11/7/21 Prophets – Daniel; Afterlife Daniel 12

11/7/21           Prophets – Daniel; Afterlife                Daniel 12

         

Our bulletins for All Saints Sunday use the same cover art that we use for funeral bulletins.  It is a piece of art that is both simple and yet grand.  It is the risen Christ with his arms outstretched.  In his garments and around him you see the sun, moon, and stars; there are suggestions of water, wine, and wheat – showing the sacraments; there are the four seasons depicted - showing that time itself is embraced in Christ.  It is all-encompassing, that in Christ are all things, and the fullness of all things.  I’m not sure of the artist’s inspiration but our second reading from Colossians 1 comes to mind.  Those verses are a grand vision of Jesus’ role in the cosmos.

Underneath that piece of art we put what seems like a sweet saying.  But it is actually a defiant and absolutely audacious claim, “Yet even at the grave we make our song:  Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia.”

Perhaps we are total fools.  Many a skeptic would say such a thing, although it appears as if most people in the world today believe in some sort of existence after death.  Or perhaps we are proclaiming a universal truth, as Ephesians 3:18-19 says, “I pray that you may have the power to comprehend, with all the saints, what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.”

It is important for us to realize that such claims as I read from Colossians and Ephesians have not come out of a vacuum.  There is a long and complex history behind such statements.  We see an important step in that history in our reading from Daniel today.

When studying Daniel it is very helpful to understand its background.  The book of Daniel pretends to be written during the 6^th century B.C.E., which is the Babylon captivity of the Jews, and sometime shortly thereafter, but that is not when it was actually written.

The writing date of Daniel is remarkably easy to determine, especially for a writing of its age.  I’m not going to get into the details of the evidence, but it was written sometime between 167 and 164 B.C.E.  Thus it is among the youngest, if not the youngest writing in the Old Testament.  Understanding life for Jews in that time period gives us incredible insight into not only Daniel but the development of the Jews understanding of God.

As we’ve been studying the prophets we realize the earliest of them (Hosea and Amos) were dealing with the Assyrian threat to the northern kingdom of Israel.  They proclaimed that if they didn’t repent they would be destroyed.  Indeed they were in 722.  That left the smaller, weaker southern kingdom of Judah.  Most of the Old Testament prophets deliver a similar message to them: change from your sinful ways or you will be punished.  The southern kingdom stumbled along as a semi-independent nation for a couple centuries.  It was buffeted and bullied by the Egyptians, Assyrians, and Babylonians.  Existence was always tenuous, but it did exist…

Until the Babylonians wiped it off the face of the earth in 587 B.C.E.  I’ve said many times over the last few months that that was Judaism’s deepest crisis.  How could then endure?  Would they endure?  Had God given up on them, or maybe was God a lie?

Bolstered by prophets like Jeremiah and Ezekiel they endured until the Persians conquered the Babylonians in 539 B.C.E.  The Persians then allowed the Jews to return to the Promised Land and rebuild.

From the Bible’s narrative you get the feeling that the Persians were God’s savior to the Jews and now life and faith could get back to normal.  Historical books like Ezra and Nehemiah, as well as prophets like Zechariah and Malachi, write of hope for a restored nation; but wiser now because they had learned their lessons from God. 

The truth is that life for the Jews was not at all good.  While the Bible describes the Persians as benevolent people who allow the Jews to rebuild Jerusalem, from the Persian perspective the Jews were serving the needs of their growing empire.  Allowing the Jews to return and rebuild was the Persians way of shoring up the western flank of their empire.  There the Greeks were emerging as a power and they were becoming a troublesome presence in the Mediterranean. 

If the empires of the late bronze age that threatened the Jews seemed powerful (think Egypt and Assyrian) they were nothing to the power of the empires that followed: the Babylonians, the Persians, the Greeks, and eventually the Romans.  These were powerhouses who ran over the Jews like they were a worn-out speed bump.  Empires grew stronger.  Armies grew stronger.

Biblical scholar Daniel Smith-Christopher writes of his namesake Daniel in the New Interpreter’s Bible.  He calls the historical background of Daniel, “the context of empire.”  He notes that life for the Jews under the rule of these empires was not good.  While yes, the Jews were allowed to live in their homeland, they were treated harshly and saddled with heavy burdens.  If you look at other Jewish writings of the time period, writings that didn’t make it into the Bible, you realize that the hope that God will bring about a swift restoration of the nation is waning.  It is as if they are resigned to the fact that national independence will be far off at best.

At the same time as this their language about God takes on a more empire like tone.  Instead of God being seen as king God is now described as emperor.  The idea of angels begins to develop.  In earlier Jewish writings angels would show up once in a while and they were always messengers from God.  In these later writings angels show up more and more.  What we could call angelology begins to form.  Angels are depicted in more detail, and more as warriors in the divine army.  Just as the imperial forces had various ranks of military leaders so also ranks of angels begin to form.  The angel Michael, who we met in our reading from Daniel, comes to be seen as the head of God’s vast army of angels.

And perhaps most significantly, the idea of eternal life begins to form.  Daniel 12 is one of only a couple places in the Old Testament where there is any concept of resurrection or eternal life at all. 

If you look at the whole situation as an atheist sceptic you could conclude that since the Jews have now lost hope in an earthly restoration of their nation, especially not coming about any time soon, they’ve developed this escapist idea where God still sees them and knows them.  And God will eventually reward them with eternal life.  But God also sees the actions of the bad guys – the evil empires around them – and God will give them eternal punishment.  So, the message is suffer through a completely miserable life now but be rewarded for all eternity.  Indeed many skeptics say the current understanding of eternal life found in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam is all rooted in this escapist thinking of the ancient Jews.

Perhaps that is a troublesome thought for many.  I, however, see it as an expression of the development of faithful people as they wrestled with the struggles of their reality yet felt God’s sure and abiding presence.  And those who say the Christian understanding of eternal life is nothing more than an extension of the escapist thinking of Jews in the second century B.C.E. are overlooking one very big thing.

The trajectory of Jewish thought comes to a crashing halt with the life and ministry of Jesus.  Remember how I said God was increasingly being depicted as an emperor of higher and higher power?  Also angels were taking on the role as a parallel to the armies of the empires?  What are the core teachings of Christianity?  God is no longer emperor - so high and aloof as to be unreachable.  God is now human, one with us, entirely relatable.  And instead of God coming to crush the empires with armies of angels, God dies at the hands of imperial might.

And as for eternal life, Jesus reverses that trend too.  While Jesus references eternal life several times, his main thrust is God’s kingdom here on earth.  Jesus never taught the escapist thinking that we should suffer now to be rewarded later.  Jesus never taught that life is a test to see if you are worthy enough to go to heaven.  No, Jesus taught that God’s reign was breaking into the present and that, not angels, but you and I are the messengers who bring God’s message to the world.

As Christians we want to see the contrast between the ministry of Jesus and the writings of Daniel.  Yes, the time of Daniel awakened people’s understandings of eternal life.  Jesus continued that.  But Jesus mostly returned people’s attention to the world of today and the goodness of life.

As we celebrate All Saints Sunday we remember those whom we love who have died not as those who have escaped the burden of this life, but as witnesses and inspirers for our own faith.  They have fought the good fight.  They have run the race.  We are thankful for what they have given to us, and for how they have shaped us, and then, along with God who is beside us, we continue on in the work of God’s kingdom here and now. 

10/31/2021 Prophets – Ezekiel; Justice Ezekiel 34:11-16

             If you were in worship last week today may feel like theological whiplash.  Last week we read from Ezekiel 33 where he gave the message that each person was accountable to God for his or her actions.  God was clearly standing above and acting as judge.  God would give life to the righteous and death to the wicked.  To round out the Bible readings in the worship bulletin I found a passage from St. Paul and a saying from Jesus that were along the same lines.

            But today we’re hearing almost the opposite message.  Let me read those verses from Ezekiel 34 again so that we can fully realize the contrast:

¹¹For thus says the Lord God: I myself will search for my sheep, and will seek them out. ¹²As shepherds seek out their flocks when they are among their scattered sheep, so I will seek out my sheep. I will rescue them from all the places to which they have been scattered on a day of clouds and thick darkness. ¹³I will bring them out from the peoples and gather them from the countries, and will bring them into their own land; and I will feed them on the mountains of Israel, by the watercourses, and in all the inhabited parts of the land. ¹⁴I will feed them with good pasture, and the mountain heights of Israel shall be their pasture; there they shall lie down in good grazing land, and they shall feed on rich pasture on the mountains of Israel. ¹⁵I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I will make them lie down, says the Lord God. ¹⁶I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the injured, and I will strengthen the weak,

 

This is a message of deep love and grace.  These are words we like to hear!  God is doing all the acting.  The people – the sheep – are not even seeking God.  God is seeking them.  God is bringing them back to their homeland.  God will provide them with all their needs. 

            And so within the prophet Ezekiel at different times we have completely opposite messages.  That goes for more than just Ezekiel.  It is a tension we find throughout our scripture.  What is the life of faith?  Are we judged by our works?  Do they make us likeable to God and as reward God looks favorably upon us?  -Or- Is the life of faith something that is completely God’s?  Are we saved by what God has done for us?  And is even our faith a product of God?

            The answer is, “Yes!” to both ideas, even though they are contradictory.  In seminary I was always taught that sermons need to have a tension between law and gospel.  Law being the reality that we fall short of the glory of God, that we are not in right relationship with God.  And gospel being the word of grace that we are unconditionally and forever loved and held secure by God.

            Many people – many theologians, especially protestants, attempt to come up with a middle of the road approach.  They say that God has given us everything as a free gift but that we must accept it.  If we don’t accept it then we don’t get to have it.

            That’s a likeable idea to us.  It preserves our free will – it preserves our agency in life and salvation.  It is, however, wrong.  It’s not even remotely biblical.  It’s actually heresy.

            Most Roman Catholic theologians along with many protestant theologians, especially Lutherans, will talk about the complete depravity of the soul.  It is the truth that without God we are nothing.  God created the dust that we are made of.  God created the life that animates the dust that we are made of.  God sustains that life in us and in everything.  And that even the faith that is within us is also God’s work. 

            What can we take credit for?  Nothing.  Not our good works.  Not our righteousness.  Not our faith.  Not our “decision” to believe and accept God’s goodness.

            Truly it makes a tatters of the idea of free will, but then again, the idea of free will is a human invention anyway.  And the resulting contradiction is a product of the limits of our human thinking.

            The idea of our complete dependence upon God and God alone formed the center of Martin Luther’s theology.  But those thoughts were hardly new to him.  They were not even new to Christianity and Jesus 1500 years before.  Go back even 600 years further and to the prophet Ezekiel and you find them.  And in fact it goes to well before Ezekiel’s time.  We depend upon God for everything – even our faith is a work of God.  This is a truth that humans always struggle to accept.  But God is simply beyond our limits.  I suppose it will always be a struggle.

            Today is Reformation Day.  It commemorates the beginning of the Protestant Reformation which led to many reforms in the church, especially the church in northern Europe, which in the 16^th century appears to have gone quite astray from the core of Christianity.

            Things had gone astray in Ezekiel’s time too.  You’ll remember that Ezekiel was a prophet who worked among those Jews who were taken into exile by the Babylonians after they had conquered Israel.  Later these people would learn that Jerusalem had been destroyed and that its 500-year-old temple had also been destroyed.

            The front of the bulletin lays out the four things Ezekiel needed to reform in the thinking of his countrymen.  All of them were expectations they had of God.  They were promises they thought God would make good on.  But now it appeared as if God had not.  Had God lied?  Had God failed?  Was God even for real?  Had they been foolishly duped into believing in old traditions and teachings?

            The four things are:

One, that they alone were God’s chosen people.  Of all the nations of the earth God had chosen them and made an eternal covenant with them through Moses when they were coming out of Egypt and moving to the Promised Land.  They had confidence that God would ensure their wellbeing and protect them.  To be sure, that covenant included obligations on their part as well as promises from God.  But it appears they focused more on benefiting from the promises than taking seriously their obligations.

            Two, that God had granted the land of Israel to their ancestors.  God owned the land – at least according to Leviticus there was no real personal ownership of land – and they were caretakers of it who would reap its blessings.  They believed that God would fight to protect them and to ensure that the land would forever be available as theirs.

            Third, God had entered into a covenant with King David that his family would forever be the rulers of the nation.  They saw it as an unconditional promise from God.  Meaning that no matter how bad they were, or how bad the king was, God was honor bound to keep the covenant forever.

            And fourth along with that, that the city of Jerusalem, and especially the temple within it, was God’s chosen dwelling place and would stand forever.  What are the final words of the famous 23^rd Psalm?  The Psalm starts off with, “The Lord is my shepherd,” the same theme we read from Ezekiel today.  And it ends with, “I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.”  That translation actually misses it somewhat, but you get the idea.  The temple is God’s chosen dwelling place.  God will dwell there forever.

            We aren’t spending enough time with the prophet Ezekiel to do his writings justice.  There just aren’t enough weeks to truly cover the prophets.  One of Ezekiel’s major visions that we are not covering is Ezekiel 10.  It’s a vivid vision where God’s glory departs from the temple.  Leading up to that vision are descriptions of all sorts of corruption and wrongdoing in and around the temple.  God becomes so disgusted with the filth that God can’t take it anymore and ultimately decides to leave.  That is one of Ezekiel’s messages intended to explain their current situation and to bring about a reformation in their thinking.

            Ezekiel’s original audience were the Jews taken to exile in Babylon were their country’s leading citizens.  These four things were the core of their faith.  They had lost all of them.  What was left of faith?  What was left of their national identity?  Ezekiel’s role was to reform their thoughts and understanding of God into something else.

            After harshly condemning the people for their constant corruption and faithlessness Ezekiel tells them there are deeper promises from God.  God has not failed.  God has not lied.  They are still God’s people and still within God’s power.  And we see in our reading from today, God will bring about a restoration.  They should live and trust in that.  Ultimately they did.  Judaism continues to flourish to this day.  It is the only religion from that time to do so. 

The reforms Martin Luther called for were actually far less significant than the major changes Ezekiel called for.  But the underlying truth is the same.  We are God’s.  We are created by God, loved by God, and saved by God.  As for our part, yes the news of our value being held by God should inspire us to work, work hard, be creative, and to know that suffering often goes along with it. 

God had not actually forsaken the people of Ezekiel’s day at all.  But they needed to rethink many parts of their faith to see it.  May we also be able to question and reform our own thinking regularly so that we never miss what God is up to.

 

10/24/2021 Prophets – Ezekiel; Justice Ezekiel 33:10-20

             (Begin with a video of the song “Gee Officer Krupke” from West Side Story.)

(I’ve always thought it was funny that all the characters in the 1961 cast of West Side Story all look pretty-well dressed and clean cut!) 

Here we have the street gang calling themselves The Jets making any and every excuse for their problemed lives.  They blame their home lives, their parents, societal systems, and on and on for their numerous problems.  But what do they not do at all?  Take ownership of their own actions!

Now I do not at all want to minimize the serious challenges and obstacles people can face because of their upbringings.  You do not get to choose your family of origin, or your gender, or your race, your nationality, and a host of other things.  I also do not want to minimize the life-long trauma that can be created in an abusive home.  Children need safe places and safe people.  That goes a long way to helping create an upstanding and productive adult.  At the same time, sooner or later people need to take ownership of their lives and realize they are more than the hand life dealt them initially. 

That doesn’t necessarily mean that they’ll ever totally overcome everything.  But being a conscientious adult means ultimately being a productive part of society and a safe and constructive person.

In our reading from Ezekiel we encounter a message from God to the ancient Jews living in exile in Babylon.  It’s impossible to know what their lives were like, but scholar Thomas Renz, in The Rhetorical Function of the Book of Ezekiel (Pg.44-45) says this,

“Having been part of Judah’s upper class, they had left behind family, social status and material possessions.  They had seen people dying during the siege and must have had further losses of life on the long and arduous journey to Babylonia, where they received a humiliating “welcome,” as certainly as Nebuchadnezzar made sure he received a hero’s welcome.  Even with these events receding somewhat in the background, the reality was that they had exchanged their hilly homeland and the pleasant climate of Jerusalem for the flat and hot Babylonian low lands, and at least some of them were certainly not used to the hard manual labor now required of them.  To this must be added, at the time before the fall of Jerusalem, the mixture of hope and fear concerning their own Jerusalem’s situation.”

Indeed, if the chronology of Ezekiel is correct, what we read today is from the time shortly before the Jewish exiles received word that Jerusalem had been destroyed.

Their feelings were certainly complex and mixed.  Some scholars suggest they were despairing.  In terms of faith, they appear to be angry; or ready to give up.  Perhaps like the gang in West Side Story they were blaming all sorts of situations that were beyond their control.  They seem to have been quoting a then popular saying, “The parents have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge.”  And thinking things like the Ten Commandments where it says, “…I the Lord your God am a jealous God, punishing children for the iniquity of their parents, to the third and fourth generation…”  (Exodus 20:5)  They were thinking that they were being punished by God for the sins of their parents.  This is understandable.  For centuries the prophets had proclaimed that punishment would come from God if the people did not change their ways.  Those in exile felt they were being punished by God for the sins of their ancestors.  It just didn’t seem fair!

It is into this mindset that Ezekiel’s word from God comes.  Through Ezekiel God says this is not true.  Those who are righteous will live.  Those who are wicked will suffer the consequences.  If the righteous change their ways and become bad then they too will be treated like the wicked.  And if the wicked change their ways, and make restitution for their past, then they will live.

In other words, each is responsible for him or herself.  Indeed there may be bad things in the past that have contributed to the present.  But as for a person’s relationship with God, and how God treats that person, that is up to that own person.  God is just.

That reality is easy to put into a statement.  In reality it is much more complex.  As we live in a complex world it is hard to realize the full impact of our decisions.  We may be doing great good or great harm and not realize it.  Ultimately we always need to come before God with humility recognizing that God alone knows the fullness of the truth and God alone is judge.

As we have looked at Jeremiah and now Ezekiel I think I have accurately portrayed the two major branches of Judaism.  In Jeremiah we see those who were left behind in Jerusalem and eventually moved away.  In Ezekiel we see those who were taken into exile.  In both cases God has placed a major prophet to continue to speak to the people.  In other words, God has not abandoned them at all.  God is still with them.  They may not like the truth that God is telling them, but God is residing with them and will not let go.  Ultimately it is God who brings them back to their homeland again.

It is also God who will not let them get away with excuses.  God sees.  God knows.  Whether life seems fair or not God’s justice will prevail.

With God taking care of justice we can then fully apply ourselves to the work of God’s kingdom.  Perhaps that means working for earthly justice for those who are not getting it.  Perhaps it is rolling up our sleeves and doing the hard work the world requires.  Perhaps it is being a quiet steady presence in the midst of calamity.  Whatever it is, it is embracing the goodness God created in us and in the world around us and making it flourish.

Historical Context of Jeremiah and Ezekiel

The Babylonians dealt ruthlessly with the Jewish people.

Why?

I answer that question by turning the clock backwards and focusing on – not the Babylonian Empire, but the Assyrian Empire.

(If you’re interested you can find a more complete history in the New Interpreter’s Bible that we have in the church library: Volume 6, Pg. 1076 and following.)

Assyria began perhaps as early as 2500 B.C.E. and became an enduring civilization in the Fertile Cresent. While it had its ups and downs, around 900 B.C.E. it began what would become a significant and sustained expansion under the leadership of Adad-nirari II. By the eighth century the small kingdoms at the eastern end of the Mediterranean Sea -Judah, Israel, Ammon, Moab, and Edom- were all under threat. With the exception of Judah they all fell. Judah alone survived because Jotham, Judah’s king at the time, refused to join with the kings of Israel and Damascus when they formed a last-ditch coalition against the Assyrians. However, while Judah technically remained independent, it became a vassal state to the Assyrians and began paying heavy tribute.

Under the reign of King Hezekiah (715-687 B.C.E.) Judah rebelled and attempted to escape Assyrian rule. In 701 however, Assyrian leader Sennacherib quelled Judah’s rebellion and laid siege to Jerusalem. While the Bible says Sennacherib was forced to abandon his siege when his army was decimated by “the messenger of the Lord” (2 Kings 19:35), in the Assyrian records Sennacherib boasts of imprisoning Hezekiah in his city “like a bird in a cage” and of extracting enormous tribute. (Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament, 3rd ed. 1969) 

So, while Judah wasn’t exactly destroyed, it remained a vassal state of Assyria.  By the 7th century B.C.E. Assyria had expanded to such an extent that it controlled most of the Middle East, plus Egypt. But late in that century Egypt mounted a successful revolt. Babylonia (forerunner of the Babylonian Empire) also successfully revolted. That meant that the southern and eastern extremities of the Assyrian Empire had broken free. Assyrian power began to wane. It was in this time that Judean king Josiah began to exert national independence as well. He successfully expanded the territory and launched a series of religious and political reforms. (It was during this time that the prophet Jeremiah began his ministry.)

As Assyria waned the Babylonians began to expand their power; and at an alarming rate. Egypt realized enormous threat posed by Babylon. They decided to join forces with the Assyrians despite being former foes. They hoped their combined forces could keep Babylon contained. But in Judah king Josiah felt that a joint Egyptian/Assyrian force was a serious threat to his own nation. Keep in mind that Judah lay between the territories of Egypt and Assyria. In order for the Egyptians to come to the aid of the Assyrians they had to move their armies right through Judah’s territory. In the year 609 Josiah decided to attack the Egyptians as they were passing through. Quite possibly Josiah saw the Babylonians as potential allies against the Assyrians. Unfortunately, Josiah was killed in the battle.

The combined forces of Egypt and Assyria proved incapable of stopping the Babylonians. The almost 2000-year-old Assyrian civilization was effectively destroyed. The Egyptians retreated and hoped that distance alone would protect their homeland from Babylon. Judah was hardly independent now though. As the Egyptian army passed back through Judah they removed king Jehoahaz, son of Josiah, and appointed Jehoiakim to rule in his place. While Jehoiakim was also a son of Josiah, it was clear that the Egyptians were in charge of who ruled. Judah had now become a vassal state of Egypt - a geographic buffer between Egypt and Babylon.

Four years later, in 605 B.C.E., Babylonian influence was pressing hard on the Egyptian buffer territories. They had defeated the Egyptian army in a battle at Carchemish. Judean king Jehoiakim reluctantly swapped loyalties from Egypt to Babylon. Jehoiakim had been hoping Egypt would grow in strength, but four years later still, in 601, the Babylonians moved their forces through Judah to the very edge of Egypt. An enormous battle ensued between Egypt and Babylon. Both sides suffered severe casualties. Neither came out victorious. The Egyptians breathed a sigh of relief. The Babylonians returned home to reorganize. King Jehoiakim, probably hoping for Egyptian backup, decided the time was right to revolt against Babylon.

The Babylonians were not immediately able to crush this revolt, but they were able to deploy troops already in region to unsettle the area until larger forces could return. In 597 Babylonian king Nebuchadrezzar (sometimes spelled Nebuchadnezzar) mounted a campaign against Judah. They took firm control of all the territory of Judah and laid siege to Jerusalem. In March 597 Judean king Jehoiachin surrendered. (Yes, the names of many of the kings of Judah are very similar in spelling!) He and his household, along with other Judean leaders, craftsmen, and smiths, were forced into exile in Babylon.

Nebuchadrezzar appointed Jehoiachin’s uncle Zedekiah as a puppet king. Zedekiah proved to be a weak and vacillating leader. At first he fulfilled his obligations to the Babylonians. Later he decided to rebel (Jeremiah 27-28). And like King Jehoiakim before him, he probably hoped for help from Egypt… help that never came. The rebellion quickly failed. Zedekiah traveled to Babylon to show Judah’s submission.

But then in 589/88 he rebelled again. This time the Babylonians responded immediately and decisively. The land of Judah was decimated. Jerusalem was besieged. It held out for a while but was eventually conquered. The Babylonians destroyed it completely, including the temple built by Solomon. Zedekiah tried to flee but the Babylonians caught him. They then killed his children right in front of him, and then gouged his eyes out. The Babylonians executed many. They took many more to exile in Babylon.

The prophet Ezekiel was taken to Babylon in the 597 deportation. The prophet Jeremiah remained through that, and remained again after the 587 destruction. Jeremiah eventually moved to Egypt along with a band of other Judeans.

Judah’s territory was a crossroads for the early empires that emerged in the middle east. For the most part Judah was a vassal state to one of those empires. Its loyalties changed as the empires rose and fell. Babylon’s power didn’t last long. It collapsed even more quickly than it began. By late in the 6th century B.C.E. Judah was under Persian rule. The Persians allowed the Jews to rebuild. The pattern of being a semi-independent vassal state began anew!

10/17/2021 Prophets – Ezekiel’s Vision, Ezekiel 1-3:15

             If asked to describe what God looks like I believe most people in our culture would describe God as a large bearded man sitting on a huge throne.  This man may be very stern looking.  Or maybe kindly looking.  Or maybe something in between.

            I wonder how the ancient Jews would have described God?  Right in their core teaching – the Ten Commandments – is an order not to make a graven image of God.  That meant more than just ‘don’t make a statue of God’.  It meant don’t try to come up with an image of that which is beyond being able to be made into an image.

            Though the Old Testament pokes fun of the religious beliefs of the peoples around them – things like bowing down and worshipping something made of wood or stone by human hands - the surrounding religions did not believe their statues actually were their gods.  They believed their gods existed elsewhere; or somewhere beyond.  But their religious beliefs still allowed for the creation of the image of their gods and their gods’ key qualities; power and fertility being the key ones.

            I believe it was common in those days that when one nation conquered territory they would haul off the gods of the conquered people.  They may even parade them around and publicly desecrate them or burn them showing that their god was stronger than the conquered god.

            However, that wouldn’t work for the ancient Jews.  With no graven images of God it simply couldn’t be done.  When the Babylonians did finally conquer Jerusalem and haul off the riches of the temple they were able to take: the tools and instruments, the items of gold, silver, and bronze.  They could haul off the gold covered ark of the covenant.  But there was no image they could desecrate and destroy.  This idea of having no graven images had a bit of practical wisdom to it!

But as I said a minute ago, the ancient Jews would not only not make an image of God they wouldn’t even ever attempt to describe God’s appearance.  Remember the vision the prophet Isaiah has about God in the temple?  (Isaiah 6)  Isaiah describes light and sound and smoke and the hem of God’s robe, but he never tries to actually describe God.

            Perhaps the most grand and vivid depiction of the divine presence is what we read in Ezekiel today.  It is a strange and fantastic vision!  After reading it you might be tempted to ask if there were hallucinogenic drugs around in those days.  How on earth could anyone have such a fantastic vision if they were in their right mind?!?  The answer is that yes indeed, they did have hallucinogenic drugs in those days.  And many have suggested that Ezekiel used them to enhance his visions.  What is this with these four creatures with wings, each with four heads, and wheels and eyes and all sorts of stuff?  Actually it wasn’t unusual for prophets of the time to do all sorts of things to have visions.  They may use drugs, or alcohol, or severely starve themselves, or something to cause visions.  Who knows what was going on with Ezekiel?  But one thing is certain, regardless of his state of mind his depiction of the divine presence is very much within orthodox Judaism.

            Many scholars have tried to interpret Ezekiel’s vision thinking it is full of symbolic meanings.  He does indeed pull on many traditional images of ancient Judaism.  However it is fruitless to try to interpret the components.  They just don’t make sense or fit into any category.  Instead it is best to just recognize this as an amazing depiction of the presence of God.  And very importantly, God’s appearance is in no way described.  Only the surroundings are described.  The appearance of the divine presence is left completely undefined.  The ancient Jews just would not let God’s appearance be defined.  They felt God was too big, to beyond, to ‘Other’ than could ever be described by the limits of the human imagination.

            When I was looking for cover art for the bulletin I did a Google search of “Ezekiel’s Vision”.  It is a topic that many artists have attempted to depict.  The search yielded countless results.  The vision itself doesn’t actually make sense at all, nor is it very clear.  However I was very disappointed to discover that in almost all of the depictions the artist included an image of God.  And God was indeed a great man on a throne.  Ezekiel’s sensibilities kept him from describing God.  Yet almost all the artists were willing to give it a go.  I chose the art that is on our bulletin cover because the artist stayed more true to what Ezekiel himself describes.

            Christians have long been comfortable attempting to create an image of God.  We take the idea of ‘being made in the image of God,’ and the predominate idea that God is masculine, and depict God as a great man of terrific power.  But that is not only inadequate - for God is also revealed as having numerous qualities usually considered to be feminine, and God can be described in female terms – but it also flies in the face of allowing God’s presence to be beyond our imagination.  In fact God is so ‘other’ than us that to even describe God as having a presence is in and of itself too limiting.

            God presence should make our heads spin for the sheer enormity of the idea.  And then that prepares us for the jarring contrast of the core of Christian faith – that God became human and walked among us.

            The idea of God -or the gods- coming in human form is not unique to Christianity.  Most obviously were the ancient Greeks whose mythology often depicted the gods coming to earth in human form.  Those gods usually wreaked havoc among the humans, either manipulating them for their own selfish desires or using humans as entertaining playthings.

            But Christianity is different for the idea of God coming to live a lifetime for the purpose of self-revelation. 

            When we can realize that God’s nature is absolutely indescribable and unknowable then we are able to be in awe of God choosing to reveal Godself in human form.  God knows full well that we are simply incapable of grasping the nature of the divine.  And so God comes in way that we can understand.  God comes not with symbols or books or intellectual puzzles but as a human – seeable, hearable, touchable.

            God did not come making great decrees to humans for what they were doing wrong.  In Jesus God came as a man who ate meals with anyone and everyone who wanted to. 

            The reading we had from John’s gospel, those words so famously read on Christmas Eve, carry the great mystery and contrast of it.  In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God.  He was in the beginning with God.  All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. 

            John is writing in the same spirit as Ezekiel – recognizing God as unknowable and entirely other than us.  That then sets up the shocking contrast, perhaps actually scandalous contrast, of verse 14, “And the Word became flesh and lived among us.  And we have seen his glory…”

            Okay, so Christians do make the audacious claim that God’s infinite glory can actually be seen.  It can be imagined.  It can be understood.

            What is that glory?  Keep thinking in John’s gospel.  What does Jesus describe as his glorification?  John 12:32, “’And I when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all things to myself.’  He said this to indicate the kind of death he was to die.”

            Now we truly have a scandal beyond what a human can comprehend.  God as powerful beyond imagination, yet God as knowable in human form, yet God’s power fully revealed in dying!

            The whole thing makes our heads spin.  Indeed it is not to be figured out – which takes us right back to Ezekiel’s vision.

            God’s promises are beyond our imagination.  God’s love is beyond our imagination.  It should make our head spin.  But it should also bring us great comfort.  God’s unknowable power, and God’s infinite love.

            God has commissioned us to be messengers in this world – to proclaim the truth and mystery that is before us.  And with it the great promises of goodness beyond our wildest imagination.

10/10/2021 Prophets – Jeremiah Ignored Jeremiah 42-43

            When I was a kid I thought my “job” of sorts was to go to school to learn things.  School would help me to know what I needed to know when I grew up.  And I thought that when you became an adult you kind of stopped learning and growing and just were static for the rest of life.

Well, assuming that I have to consider myself to be an adult, I’ve learned that that model of life just isn’t true.  Life is an ongoing process of growth, learning, and change.  The world is not a static place.  Because it is changing, we are changing along with it.  Perhaps education isn’t as formal as an adult, or perhaps it is for those pursuing certifications and degrees, but it is still learning.

I participated in the annual synod ministerium for pastors last week.  One of the keynote speakers was the Rev. Dr. Donald Schwab.  He’s a retired Catholic priest, a teacher, a theologian, a psychologist, and a consultant often used by the synod to help congregations in conflict.  He reminded the pastors -all of whom are showing fatigue from this pandemic- of the one quality that almost all people who feel they are living fulfilling lives have.  These same people also tend to be the people who are the most likable, the most highly valued, and often the most effective leaders.  That quality they all share is not looks or money or charisma.  It is an ongoing passion to learn and explore.  These people are constantly growing.  They are taking on new challenges.  They push themselves and their boundaries constantly.  And they do so with a sense of humility.  They are not trying to get ahead and look down on others.  They are trying to get ahead purely for the purpose of being as effective as they can possibly be.

I’m quite certain the prophet Jeremiah was not well liked.  I don’t believe he lived a very fulfilling life.  In fact I believe he lived a very miserable life.  I could be wrong because I have not researched this, but I could easily believe he was the most persecuted person of that we meet in the Old Testament.

-The religious leaders had him beaten and put in the stockade (Jeremiah 20)

-He was basically put on trial and many called for his death (Jeremiah 26)

-He was put in a cistern and left to die in the mud (Jer. 28)

-God gave Jeremiah a message to write on a scroll.  He did so and while he was reading it to the king the king cut off the portions Jeremiah had read and publicly burnt it. (Jeremiah 36)

-He was called a liar by other prophets (Jeremiah 43)

-He was accused of treason and insurrection and imprisoned for it.  (Jeremiah 32)

            No, I don’t pretend that Jeremiah was well liked.  I don’t begin to say he lived a fulfilled life.  In fact he cried out to God many times for his sufferings and even cursed the day of his birth.  I do not believe people considered Jeremiah to be a high value person.  And on the whole people ignored the truths he spoke, preferring instead to believe the less painful words of those who were lying to them. 

Yet Jeremiah never quit.  He never stopped learning.  He never stopped growing.  And no matter how badly he was treated, he stayed with his people even as they repeatedly ignored him and rejected the word he brought from God.

Last week we looked at the time between when the Babylonians first took control of the nation in 597 B.C.E. and when they destroyed Jerusalem in 587 B.C.E.  There Jeremiah was telling the people to submit to their Babylonian conquerors.  But they ignored him.  And because of it Jerusalem was destroyed and the temple too.  It was too late.  All was lost.

Many people had been taken into exile in Babylon in 597.  Many more were hauled off in 587.  But some were left behind and some escaped by fleeing.  Jeremiah was among those left behind.

The Babylonians set up a Jew named Gedaliah to govern the territory.  Under his leadership many Jews who had fled began to return.  They began to cultivate the fields and restore the vineyards.  There was hope for the beginning of a society for those who were left.

You won’t be surprised to learn that Jeremiah backed the leadership of Gedaliah.  Jeremiah told the people to stay and make the best of it, for that was God’s will and a way God would bring about a restoration of the nation; albeit in the distant future.

Given the ways things had been going, you won’t be surprised to learn that after four or five years of leadership Gedaliah was assassinated for his efforts by some zealous Jews who were still trying to overthrow the enormously powerful Babylonians.  Those Jews who were left feared repercussions from Nebuchadnezzar for this assassination.  After all, the last time there was an uprising the Babylonians were crushing.  So this remnant of the remnant decided to flee to Egypt.

That takes us to the beginning of our reading in Jeremiah 42.  If you’ve been following our journey through Jeremiah you won’t be surprised to hear that Jeremiah’s message hasn’t changed.  It is still that God is telling them to stay put and submit to the Babylonians.

And as always, Jeremiah was ignored.

If I was Jeremiah I’d throw my arms up in exasperation.  I’d say “I told you so!”  I mean, how many times can you give good advice, be not only ignored but persecuted for it, and then continue to stick around?

Jeremiah could also have stayed behind.  Instead he went with them.  As I said earlier, despite the fact that they had shown themselves to be unfaithful time and time again, Jeremiah continued to faithfully bring the word of God to them.  He was a living statement of God’s enduring and abiding love for them.  Ultimately the story of Jeremiah just goes silent after they’ve been in Egypt awhile.  There’s no conclusion.  Most scholars believe he died in Egypt.

Jeremiah’s prophesy in chapter 43 about the Babylonians conquering Egypt never did come to be.  However, decades later there was a great battle between the two empires.  There’s no consensus as to who actually won. 

I hope and pray your life is easier than that of Jeremiah.  But I do hope God will give us all some of the qualities he gave Jeremiah.

Jeremiah knew an important truth.  He knew that change was hard.  He knew that change meant the death of the old and the pain of accepting something new.  But that pain, that suffering, needed to be accepted and worked through.  Those who seek quick solutions to avoid pain and suffering never learn or grow.  They repeat their mistakes.  They become miserable people to be around.

            Though they are thousands of years old, the words from St. Paul to the Romans that we read earlier are eternally true.  “Suffering produces endurance and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us.”  Romans 5:3-4.

            Now, I don’t recommend that people go looking for suffering, but an extraordinary person -a highly effective person- a person who is looked up to is a person who is not afraid of suffering.

            Thus we see in Jeremiah.  No fear of suffering deterred him from what God called him to do.  He promoted the changes that were needed.  He stuck with it.

            The Jews suffered the loss of all things when the Babylonians conquered their nation, destroyed Jerusalem and the temple, and ended the monarchy.  Through that darkest time Jeremiah was a consistent voice of hope.  He continuously proclaimed and embodied God’s enduring love and promises for the future.

            I wouldn’t wish you a life like Jeremiah’s, but he is an excellent example of faith and courage.  It is something to strive for.  Life is an adventure.  May you embrace the adventure.  And also be a voice of real hope in our world that needs real hope.

 

10/3/2021 Prophets – Jeremiah Versus Hananiah Jer. 27-28

             Our reading from Jeremiah gets at the age-old question Jews faced from their prophets.  How do you tell if a person is a false prophet or a true prophet? 

The answer…  Wait and see. 

If the things they predict come true then they are a true prophet.  If the things they predict do not come true then they are a false prophet.  The fact that Jeremiah has one of the biggest books of the Bible named after him, and that you probably never heard of the prophet Hananiah before, it’s pretty easy to conclude that Jeremiah was a true prophet and Hananiah was a false prophet.

            That’s an easy enough answer from our perspective looking back from thousands of years.  But what if you’re in the midst of it?

            Jeremiah and Hananiah both seem to be well recognized and well accomplished prophets.  Both of them know the prophetic style and how to use symbolic actions.  Both of them know to start their oracles with the formula quote, “Thus says the Lord…”  And, both of them appear to be saying something that is quite plausible.  In other words, it’s orthodox.

-Given history Jeremiah’s prophesy makes sense.  The prophets have long predicted devastation for the people’s unfaithfulness. 

-And given history Hananiah’s prophesy also makes sense – God will deliver because God made promises about the eternal nature of Jerusalem and the Davidic monarchy.

            So, short term, both of them have credibility.

            We need to remind ourselves of a little bit of history before we go further.  The Babylonian empire had risen quickly; over just several decades.  I don’t believe any previous empire could rival their power.  They had destroyed the mighty and long-lasting Assyrian empire.  Egypt, also mighty and a long time power, was retreating with its tail between its legs.  All the little nations in between: Ammon, Moab, Edom, Judah – they were being overrun like they weren’t even there.  The Babylonians seemed unstoppable. 

In 597 B.C.E. the Babylonians conquered Judah.  They took control of Jerusalem.  And they took many of Jerusalem’s citizens into exile in the city of Babylon.  They also ransacked the temple and took everything of value, including many of the sacred objects used in worship.  All the golden lampstands and vessels, probably the ark of the covenant, and anything of value was hauled off. 

The Babylonians were mighty, and they were probably arrogant, but they weren’t stupid.  In fact they were quite clever.  Rather than putting one of their own officials in charge of Jerusalem after they ransacked it, they put Zedekiah, who was in the blood line of David, in place as a puppet king.  Also, the religious practices were allowed to continue, just without all the sacred vessels.  All-in-all, if the Jews paid tribute and didn’t make a fuss the Babylonians were more than willing to let Jerusalem stand, a puppet king in the bloodline of David pretend to be ruler, and the temple could operate.  The Babylonians were, after all, practical.

The prophesies from Jeremiah and Hananiah are made in the years between 597 B.C.E. when the Babylonians took over, and 587 B.C.E. after the Jews revolted and the Babylonians came back and destroyed it all.

So, if you’re living in that in-between decade what do you do?  What does God really want?  What is God’s will for you?  Submit and live a shadow of your faith (that’s Jeremiah’s message from God) or be more resistant believing God will bring about divine deliverance (that’s more along the lines of what Hananiah said)?

            People being people it’s no surprise that the hearers liked Hananiah’s prophesy more than Jeremiah’s.  Hananiah’s words preserved dignity, and provided for short term hope.  God would divinely deliver them from their oppressors.

            Jeremiah’s was very hard to swallow.  Jeremiah’s message was that the Babylonians were God’s chosen instrument to punish them.  The Babylonians were tyrannical conquerors who were gobbling up all the nations around with their vastly superior military.  Jeremiah said not to resist them.

            That’s tough message to stomach.  How could God be on the side of the conquering oppressors?

            What is the American mindset?  Whenever there is a threat you fight against it.  You use military might or economic might or intellectual might and you fight and stay the course until you triumph.  Quitting is not an option.  Failure is not an option.  That’s not only an American mindset that goes for just about every nation.  That goes for cultures as a whole and also for individuals.  It was true for the ancient Jews too.  So Jeremiah’s message to just be subservient – basically be a doormat the Babylonians could wipe their feet on – just doesn’t feel right.  It is a message of humiliation.  It is really hard to believe that God would want the chosen people to be subject to this.

            So, even though Jeremiah’s message was similar to many of the previous prophets his message is so counter-faithful, so almost traitorous to their faith, that it is really hard to believe it is from God.

            I believe Jeremiah didn’t want to give the message.  You can see that when he says to Hananiah about Hananiah’s prophesy, “Amen!  May the Lord do so; may the Lord fulfill the words that you have prophesied, and bring back to this place from Babylon the vessels of the house of the Lord, and all the exiles.”

            I’m sure you can think of politicians, leaders, social advocates, and the like who say all sorts of condemnatory things.  You can tell they enjoy giving their nasty messages and tearing down people’s ideas.  I don’t believe Jeremiah was like that.  I believe Jeremiah truly didn’t want to say what God was directing him to say.  He did not like being as harshly critical as he had to be.

            We don’t have people in the role of prophets the way they did then.  And yet there are many voices claiming to have the answers for a better future.  Some of them are religious leaders.  Some of them are political and economic leaders.  How do we know who to listen to?  How do we know who is bringing the word from God?

            Both Hananiah and Jeremiah had plausible messages, but Jeremiah’s had an additional ring of truth to it.  It is easy to follow the person whose message is what you want to hear.  I believe that’s the way most of our political campaigns go.  Those running for office determine what the people want to hear and then they cater a message to it.  Everyone wants to hear that problems will take care of themselves automatically.  Or that problems can be solved quickly and easily.  That was basically what Hananiah’s message was.  I’m sure the people of his day wanted to believe he was right.  Even Jeremiah said he wished Hananiah was right.  But Jeremiah’s word carries with it a truth that God’s will usually includes.  Jeremiah called the people to humility, to hard work, and to be ready for a long tough slog.  God would bring about restoration to be sure. 

            The world’s problems are complicated.  There’s no such thing as an easy answer – unless of course you expect someone else to do all the hard work for you.  God made you capable.  Don’t expect God to give you easy answers.

            I want to conclude with one more thing that is central to the text.  It deserves more time because it is a big part of Jeremiah’s message, and the entire message of the Old Testament, but I’m only going to bring it up.  We see it in 27:5.  God says, “It is I who by my great power and outstretched arm have made the earth, with the people and animals that are on the earth, and I give it to whomever I please.”

            God reminds them of whose really in charge and of God’s perspective.  God’s perspective is much bigger than the human perspective.  Sometimes we make the mistake of thinking that the world is all about us – us as individuals and us as humans.  We forget that God is interested in the whole creation – the plants, the animals, the earth, the solar system, the galaxies, the billions of galaxies that exist.  Never forget how big this universe is.  It’s all God’s.  Again, God is interested in the whole thing. 

            The truth is that we are tiny and insignificant nothings in the midst of God’s vast universe.  We should remember to be honored that God recognizes us at all, let alone comes to us as Jesus.  And before we think too highly of being made in the image of God, remember, we’re the only part of creation so messed up that God had to come to be in our form to save us.            So, God sees us.  God knows us.  God loves us.  But do not think we can impose our perspective on God; or that God needs to act according to our standards.  It’s not about us.  Instead, as Jeremiah told the people, whether days be easy or hard, full of honor or shame, whether they make sense or are confusing, God’s got it.  Trust that.  God will take care of what God wants to get done in God’s own time.  You will be an important part of it.