Monday, February 10, 2013
Ezekiel: Necessary Conditions
“Ezekiel became a prophet in Babylon – the first prophet to receive the call to prophecy outside the Holy Land. As one of the prophets deported by Nebuchadnezzar in 597, his first task was to prepare his fellow countrymen to be inviolable. Accordingly, the first part of his book consists of reproaches for Israel’s past and present sins and the confident prediction of yet a further devastation of the land of promise and a more general exile. In 587, when Nebuchadnezzar destroyed Jerusalem, Ezekiel was vindicated before his unbelieving compatriots. After this time, Ezekiel’s message changes. From now on his prophecy is characterized by the promise of salvation in a new covenant, and he is anxious to lay down the conditions necessary to obtain it. Even as Jeremiah had believed, Ezekiel thought that the exiles were the hope of Israel’s restoration, once God’s allotted time for the exiles had been accomplished”. (Senior 1034)
Believing that we have a better way to learn what God is teaching us, we often balk at accepting the circumstances in which we find ourselves. We set up pre and post conditions. We lay out parameters and guidelines for how we will or will not accept God’s teaching. We want to control how and when and why and even if we will accept God’s necessary conditions for us, often refusing to comprehend that the obstacles before us are our lesson plans from God. Ezekiel explains to us that even when we believe we have suffered beyond our limits we will often find that there is “further destruction” yet to come. For those of us who rely on our own power as supreme and reject God’s compassion and guidance, this is difficult to take in. And we ignore the opportunity God offers to us to experience God fully beyond the devastation. We miss knowing that we are inviolable.
In our fear of failure we too often refuse to succeed.
In our fear of loss we too often avoid gaining the eternal.
In our fear of rejection we too often reject love that is openly offered.
In our fear of further devastation we too often throw away the lesson plan that brings us transformation.
In our fear of necessary conditions . . . we too often refuse to become God’s inviolate people.
Ezekiel wants to bring us a message of newness despite any defeat we suffer. Ezekiel warns us that when we think we have hit bottom there may be further devastation to come. Ezekiel wants to tell us that beyond that ruin and loss there is a new covenant and a new promise. There is our relationship with God which is unbreakable, unchangeable, and inviolate. And this relationship is love.
When we live in the shelter of God’s protective care we cannot fail. When we follow the example of Christ’s call to love and be loved we will rise with him to become one with all of humankind. When we relax into the compassion of the Spirit we also allow ourselves to become God’s precious, God’s beloved, God’s inviolate people.
A re-post from February 10, 2013.
Image from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ezekiel
Senior, Donald, ed. THE CATHOLIC STUDY BIBLE. New York, Oxford University Press, 1990.1034. Print.
This week we will reflect more closely on portions of Ezekiel’s prophecy.
The Noontimes 