Only talking the talk is toxic
Every day we're reading or listening to part of the Bible together and sharing thoughts with you. Today it’s Bern Leckie:
What did I like about today’s passage?
This is a smackdown from God which starts with Egypt but moves uncomfortably close to home. But I’m grateful that, by the end of this passage, God provides a way forward.
Egypt’s fall is painful because it’s from the height of believing themselves to be godlike to the depths of death in the least special grave available. When I picture the most famous things about Egypt, a lot of them get referenced here in chapter 32. The Great Sphinx of Giza is a mythical lion with a human head, built about 2000 years before Ezekiel, a wonder which still draws people today. Most likely it was made to inspire worship of gods, leaders, effectively themselves. It is also a place of honour, along with the pyramids, for rulers who cast themselves as gods to be commemorated forever.
God’s response? “Are you more favoured than others? Go down and be laid among the uncircumcised.” In other words, those with the highest position outside God’s covenant had a lower position than anyone in it. The finest monuments and talk about being godlike are no substitute for knowing and obeying God.
In chapter 33, I’m struck by the practical responsibility God gives to Ezekiel not just to spend time listening and talking to God but to act on what he hears, warning people when needed. If I thought his visions were uncomfortable, imagine passing them on to someone who doesn’t want to know or change!
It turns out that a lot of people were listening to Ezekiel though, and this is where things feel most uncomfortable for me. People who get together to hear the latest message from God, listening, saying good things about it, speaking of love, but then not putting change into practice. Is that me in the crowd there? It feels like it can be. Ouch.
What did it show me about Father God, Jesus or the Holy Spirit?
Thankfully, God doesn’t just speak and expect us all to move on our own. Chapter 34 is about shepherding and sounds a lot like following Jesus. God knows we need a good shepherd. We also have shepherd responsibilities but too often take care of ourselves ahead of others. But God is determined to save people from bad shepherds.
God’s promise to gather and shepherd his people sounds remarkable in this context of correction and exile in Ezekiel’s time. God is looking over a bigger timescale, back and forwards at the same time in Ezekiel 34:23 – “I will place over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he will tend them”. Who lives in this past/present/future all-at-once space? The same person who said, “Before Abraham was born, I am!” (John 8:58). That’s right: Jesus, the good shepherd. God is revealing here his plan to save us all from just talking the talk.
What am I going to do differently as a result?
If I’m in that crowd of listeners who are not doing what God says, I need to get out and follow Jesus into whatever he’s leading us into next.
Who am I going to share this with?
This is an interesting, busy, challenging time of change. I’ll share this with others at church.