The Prophet's Ups and Downs

Ezekiel 2:8-3:11 (12-15)

To get oriented, I started reading Ezekiel at 1:1 and read through chapter 3. I am struck by how much action is going on.  There are lots of characters—or at least animate objects—from flying, four-faced creatures, to wheels within wheels, to glory of the Lord, the spirit (NRSV) or Spirit (NIV), Ezekiel himself, and the audience to which he will be sent.  Look at what they are all up to:

The Lord...

1. ...sends E. to a rebellious people.
2. ...reassures E.  Cf. "Do not be afraid" (2:6).
3. ...stretches forth his hand to feed E. a scroll.
4. ...makes E. as hard-headed as his audience.

Kind of a mix of good news and bad news here.  Ezekiel will have a tough job.  It's not clear that he will accomplish anything.  It is also not clear, by the way, that he will accomplish nothing, even though at one point God says, "the house of Israel will not listen to you" (3:7).  God seems to hold out some hope in 3:11 that they may hear E's message.   Whether the people hear or refuse to hear, speaking is a job God wants done, and one for which God will prepare Ezekiel and sustain him throughout.

The Spirit (Wind?)...

1. ...stands E. on his feet, not once but twice in these opening chapters (2:2 and 3:24). 
2. ...it lifts him up (in 3:14).  Hmm... Wasn't he already standing?  Does this means it sets him in motion, on his way to Tel-abib?

The house of Israel...

1. ...is rebellious and hard-headed.
2. ...they may not listen, but they will know "a prophet has been among them" (2:5).
3. ...will be able to understand E. and he them.  It's not like there is a language barrier or a complicated message.

This last point reminded me of an Onion article from the issue published just after September 11, 2001.  The headline is "God Angrily Clarifies 'Don't Kill' Rule."  The whole piece is well worth reading.  Here's an excerpt:

“ ”

"I tried to put it in the simplest possible terms for you people, so you'd get it straight, because I thought it was pretty important," said God, called Yahweh and Allah respectively in the Judaic and Muslim traditions. "I guess I figured I'd left no real room for confusion after putting it in a four-word sentence with one-syllable words, on the tablets I gave to Moses. How much more clear can I get?" The Onion 37/34 (September 26, 2001).

The problem is not that what God wants Ezekiel to say is unclear, or that the people have an odd language (like their captors?) and won't be able to understand.  The problem is those hard faces, foreheads and hearts (3:7-8).

Ezekiel...

1. ...doesn't have any lines (at least not that I can see).  He is telling the story of what happened to him, but he doesn't, in his story, talk to God, or anyone else. 
2. ...watches in the first half of the vision, listens in the second half.
3. ...eats a scroll filled with words of lamentation and mourning and woe (2:10) and they are "as sweet as honey" (3:3). This happens to John too (Rev. 10:9), and it seems to make more sense there because the words taste good in his mouth and sour in his stomach.  This "sweet as honey" image troubles me, as if the prophet is taking pleasure in lamentation, mourning and woe.  I don't think the text means that, but I can't convincingly argue why it shouldn't be taken that way.
4. ...goes through a number of different postures in the space of a few chapters.

The last point might well work to organize a sermon. I don't think I'm going to preach this text Sunday, but if I were, I might use these postures to organize it:

• Down—The glory of the Lord & E. falls on his face.
• Up—The spirit (or the wind) stands E. on his feet & the Lord gives him a scroll, a job ("go and speak," 3:4), and a promise (to make E. hard-headed—or thick-skinned—enough to do the job).
• Out—The spirit (or the wind) lifts him up and sends him on his way to the exiles (3:12).
• Down—When E. gets where he is going, he "sat there among them, stunned, for seven days" (3:15).

There might be a sermon on vocation here.  Is there anything hard that God is calling your congregation to do?  Something where the words, "Do not be afraid, I can make you as tough as you need to be" would be good news?  I like that the postures of Ezekiel give me a chance to say that answering a call from God is kind of an "up and down" experience. 

Someone reminded me not long ago that courage is not the absence of fear.  Courage is a response needed precisely because something is frightening.  I imagine E. by the river bank, "stunned" (NRSV) or "overwhelmed" (NIV), with the tape of his vision playing before his mind's eye, and the word of the Lord, "Do not be afraid" (2:6) ringing in his ears and beginning to sink into his bones.