"The Journey of Compassion"
Ezekiel 11:16, 19-20
I hope many of you are interacting with the book we are using for the season of Lent, The Desert of Compassion. Author Rev. Rachel Srubas uses the premise that Lent is like a long journey through the desert, which is appropriate since Jesus went on a journey through the wilderness(much like the desert)before his ministry began. That journey got him ready for his ministry. Jesus journeyed for forty days, fasting and being tempted by the evil one. Srubas suggest that his journey "led him to a compassionate ministry so fruitful I made water sweeten into wine, bent-over women stand upright, blind men see and dying children live." I hope that, as we all complete this forty-day journey, we too will be led to ministries of compassion and do great things for the kindom.
That journey began for many of us this past Wednesday evening with the first step of our Ash Wednesday service. Pastor Laura read the passage from the prophet Joel, which began, "Return to me with all your heart" (Joel 2:12). This journey can be a time of returning- returning to our God, to our faith, to a new understanding of how to live and be in this world, to the very center of our being with all our hearts.
I confess I began my journey of repentance a bit earlier, some two days before Ash Wednesday. In a previous sermon, I told many of you that it was time to get my body back into decent physical shape. I see that calling as a portion of my Lenten journey. I want to watch what I consume (as in repenting from what I have been eating) and take care of myself. The journey began in earnest last Monday morning. I wore some gym clothes and drove to the YMCA around 11:00 am. I figured that would be an excellent time to go, hoping fewer people would be watching me huff and puff my way through a workout. When I got there, the parking lot was full. I remember thinking, "Well, if there is no place to park, that is a sign my journey to better fitness will have to start another day." However, as I got to the main lot, I noticed one spot in the front row, just waiting there for me. I sighed and drove my car into the space. I sat for a few minutes, saying, "Every journey begins with a first step. Let's go."
I finally got out of the car and began walking towards the gym, but I noticed a woman staring at me angrily in her car. She then yelled, "YOU TOOK MY SPOT!" I wasn't sure what to say and mumbled, "Um… OK?"- as there was no name on the spot, and I sat in the car for at least 3 minutes before getting out. It wasn't as if she was right behind me. She shouted, "I HAD MY EYE ON THAT SPACE!" before driving off angrily. As she drove away, I said, "Well, sorry. Have a nice day…and thanks so much for your words of encouragement." It was not the best way to begin my journey of repentance.
Today's passage from Ezekiel is also about a journey of repentance, but it is much longer and full of experiences like angry people shouting at you in their cars. For the people of Judah living in Jerusalem, the journey was rough and took many years to complete.
We begin with the book's name, Ezekiel, named after the prophet. Ezekiel became active as a prophet of Judah around the age of thirty, between 594-571 B.C. He grew up during the reign of the reformer king Josiah (639-09), who rid the temple of Assyrian gods and returned to worshiping the One true God. Josiah renewed the covenant between Israel and its God, hearkening back a bit to the reign of David some 300 years prior. Ezekiel grew up during an ideal period of Judah's faithfulness to God, and it must have influenced him in his prophetic call, especially as things around him changed so drastically.
In 609, Josiah was killed in battle against Egypt, and from that moment, things went downhill faster than Mikaela Shiffrin. Eventually, his elder son, Eliakim, sat on the throne. He changed his name to Jehoiakim, honoring his father, but that may have been the last honorable thing he ever did. Jehoiakim was NOT a good king. Once on the throne, he became a puppet king to the big kid on the block, Egypt and Pharaoh Neco. Once this relationship was set, he wanted to make Pharaoh happy, so he constantly extracted huge financial tributes from his subjects to Egypt. Taking a page from Pharaoh's playbook, he used slave labor from his subjects to build his palaces. I doubt the irony was lost on the people whose ancestors had experienced the same treatment under Pharaoh Ramses. He got rid of Josiah's reforms in the temple, placing statues of the gods of Egypt and surrounding nations in the place where God was said to dwell. If anyone spoke out against Jehoiakim, he quickly suppressed any critics. Scripture tells us he killed the prophet Uriah and had the prophet Jeremiah banished, all for speaking out against his reign.
Despite his loyalties to Egypt and Neco, he sought a way out. When Babylon became the big kid on the block, he switched alliances with them and quickly became their puppet king. The Babylonian god Marduk replaced the other statues in the temple and became the center of devotion in Jerusalem. His dedication to the Babylonians did not last long, however. Within a short time, he tried to shake himself from the Babylonians by encouraging his old pal Egypt and some smaller nations to attack Babylon. Babylon's King, Nebuchadnezzar, responded in 598 B.C., attacking Jerusalem. A few months later, God's temple was in ruins and sacked, and Jehoiakim was killed, leaving his eighteen-year-old son, Jehoiachin, in power. Jehoiachin wanted nothing to do with a long siege and the suffering of his people, so he abdicated his throne and yielded up the city's walls after only three months under siege. A new king, Zedekiah, was placed on the throne. He wasn't much better than Jehoiakim and continued being unfaithful to God. He set up his directions with an appointed counsel. Then Zedekiah and his family and large numbers of upper class and artisans began a very long journey of repentance- some 900 miles on foot to Babylon, where they would live for many decades. The young Ezekiel was one of those who were deported. Many remained behind in Jerusalem, however. Judah became an independent state under Babylonian rule. Ezekiel's calling was to prophesy during this challenging time among the exiled in Babylon.
Today's passage comes just after the first deportation after 598 B.C. At the beginning of chapter 11, Ezekiel sees a vision of that appointed counsel- 25 men in a room at the temple's east gate back in Jerusalem. They were men of power under Zedekiah and may have been sanctioned by Babylon to oversee activities and events in Jerusalem while Zedekiah was in exile. The council silenced all resistance to the new ways of living and worshiping the Babylonian gods. Those who spoke out were executed. Ezekiel envisioned this group as men seized with the quest for power, doing the bidding of Nebuchadnezzar, unfaithful to God, and ruthless in their attempts to suppress any uprisings. So much of chapter 11 speaks about this council, prophesying that God will bring the sword of wrath upon them and that their days will be few.
After several verses on how God will bring down this council, we come to verse 16. Ezekiel says that even in their exile, the people of Jerusalem are not alone. Even with the exiled in Babylon, some 900 miles from the temple itself, God was there with them "a little bit." There is some good news here. Even in those difficult times, even in those moments we are in some way unfaithful to our Creator, this passage tells us that the presence of God is still with us, at least a little bit.
In verses 17-18, God pronounces judgment upon the council again, then turns attention to the exiled once more in verses 19-20. There is still hope for them. The exiles will one day return, and God will be close to them again, not just a little bit, but as near as the hearts beating in their chests. Ezekiel envisions God infusing a new spirit in their hearts, removing their stubborn hearts of stone with hearts of flesh led by God's Spirit- ones that beat for the kindom of God- ones that are faithful to worship of God, that treats others with justice and compassion. This new covenant written upon the people's fleshly hearts will return them to God. They will once again become God's people and worship God alone, and their journey of repentance will be complete. That new journey's completion was still 70 years and 900 miles away. Their journey of repentance was far from over.
Fortunately, we model Lent after Jesus' forty days in the wilderness rather than the people of God's exile for seventy years in captivity. Yet the journey still may not be an easy one. Looking at what our hearts value can be painful, especially if they have hardened in some way. How do you know if you have a hard heart? Author and motivational speaker Cary Nieuwhof lists the following warning signs:
- You don't really celebrate, and you don't really cry.
- You stop genuinely caring about people or circumstances.
- What should feel meaningful feels mechanical.
- Passion for anything is hard to come by.
- You no longer believe the best about people or the world around you.
If one or one of those things is true for you, you may be suffering from a heart of stone. The good news for us is that through this journey of Lent, our loving God is with us, at least a little bit if not more, as we travel along the way. Furthermore, our hearts can return to God and be filled with a spirit of compassion. The journey may not be an easy one. You may have to face some painful truths about yourself. But those struggles will be worth it in the end.
Consider Srubas' story about her and her husband's new job and their journey from their hometown of Chicago to the unknown place of Tucson, Arizona. Late at night, driving through Oklahoma, they were desperate for food and some caffeine to keep going. "There it was, squat and glowing at the edge of an unlit frontage road—a Waffle House with a burned-out "W" on its otherwise illuminated sign. Ken said aloud what we both were thinking: "It's an Awful House."
When the only way station in sight is an Awful House serving up hot, brown water and calling it "coffee," you know you've entered the wilderness. We sat at a table among the smattering of truckers. Fatigue, grief, and fear waged war on my heart. I felt tempted to hitch a ride back to the place I'd always called home. My sister and her then-little boys had thrown us a send-off party. They'd baked us a cake decorated to look like a desert, with make-believe snakes slithering through cinnamon-sugar sands. That cake tasted sweeter than the tepid waffle in front of me now. But hadn't God provided this waffle? Isn't a meal, however measly, eaten in the middle of a long, hard journey a gift? I gave thanks for my breakfast and decided not to turn back."
So, don't turn back even in those "awful" spots on the journey! Keep going! Your struggle with self will be worth it in the end! We can give thanks for God's provision and guidance, those gifts that lead us, helping us change from hearts of stone to hearts and ministries of compassion. God bless and be with us every step of our Lenten journey. Amen.
