Tag Archives: hard times

Ezechiel, for those over Thirty

Leave a reply

We‘re reading the Prophet Ezekiel at Mass these days. Early Jewish scholars considered him hard to read; only those over 30 should read him, some said. We have the same difficultly. The lectionary for today, Friday in the 19th week of the year, offers a gruesome story of infanticide. A infant girl is thrown out to die. Not a pretty story to look at.

It’s a story harsh to hear and hard to understand. Infanticide, a form of abortion. child abuse, gender discrimination, prostitution, ingratitude, forgetfulness of God. Ezechiel describes his own society in dark terms. Yet, all the while God is there. We’re offered a shorter version in our lectionary to spare us from the ugly details.

But don’t miss God’s intervention:

“You became mine, says the Lord GOD.Then I bathed you with water, washed away your blood, and anointed you with oil. I clothed you with an embroidered gown, put sandals of fine leather on your feet; I gave you a fine linen sash and silk robes to wear. I adorned you with jewelry… You were exceedingly beautiful, with the dignity of a queen.”

“But you were captivated by your own beauty,
you used your renown to make yourself a harlot,
and you lavished your harlotry on every passer-by,
whose own you became.”

“Yet I will remember the covenant I made with you when you were a girl,
and I will set up an everlasting covenant with you,
that you may remember and be covered with confusion,
and that you may be utterly silenced for shame
when I pardon you for all you have done, says the Lord GOD.”
{Ezechiel 16, 1-69)

Ezeckiel’ story of the abandoned girl is a story of sin and redemption. All the while God is there.

Look at the hard times, don’t ignore or hide from them, but see them with the eyes of God, the prophet says. “Thus says the Lord GOD,” I swear I am coming… I will claim my sheep…I will save my sheep…I myself will look after and tend my sheep.” (Ezekiel 34,1-11)

Good words for us today?

Ezekiel, Words for Hard Times

2 Replies
jewsinexile
Jewish captives led to Babylon, 6th century BC

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We begin reading the Prophet Ezekiel weekdays at Mass. He was a priest brought captive to Babylon along with King Johoiachin and members of the Jewish elite after the Babylonians crushed the Jewish revolt  in 597 BC. He could be one of those pictured above, on their way to exile .

The Jewish elite taken to Babylon were convinced God would never permit Jerusalem to be destroyed. When it was destroyed, they were just as convinced it would be rebuilt quickly. You’re wrong in both cases, Ezekiel tells them. Jerusalem will be destroyed and it won’t be God’s fault– it’s yours. You are unfaithful leaders.

“Thus says the Lord GOD: Woe to the shepherds of Israel
who have been pasturing themselves!
Should not shepherds, rather, pasture sheep?
You have fed off their milk, worn their wool,
and slaughtered the fatlings,
but the sheep you have not pastured.
You did not strengthen the weak nor heal the sick
nor bind up the injured.”

Jerusalem won’t be restored by your power either, Ezekiel says. It will take time, and it will come in God’s time, not yours, by God’s power, not yours. In the meantime, ask God to take away your hearts of stone and give you natural hearts.

The Jewish leaders didn’t like Ezekiel’s message:

“Son of man, listen! The house of Israel is saying, ‘The vision he sees is a long time off; he prophesies for distant times!’ Say to them therefore: Thus says the Lord GOD: None of my words shall be delayed any longer. Whatever I say is final; it shall be done.”

Hard times lead to impatience, to blaming others, to thinking God is absent, but hard times are blessed times, Ezekiel says, when God is more present than ever. God will save his people.

“Thus says the Lord GOD,”

I swear I am coming… I will claim my sheep…I will save my sheep…
I myself will look after and tend my sheep.” (Ezekiel 34,1-11)

Good words for us today?