Ezekiel 2:1-5 (NRSV)
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Chapter 2He said to me: O mortal, stand up on your feet, and I will speak with you. Verse 2And when he spoke to me, a spirit entered into me and set me on my feet; and I heard him speaking to me. Verse 3He 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. Verse 4The descendants are impudent and stubborn. I am sending you to them, and you shall say to them, "Thus says the Lord God." Verse 5Whether they hear or refuse to hear (for they are a rebellious house), they shall know that there has been a prophet among them.
Devotion
It’s hardly worth a newsflash: human beings are rebellious, willful, stubborn. Some part of us never seems to quite grow out of the “terrible twos” phase of toddlerhood.
So God sends a prophet to a rebellious people. We’ve heard that before. God sends prophets with messages of doom, warning the people to “turn before it’s too late;” or God sends prophets to lead the people out of the disaster that their sin has brought. In either case, God sends a prophet, and there is something for that prophet to accomplish—give people hope, or get them to change.
But not today. God sends Ezekiel because it is in God’s nature to do so. God, it would seem, is a talker. God needs somebody to go and speak to these people. The point doesn’t seem to be any particular outcome, except for the people to know that God has not given up on them.
What might I be willing to attempt, if I were not wedded to the outcome?
Prayer
God of poets and prophets and singers and songs, forgive us when our agenda gets in your way. Embolden us to speak your word and help us to believe it ourselves. Amen.
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