Ezekiel 11:14-21
I have to admit that when I saw the reference for this passage, I was disappointed. So much of the juicy stuff in the bible (and the easier to interpret) comes from the New Testament, and here I was, stuck with writing about the Old. With Ezekiel. I have been in and around churches since I was little – memorizing verses, participating in Awana, going to retreats – and weirdly no one ever asked me to recite something from Ezekiel. My only reference point was when I memorized the books of the Bible, and Ezekiel fell between Lamentations and Daniel. I knew he was considered a prophet, and now that I’ve done my research I know he was also a priest, but what I didn’t know is that the words he spoke could still be so relevant.
A little bit of background: Ezekiel lived during a time of massive upheaval. Israel had fallen to Assyria, leaders were switching alliances and acting without integrity, and people were being exiled from their home countries. Sound familiar?
Ezekiel too, was exiled along with his people to Babylon. As a priest and a prophet, you’d think he’d be there to encourage his people – to reassure them that God would prevail and that there would be hope for Jerusalem, right? Nope. Instead, he told them about God’s judgment on Jerusalem, and that though they were God’s covenant people, their home wouldn’t be saved from destruction or their people from exile. Instead, he focused on telling them that they needed to focus on being at peace with each other and with God while the things around them – the things they had known and put their trust in for so long – went down in flames.
Again, sound familiar?
When Ezekiel speaks to his people, his words of assurance were not what they expected. Instead of telling them their land will be safe as God had promised, he tells them, “This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Although I sent them far away among the nations and scattered them among the countries..” (verse 16). Ezekiel reveals that God allowed them to be exiled as a part of a plan, and that His greater promise would be fulfilled when, “I will gather you back from the nations and bring you back from the countries where you have been scattered, and I will give you back the land of Israel again” (verse 17). What? God is allowing them to be exiled and “scattered”, just to bring them back again? Why not save all the pain in the middle and just keep them in Israel? Ezekiel then goes on to say that God says, “I will give them an undivided heart and put a new spirit in them; I will remove from them their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh” (verse 19).
And here is where, to me, Ezekial’s words become even more relevant. I don’t know about you, but I definitely feel like we are living in a time of upheaval. Never in my life have I seen our country so divided. Never have I seen Christians so politically and idealistically opposed to one another. I have lately found myself feeling like comfortable constructs and long-standing ideals are falling, and after reading this, I can’t help but wonder if we are again being “scattered” for a greater purpose.
When Ezekiel refers to a “heart of flesh”, he is referring to a heart that is pliable and flexible – one that can listen to the heart of God and adjust accordingly. On the contrary, a “heart of stone” is unbending, stubborn, and not willing to be taught anything new. Wouldn’t it be amazing if Christians right now had a heart of flesh? If we were no longer so polarized and divided, and instead became united in spirit? If after all this “scattering” we can come back together for God’s original, greater purpose?
This is my new prayer for our church, and the greater (C)hurch as a whole. That we can have hearts of flesh, a new spirit, and that, as Paul so eloquently put it (because I had to bring in the NT at some point), we can “be like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind.”
Amen.