Ezekiel 33:7-11
So you, mortal, I have made a sentinel for the house of Israel; whenever you hear a word from my mouth, you shall give them warning from me. 8If I say to the wicked, “O wicked ones, you shall surely die,” and you do not speak to warn the wicked to turn from their ways, the wicked shall die in their iniquity, but their blood I will require at your hand. 9But if you warn the wicked to turn from their ways, and they do not turn from their ways, the wicked shall die in their iniquity, but you will have saved your life.
10Now you, mortal, say to the house of Israel, Thus you have said: “Our transgressions and our sins weigh upon us, and we waste away because of them; how then can we live?” 11Say to them, As I live, says the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from their ways and live; turn back, turn back from your evil ways; for why will you die, O house of Israel?
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What does it mean to be a prophet? Many will say that it means that one is able to tell the future, a sort of fortune teller. However, the biblical definition of a prophet is one who tells things as they are, tells the truth no matter how unpopular it may be. And often, these messages were ones not of joy, but rather ones of woe, because God was at the end of his patience with the people. As was said in my class on Ezekiel in Seminary, The prophets are not your friends, they do not come around with the lovey dovey answers that we crave, instead they come with confrontation of that which we hold dear and tell us that what we are doing is not pleasing to God and punishment is coming. But, even though there is that sense of dread that comes with prophets, there is always hope imbedded in that message. Instead of it all being doom and gloom, there is the sense that through all of the pain that is to come, in the end there will be restoration and God will claim the people as His own again. As it says in verse 11, “As I live, says the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from their ways and live.” When Ezekiel says to the people “Turn back, the way that you are going leads to death,” he is not doing it as a condemnation, but rather as a love filled hope from God that the people will turn away from their sin and instead live their lives according to the will of God, in the way of righteousness, and therefore live.
It also needs pointed out that Ezekiel did not sit up on high and speak down to the people. No, instead he was in with the people. His prophecies and visions came during the exile, when the people were being forced away from Jerusalem, their home which they would never ever see again, and going on their way to Babylon. And he was there with them, suffering beside them and mourning with them, for he knew that it was His sin and actions as well that led to God’s judgment. He was not perfect, but rather was one who was sharing the fate of those he was prophesying to. This is a mistake that we as Christians have a tendency to fall into – we tend to preach down to people, as though they are beneath us if they do not believe in God or follow God the same way that we do. We can tend to think of ourselves as holier than others are, because of how we act or what we believe, but we are not. Instead, it is important to remind ourselves that we are no better than anyone else on this planet. We are all sinners in the eyes of God, yet we have the hope that God has given us, the hope that we shall be redeemed and that we may find forgiveness. We all have missteps, we all have some sort of addiction that takes us away from God at times, we all screw up, but yet we see what God has done for us and we are moved to change our lives into ones of greater righteousness.
And what does it mean to live righteously? In Ezekiel 18, the prophet lays it out – it means to not commit idolatry or adultery or murder or theft, all of which we recognize from the 10 commandments. But it also means to treat the poor equally and fairly, give bread to the hungry, and clothing to the naked, not taking an advance or accrued interest, and executing true justice between contending parties. To the prophet, there are three realms of righteousness for us to live in, which revolve around our private lives, economic issues, and issues of justice. It is when we act righteously within all of these realms together that we find ourselves being filled with life. Taking and focusing on one of them is not enough, instead in all of our aspects of our lives we are to be righteous. It is too easy to say “I believe in God” and then walk away and not let your actions speak those words as well. It is too easy to say “God understands the world that we live in and what we need to do to fit in.” No, instead it is God telling us that we are called to lived out God’s will in ways that may go against what our culture tells us and in ways that may very well make us less materially wealthy or less popular. Yet, we shall find life in these actions and make God’s light shine even brighter to those whom we meet.
So when we see those who are not acting in righteousness, in all of these realms, we stand and correct them out of love and hope that they may see the error of their ways and become more life-filled. It is like a scene in one of my favorite TV shows, the West Wing. Josh has been shot and is suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, so he goes to meet with a psychologist for the whole day, as he was ordered to do. He is beginning to get worried that he may lose his job at the white house, due to his condition. He is about to go home when he runs into Leo, the chief of staff and Josh’s direct boss. Josh finds out that Leo was the one to set up the psychologist coming to see him and will protect his job, and he tells him a story to reassure him.
This guy's walking down a street when he falls in a hole. The walls are so steep, he can't get out. A doctor passes by, and the guy shouts up, "Hey you, can you help me out?" The doctor writes a prescription, throws it down in the hole and moves on. Then a priest comes along, and the guy shouts up "Father, I'm down in this hole, can you help me out?" The priest writes out a prayer, throws it down in the hole and moves on. Then a friend walks by. "Hey Joe, it's me, can you help me out?" And the friend jumps in the hole. Our guy says, "Are you stupid? Now we're both down here." The friend says, "Yeah, but I've been down here before, and I know the way out."
I know, I know, I said at the beginning that the prophet is not your friend. However, not all of us are called to be prophets, that is just one of the many spiritual gifts that are out there. We are all given by the Spirit gifts that are to be used and callings to our various vocations and ministries. But, we are also all called to be witnesses to God’s action in the world and God’s love and compassion. We are called to be friend to all people, since we are God’s hands in the world. We have all been in that pit that is Sin and many of us know what it feels like to be separated from God, as though our prayers are not heard or answered. When we lose someone we care about, when we lose our jobs or things just never seem to go our way, God can begin to feel distant and uninterested. Yet we know that God is still there for us, longing for us to be close to Him. And each of us has been touched by another Christian, one who showed us even in our darkest of days that God is still present and has served as an example to us of Christ active in the world.
I know, I know, I said at the beginning that the prophet is not your friend. However, not all of us are called to be prophets, that is just one of the many spiritual gifts that are out there. We are all given by the Spirit gifts that are to be used and callings to our various vocations and ministries. But, we are also all called to be witnesses to God’s action in the world and God’s love and compassion. We are called to be friend to all people, since we are God’s hands in the world. We have all been in that pit that is Sin and many of us know what it feels like to be separated from God, as though our prayers are not heard or answered. When we lose someone we care about, when we lose our jobs or things just never seem to go our way, God can begin to feel distant and uninterested. Yet we know that God is still there for us, longing for us to be close to Him. And each of us has been touched by another Christian, one who showed us even in our darkest of days that God is still present and has served as an example to us of Christ active in the world.
For me it is the man who will be my sponsor this coming Saturday for ordination, the Rev. Tom Moog. It was right after I had first tried to get into seminary, fresh out of college. Honestly, I was a self-important, egotistical little punk with entitlement issues and the candidacy committee, who decides who not only who gets into seminary, but also who gets to continue studying and graduate from seminary, saw me for who I was. So, they took it upon themselves to deny me entrance, and rightfully so. It was Pastor Moog who then became my spiritual advisor, who helped set me on the path of humility, compassion, and prayerful following of God, instead of focusing on myself alone. He took me out of a Pit that I did now even know I was in until it was too late.
So, we are all called to help others to see the light and get out of the darkness of self-importance. It is said that Sin is Turning Inward. Instead of looking out, out at the people who are suffering, starving, and dying, out at God and what God desires of us, we turn inwards to ourselves and focus on what we want and what we have planned for our lives. So it is our mission to help people to turn their eyes outward, so they may truly live within this world and have life within them. Yet also realizing that we are not God, we are not perfection, we are still sinners, just as everyone else in the world is. We are all in need of reminders that we need to live in covenant with God and live righteously, instead of living for personal gain. Our allegiance is to be given to God and to no other.
And it is hard to do that. It is hard to turn our backs on things that we hold dear and to be subject to God. It is hard to turn our backs on our own wants and desires at times, to make sacrifices that God desires. But that is why we are together, to support one another and to be a community of faith that works together to make God’s light shine. When we join together in worship, we are able to refocus, to reenergize our batteries, and to be reminded that we are not alone in our walks of faith, but rather are surrounded by a larger family of believers. And when we stumble and turn away, we are together that we may remind each other of our calling to be the children of God and to support each other and lift each other up when we fall. And when we are doing wonderful ministries, it is not alone but with each other, glorifying in God’s love as a united body and giving each other the strength to carry out those ministries. This congregation is already doing so much as the Body of Christ, between care and support our soldiers and Lutheran World Relief, visiting shut-ins, running Sunday and Pre-schools that help to educate, being a place for AA and the Boy Scouts to gather safely, and so much more. And yet we have room to grow, to have God’s love and compassion be seen even more clearly in this area and in the whole world. I can personally say that I have already felt the affects of God’s love and compassion through the people here, as you have come to help Amy and I move in, with the trustess coming and fixing various issues within the house, with the offers to help with shut in visitations, and the continual offers to help whenever anything is needed. I thank you from the bottom of my heart and am excite about the possibilities and the ministries here at Jerusalem.
Together we are able to turn back from our evil ways and we are able to live righteously, so that we may live. Together, we help each other to look out instead of looking within. And together, we are able to shine the light of God for miles upon miles.
Amen
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