uselessness, but let us not be literalists. This is not only because parables necessarily involve conventions (after all, in this very parable the vine is also a lioness), but even more because the Lord is able to endow the weak with strength. Yet the vine is torn from the fertile soil, and it is torn out because of its children, the lion cubs, who act wickedly.

Does what is said in this parable contradict what was said the day before—that no one should be punished for other people’s sins, but only for one’s own? No, for that passage concerned the deeds each person commits independently. But the lioness, inseparably bound to her cubs and unable to guide them onto the right path, cannot distance herself from her share of responsibility for their sins and lawlessness.