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Sunday September 28, 2008 "Asking Too Much?" Ezekiel 18:25-32 and Psalm 25:1-12 |
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Location: Blogs Brad's BlogBrad's Sermons |
 | | Posted by: Brad Miller | 9/29/2008 1:03 PM | We don’t pay a lot of attention to the book of Ezekiel these days, but in the midst of this tumultuous time in our history, maybe we should.
Ezekiel was a prophet during the period when Jerusalem was overrun by the Babylonian armies, the city destroyed, the temple destroyed. It was a time when thousands upon thousands of Judeans were taken out of their beloved holy city and relegated to exile in Babylon. The raiding of Jerusalem and the temple took place in the year 597 B.C. and Ezekiel was one of those taken away into exile.
This was more than just an exile, however. It was a well calculated maneuver by the King of Babylon to make sure that it would be very difficult for Jerusalem to rebuild and Judea to rearm.
Here’s how it worked. The Babylonians didn’t just attack, destroy and leave a garrison or two to keep the order. They rounded up the best and the brightest of the Judeans and took them away, to Babylon, where they lived in exile. Listen to how this “brain drain” of Jerusalem is described in the book of 2 Kings in the Hebrew Bible: “The king of Babylon carried away all Jerusalem, all the officials, all the warriors, ten thousand captives, all the artisans and the smiths; no one remained except the poorest people of the land. He carried away Jehoican to Babylon; the kings mother, the kings wives, his officials, and the elite of the land, he took into captivity from Jerusalem to Babylon. The king of Babylon brought captive to Babylon all the men of valor, seven thousand, the artisans and the smiths, one thousand, all of them strong and fit for war.” (2 Kings 24:14-16 NRSV)
They were not held in prisons. They were not denied the ability to make a living. They were not tortured or separated from each other. They just weren’t home. And I don’t know that if we can fully fathom what this means.
Sure, we are a mobile society and a good number of us in this room now live hundreds, even thousands of miles away from where we grew up. If you are like me, there are times when you long to be back in those familiar places. But there is a big difference between our American experience and the folks in the Babylonian exile: if we truly desire, we can go back.
There is an added factor that would make the Babylonian exile even harder than it might be for us today: the significance of Jerusalem and the temple of Solomon to the religious life of the average exiled Judean.
The theological historian Daniel Block has written extensively about Ezekiel and the people of his time and he identifies what he calls 4 pillars of their faith.
First, they saw themselves as God’s chosen people, enjoying the blessings of the covenants made with their ancestor Abraham. They were supremely confident in the belief that God would protect them, no matter what.
Second, they lived on land that was granted to them by the Abrahamic covenant. They believed it was their sacred right to live there and God would always protect that particular right.
Third, they were the recipients of the eternal covenant of God with King David that promised that a descendant of David would reign forever. The Davidic kingdom could have no end because of that covenant.
Finally, they believed firmly that the only true house of worship in all the land, in all the world, the only place where God, Yahweh, could be truly honored and glorified was the Holy Temple built by King Solomon in the Holy City of Jerusalem.
Where do you go, how do you cope, when the pillars of your faith come crashing down around you? How do you make your way when God does not protect you? When the promised land AND throne of David are occupied by foreigners, strangers? How do you worship God when God’s house has been destroyed? How do you connect with God when the only place of connection is in shambles, and you are thousands of miles away?
Well, Ezekiel, the exiled prophet, was there to tell the people what was what, in no uncertain terms.
“It’s your fault!” he fairly cried out to the people. “The House of Israel has transgressed and must repent of it’s iniquites, it’s sin, it’s blasphemous behavior. God hasn’t left you,” he told them. “You left God.”
There were two common responses to this sort of hardship: there were those who denied it. They were the ones in Babylon who argued with Ezekiel and shouted back, “No! God will never leave us! This is just a blip on the screen! We are the chosen ones…and help is going to come.”
Then there were those who heard Ezekiel and fell into deep despair and saw nothing EXCEPT what was right in front o them. These were the people who became paralyzed into inaction because they saw no hope, no light at the end of the tunnel, no way out. “We have been abandoned,” they cried. “God has surely left us. This is our lot.”
The interesting thing about each of these responses is that both despair and denial lead to the same place: complete and total inaction.
And there in the midst of it all, both groups, those in the grips of despair and the delusion of denial, were pushed by Ezekiel to come to a more realistic stance toward God. At the heart of this stance is the reality of human accountability to their role in God’s covenant.
“Yes,” Ezekiel might have said, “you are the chosen people. But you must be accountable for your actions. God did not simply designate that you were the chosen, now go and do whatever you want. No, God said, ‘you are my chosen people: follow my precepts, honor my word, live my will.”
This is a tall order for any human. We are not perfect. But God does not expect us to be perfect. But God does expect us to understand that God has given us everything, and we are to be aware of that. To try to be who God would have us be. To keep God’s will uppermost in our minds. To repent of our sins when we make mistakes.
“Is that too much to ask?” Ezekiel seemed to be imploring the Israelites in exile.
The model for such a life came from King David himself. He was far from a perfect man, yet he never lost sight of who God was. The first 12 verses of Psalm 25, attributed to David, are a great model of prayer and a great model of how we imperfect humans should live our life.
“I trust you, Lord,” David wrote.
“Don’t let me be put to shame; please save the shame for my enemies.”
“I want to learn from you, Lord.”
“Please do not remember my sins, please pardon my great guilt…and it is great.
“For all those reading these words: remember that God leads us; God forgives us; those who follow God with all their heart and soul and mind will be fine. Fear God, respect God, love God, and God will show you the way.” David’s psalm contains a statement of faith that is built on total devotion, even in our humanness. That means while we ask for forgiveness, we must also accept responsibility for our actions.
To those in Babylon who were in denial, who expected that God simply blessed them without any accountability, this is a hard lesson to learn. “Why should I ask forgiveness for the sins of the past? God will not punish me for the transgressions of the leaders of Israel of the past. I’ve done nothing wrong. I just want things to be back to normal. Is that too much to ask?”
To those in Babylon who were in despair, this is difficult, too. “Oh, if God has left me, there is no turning back. The covenant was broken, I didn’t have anything to do with it, it wasn’t my fault, but now I am alone. Why bother to try?”
The problem was, as Ezekiel saw it, was that both of these groups of folks were wrong.
Just before this passage is the recounting of a well known proverb which with the people of Israel were well acquainted. Paraphrased, it goes something like this: “The parents ate sour grapes and their children got stomachaches.”
Apparently, the Israelites in exile in Babylon used this proverb to declare loud and long, “It’s just not fair! We didn’t do anything wrong! God is not fair!”
To which Ezekiel replied, “Really? God is not fair? Just how do you describe fair? You have been blessed and now expect that God is only at work in your world, in your lives. But you are wrong,” Ezekiel wrote. “God is at work in the whole world and has sovereignty over all nations. You think you are untouchable, but God’s hand is at work in the destruction of Jerusalem. Who are you to say if God’s punishments ARE just? This is not a capricious act taken on a whim. The House of Israel has turned away from God.”
Wow. That will certainly comfort those in exile won’t it? Sure, Ezekiel, twist the knife a little bit more.
“But wait,” said Ezekiel. “All that is because the House of Israel allowed transgressions, allowed pagan worship, legitimized behavior that dishonored God. You are right that your circumstances are not entirely of your own making, but you are wrong to refuse to do anything about it. Because as sure as God offers judgement, God offers hope. And God is offering you hope. Today. Now. If you will only take accountability for you own life, your own actions. Forget what has happened; because if you all present yourself before God, each individually taking responsibility for your own actions, each seeking forgiveness, each repenting of your sins, God will hear you and God will forgive you.”
“Forget the sour grapes proverb,” Ezekiel said. “Don’t worry about the misdeeds of your ancestors, or your leaders, or anyone but yourself! It’s not about dodging blame. It’s about accepting responsibility for YOU! It’s about strengthening your relationship with God.”
Ezekiel then entered into his prophetic, pastoral mode. He repeated the glorious news that there is always hope. God would enter into a new covenant with God’s people. The house of David would reign again.
So why should we pay attention to this today? We are not in forced political exile; we have not witnessed the destruction of our holiest places; we are not filling our time by blaming others and arguing that God is not fair. The particular facts and events of this story do not look like what we experience today. There are other prophets that seem to speak directly to us, but Ezekiel’s story? Maybe not so much.
I believe the power of Ezekiel’s story lies in it’s functioning as a cautionary tale. Not because our particular circumstances are so similar to the circumstances of the exiles. Not because we must rebuild our religious infrastructure. Not because we have been conquered. No, it’s much more subtle than that.
We live in a world that we have very little control over. We find ourselves in a world that is so complex, so fast moving, at times so fraught with peril that we scarcely can take it all in. Natural disasters. Financial upheaval. Terroristic threats. Economic uncertainty. Divisive partisan politics. It is easy to feel overwhelmed, to feel like we are simply doing our best to ride out the storms all around us. When that happens, in small ways and big, we can go into the same modes as the exiled Judeans: we can go into denial or we can go into despair. That is where we need to be cautioned: our response to the trials and tribulations of the world around us. This is where Ezekiel speaks to us.
In Ezekiel’s admonition to repent and be forgiven, we are simply being reminded that we are not in this alone, and that God is indeed with us. But it does take our participation: in prayer, in repentance, in working always to put God’s will in the middle of everything we do. Through study, through fellowship and reaching out to help others when we are able. All these things keep us focused on who God would have us be. We can’t control everything. That is why it is so important that we uphold our end of the covenant by honoring God, trusting God, and doing our best to follow God. When we are in relationship with God, we can hear God’s word more clearly, we can discern God’s will more completely and we have a better understanding that we cannot simply wait for God to act in our lives: we must turn toward God and do our part, too.
But is not just the possibility of denial that we need to be aware of. Ezekiel also alerts us to the problem of despair. That place where we can become so overwhelmed that we see no hope, no prospect of things ever being right. To those who would despair, Ezekiel’s words are comfort and solace. They are words of hope.
There is always hope. Ezekiel was right about everything he told the exiles. They did return home. Jerusalem was made great once again. The temple was rebuilt to it’s former glory. And the Davidic line once again came into authority in the person of Jesus Christ.
We live in a complex, rapidly changing world. Crises come and go. Fear is rampant in so many places, in so many ways. We have no control over large parts of our world. The changing scenarios, changing actors, changing outcomes are hard to keep up with. But one thing never changes: God’s gracious presence. If we hear Ezekiel’s words not as accusations, but as encouragement, we will hear his message of strength and hope, loud and clear. If we hear those words of encouragement, and continue to focus our energies on our relationship with God, we will be fortified against falling into denial and despair. We will be strengthened for action, and always open to the hope that God offers us every day of our lives, no matter the world throws our way. We will, as Ezekiel said, “Turn and live.”
May it be so for you, and for me, now and always.
Let us pray: Gracious God we are so grateful for the messages of your prophets that speak to us today, across the miles, across the years. May we hear your voice in theirs, and may your voice lead us to action, may it comfort us and may it renew our commitment to you. Amen.
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