Surrender to Compassion: Ezekiel 33:7-11 - 14th Sunday after Pentecost

"So you, mortal, I have made a sentinel for the house of Israel; whenever you hear a word from my mouth, you shall give them warning from me. If I say to the wicked, "O wicked ones, you shall surely die," and you do not speak to warn the wicked to turn from their ways, the wicked shall die in their iniquity, but their blood I will require at your hand. But if you warn the wicked to turn from their ways, and they do not turn from their ways, the wicked shall die in their iniquity, but you will have saved your life. Now you, mortal, say to the house of Israel, Thus you have said: "Our transgressions and our sins weigh upon us, and we waste away because of them; how then can we live?" Say to them, As I live, says the Lord GOD, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from their ways and live; turn back, turn back from your evil ways; for why will you die, O house of Israel?" (NRSV)

DSC_0250 by aagelaki on flickr. CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

“Back bone connected to the shoulder bone

Shoulder bone connected to the neck bone

Neck bone connected to the head bone

Now hear the word of the Lord!”

 

These are some of the words from the classic spiritual “Dem Dry Bones,” which was inspired by the prophet Ezekiel’s vision of the dry bones coming alive.

 

God called Ezekiel to be a prophet in an apocalyptic time. Ezekiel was in exile in Babylon, as were many of his kinfolk. By the time we arrive in chapter 33, our first reading for today, Jerusalem has been under siege for nearly three years. The armies of Babylon surrounded the city walls so that no one could go in or out. This was God’s judgment—because the people were morally and spiritually corrupt. The rich exploited the poor; the strong oppressed the weak; false gods were worshipped within the walls of the Holy Temple.

 

Today, Ezekiel speaks the final warning: repent or perish.

 

As you might imagine, this was not good news for a displaced people who wanted desperately to go home—any more than it was welcome news for those who were fighting for Jerusalem’s survival. By now, Ezekiel has been prophesying these same dire warnings for ten years. But nobody cared.

 

And there’s something quite satisfying about seeing the wicked punished for their sins. Is it not just that those who practice violence and oppression ultimately reap what they sow? But God says to Ezekiel: “I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from their ways and live.”

 

Does this surprise you?

 

Think about it: would not this world be a better place without some people in it? Then you wouldn’t have to lock your doors at night, get background checks, or go through TSA checkpoints. Then we could beat our swords into plowshares and our spears into pruning hooks. So why doesn’t God strike the wicked down—or give us permission to do it for him?

 

One of the biggest sins plaguing our world today is the widespread but unspoken belief that some people are not worthy of compassion. They may not even be worthy of living. They have criminal records. They take more from society than they give. They embrace the wrong values. They don’t deserve compassion.

 

There has been so much violence in the city streets lately—and it is appalling that some are cheering the deaths of persons of color in police shootings—or police officers killed in the line of duty—believing they got what they deserved? There’s nothing just in denying the other the compassion that you—or someone you love—may need in the future.

 

We have lost our faith in compassion. We seek peace not through cooperation and understanding, but through conquest and domination—like Babylon did.

 

Far too many people worship a god who hates their enemies as much as they do. But you can’t get any further from the true God than this.

 

I imagine Ezekiel’s greatest challenge as God’s prophet was persevering in compassion for God’s people—when they stubbornly ignored God’s Word and kept doing evil. I can’t imagine the agony on his soul, seeing God’s warnings of judgment coming to fruition.

 

Yet even though there’s no hope for Jerusalem, there is still hope for the people. “Turn from your evil ways and live,” God said. There is no boundary you can cross that would put you beyond the reach of God’s mercies. So quit going your own way and surrender to divine compassion.

 

Godly righteousness is unconditional love and boundless compassion—that persist in the face of human evil. The proof is the cross. There is nothing righteous about the death of the wicked. Only tragedy. The challenge for us today is to reframe how share community with peoples we’d rather not share it with. Your healing cannot demand another’s domination or annihilation.

 

Compassion is the only way towards healing—be it of nations, communities, churches, or individual lives. And the world needs godly compassion more than factions and fighting. The world will not be a better place; you will not be a whole person; you will not truly know God—without God’s compassion healing us, empowering us, and binding us together. 

 

And when it becomes impossible—or even hazardous—to persist in compassion to people who won’t have any part of it, you pray for them and for yourself, to receive God’s compassion through faith. You need God’s compassion just as much as Ezekiel did, even if you’re not a prophet! It is only by God’s compassion that you can heal, that you can thrive through these dreadful, dreadful times.