September 1

(Posted on behalf of Jon Lanuza)

"As for you, son of man, your countrymen are talking together about
you...saying to each other 'Come and hear the message that has come from the
Lord.' My people come to you...to listen to your words, but they do not put
them into practice. With their mouths they express devotion, but their
hearts are greedy for unjust gain. Indeed, to them you are nothing more
than one who sings love songs with a beautiful voice and plays an instrument
well, for they hear your words but do not put them into practice."

For the Israelites living in exile, slave to the Babylonians, it might have
been entertaining, nostalgic even, to hear prophecies of a return to Israel
and to the prosperity and comfort they must have still remembered. When
Jeremiah would speak of the Lord bringing them into their own
land...pasturing them on the mountains of Israel...of being able to lie down
in good grazing land, their eyes would probably turn both hopeful and
wistful. And then the reality of their situation, the devastation of Israel
and their exile, would set in, and their eyes would cloud over, and hope
would flee as reality set in. And they would then turn away, as if at the
end of a good song on the radio, back to their lives.

A few would probably engage Ezekiel...you can almost hear the
conversation..."Sure, Zeke, nice story and all. But how do you know this is
going to happen? Look at us! Where's the hope? And if you're right, and
this is all going to happen, then when?" And all Ezekiel would have were
the words he'd already used, and they'd shake their heads and think "silly
old Ezekiel. Good for a laugh, but now it's time to face facts. Time to
get back to the real world."

And therein appears to lie the problem. To those unable to take strength
from Ezekiel's words, the real world likely did not have God in it. That
world was built around the self as the greatest authority and source of
security, and the satisfaction of selfish desires as the greatest
imperative. This is why "you rely on your sword, you do detestable things".
This is why the leaders "eat the curds, clothe [themselves] with the wool
and slaughter of choice animals, but do not take care of the flock". And
this is why they "shove with flank and shoulder, butting all the weak sheep
with [their] horns until [they] have driven them away", why "it is not
enough for [them] to feed on the good pasture [that they] must also trample
the rest of the pasture with [their] feet...muddy the rest [of the clear
water] with their feet".

To take heart in Ezekiel's prophecies, one's understanding of the world had
to begin with God. So His promises, spoken through Ezekiel, would not have
been wistful love songs suited only to distraction from the real world, they
would have been just as true and real as the challenges the exiles faced.
And they would have been able to take courage, and wait patiently.

As a husband and a father worried about providing for his family, I often
find myself thinking like the exiles. God's promises are nice, but I have
to get back to work, because "if it is to be, it is up to me". How arrogant
and self centered of me! I pray that God become the center of my reality,
so that whatever challenges I face, I face in the certainty that the exile
will come to an end, and I and my family "will lie down in good grazing
land".


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