2:1 He said to me: O mortal, stand up on your feet, and I will speak
with you.
2:2 And when he spoke to me, a spirit entered into me and set me on
my feet; and I heard him speaking to me.
2:3 He said to me, Mortal, I am sending you to the people of Israel,
to a nation of rebels who have rebelled against me; they and their
ancestors have transgressed against me to this very day.
2:4 The descendants are impudent and stubborn. I am sending you to
them, and you shall say to them, "Thus says the Lord GOD."
2:5 Whether they hear or refuse to hear (for they are a rebellious
house), they shall know that there has been a prophet among them.
At our lectionary study, it was suggested that if one reads through
3:3, you get a fuller story,
more of the assurance of God's presence no matter if the people
"hear or refuse to hear."
We, like Ezekiel, should be checking our message, to make sure it is
God's and not ours... (for it is the sweeter word.)
Doug in Erie
One of the things I noticed is that in the Hebrew, God addresses
Ezekiel as "Ben Adam" or "Son of Man/Son of Humanity." I feel there
must be a connection to Jesus identifying himself as the Son of
Man/Son of Humanity. Interesting, but I'm not sure where this might
lead me.
Betty in Spokane, WA
When I read this text I was immediatley struck by how contemporary
it is to toady'a social climate. People will not listen to the
gospel, but we are still charged withy preaching it. Thus, my idea
for a sermon is "What's the Bottom Line?"
Most churches have now adopted a corporate model with bottom line
expectations: "nickels and noses." But is this God's bottom line?
WEll, that's the direction I'm going to take. Anybodyelse got any
ideas?
Paul in Illinois
So far, my title is "The World's Worst Self-Help Book for Prophets."
It's too much of a mouth-full but we'll see where it leads.
What I'm feeding off of here is the glut of self-help and
"church-help" books there are out there. Most list steps to make you
a more effective you or the church a more effective church (ie. "The
Seven Habits of Highly Effective People" and any book by Lyle
Shaller [and I have several!]).
But, the church is less about effectiveness and more about
faithfulness. By being faithful Christians we will fine areas we are
not going to be "worldly effective."
Some ramblings from Jim in Alaska
To Paul in Illinois,
Clearly, and as I'm sure you know, "nickles and noses" is not God's
"bottom line." If one reads the rest of Ezekiel 5, one clearly sees
that God's meassage wasn't one that would tend to breed popularity.
It was, inteneded, however, to bring credibility. After Ezekiel
delivered his message, they would know a prophet was among them
(v.5). So, for Ezekiel, the bottom line was being a prophet, however
unpopular the message. What do we think of Israel's obstinate
refusal to hear the message? What does God think of us when we
obstinately refuse to heed His message to us in His Word and try to
water it down, simply because it convicts us of our own sinfulness?
Jim in Alaska has exactly the right idea, in my opinion.
JG in WI
