2023-1-9 Vespers What Brought You Here?

 2023-1-9 Spoken Vespers Ezekiel 3:12-27 Romans 2:1-16

In the various places I have served, I enjoyed asking the question of people, “What brought you here?”  Almost all of the people I have met are from somewhere else. This question pertains to congregation members, but also to the area they live in.  What brings you to South Bend? Work, love, climate, lower taxes, closer to family and friends? 

I have to wonder how the Judeans that Ezekiel ministered to would have answered that question.  What brings you to Babylon? I suspect that at first, the answer would be: war. We are a conquered people who are now slaves. Later, they would have a different answer, but there at the beginning, they are feeling very much like the victims.

But, I suspect that if we asked Ezekiel, even at the beginning, he would say, “God is punishing us for idolatry.” Ezekiel is very much aware of the sins of his fellow countrymen, especially his leaders. 

Despite how they answer the question, they are definitely not in Babylon by choice.  Babylon is about 1,000 miles away from home.  The Judeans are overwhelmed by the change that they are living through.  They are overwhelmed by the forced march. Overwhelmed by living in a foreign land. Overwhelmed by the loss of their freedom and their new status as slaves.  

Psalm 137 captures anguish, the disorientation of the people. “By the waters of Babylon, there we sat down and wept, when we remembered Zion. ... How shall we sing the Lord’s song in a foreign land?”  In fact, it does take the exiled a long time to come to terms with where they are and why they are there. 

While they are disoriented, overwhelmed by their new life situation, through Ezekiel the LORD offers hope.  The first hope in our text is the promise that the LORD is with them.  Grasped by the Spirit, Ezekiel declares, “Blessed be the glory of the LORD from its place.” 

Ezekiel is a prophet.  He is also a priest.  He and his fellow Judeans are used to thinking that the  LORD’s earthly place is between the cherubim in the Jerusalem temple.  But, he reveals to Ezekiel that he is also in this foreign land.  Despite all that they have done, the LORD chooses to abide with them. He has not deserted them.  

The second hope is that despite the fact that God’s people regularly choose to not honor the Covenant that the Lord established with Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and then again with the people through Moses, God has not yet given up on His people.  In love, for the sake of the relationship God established with his people, God is punishing His people so that they will return to Him. He punishes His people by taking away the security of their land and all the familiar scenery.  He has removed them from the familiar landscape and buildings and the promise of what it meant to live there. He has arranged for Babylon to conquer them and enslave them so that through this dizzying, disorienting, overwhelming transition, they will, as a people become open to instruction from the LORD.  It is time for the long repentance to begin. 

They have to first come to awareness and own their failures before God and one another.  While enjoying the benefits of the LORD’s covenant, they did not love the LORD exclusively with all of their heart, mind, and soul.  They followed other gods too. And, they followed their own crooked hearts rather than God’s commands. 

Ezekiel is chosen by God to speak truth to the people.  In this foreign land, living in a precarious situation, with no rights or a judicial system in their favor, they will learn once again to love faithfully and live faithfully as God’s own people.  They will learn again to live as a people in a unique covenant relationship with the LORD God.  They will learn again to live with faith in the One True God and they will learn to be obedient to His instructions and commandments.  This learning process begins with repentance. 

The LORD does not compel repentance, but he fully intends to hold people accountable for what they should have done. Ezekiel as prophet and priest is placed in an unpleasant position.  He must speak truth, he must speak the Word of God to a people who may not yet wish to hear it.  No matter the personal discomfort, the LORD makes clear that he will hold Ezekiel accountable too. 

In this passage from Ezekiel 3, we experience bad news that is good news.  The bad news is that God does hold His people accountable for choices and behaviors.  But, this is good news too, for he loves His people so much that they are worth the effort.