Day 222: Idolatry and Adultery

Isaiah 65:1-16 The final two chapters of Isaiah pertain to the end times and the Final Judgment. God conveys in a powerful way that he is always eager and ready to come to the aid of his People. Everyone can count on the Lord’s help provided they seek him with the desire to do his will. Everyone will be rewarded and punished respectively according to their deeds. (CCC 1021, 1031, 1040)


Ch 65:16 God of truth: Literally, “God of the Amen,” a God who keeps his promises. (CCC 1063)


Ch 65:17-25 A new Heaven and new earth will be created by God at the end of time. Just as the righteous will have glorified bodies and rise from their graves, so, too, will all of creation undergo a glorious renewal beyond the realm of imagination. In a certain sense, the new Heaven and new earth will reflect the state of innocence before the Fall of Adam and Eve. (CCC 1041-1050)


Ch 65:25 The descriptions of harmony among the beasts, similar to what was written in an earlier chapter (cf. 11:6-9), gives a sample of the new order of creation and the peace that the Messiah brings to the world. (CCC 337-344, 353)


Ezekiel 23:1-35 In this metaphor of marriage, the Lord is depicted as married to two sisters, both of whom “play the harlot” in Egypt. The sisters represent the divided nation, the Southern Kingdom of Judah and the Northern Kingdom of Israel; their indiscretions refer to the practice of idolatry they adopted in Egypt and in the wilderness. The marriage metaphor demonstrates God’s eternal fidelity to his covenant with his Chosen People, who had obstinately broken it by worshiping false gods. This allegory also describes the permanence and fidelity of marriage between a husband and wife. (CCC 1611)


Ch 23:36-49 Judgment was again passed on the two kingdoms for their sins, which were committed with full knowledge of the Law. These verses convey the message that these severe punishments are aimed at converting Israel: “You shall bear the penalty for your sinful idolatry; and you shall know that I am the Lord God.”


Ch 24:1-14 In this allegory Jerusalem is the stew pot and the people are the “flesh” to be boiled. This was punishment yet also purification, as the pot needed to reach a very high temperature for the purifying process to take effect.


Ch 24:15-27 In this passage his wife represents the Temple, and Ezekiel represents the deep and silent grief that the exiles felt for the city’s destruction. Here, too, we see the confirmation of God’s prophetic words that are fulfilled by the death of Ezekiel’s wife, which occurred on the same day Jerusalem was under siege.

(*The Didache Bible RSV-CE Ignatius Edition, 2006)


  • The Book of Consolation is coming to a close

  • The Lord wants to bring us back

  • That’s one of the reasons why we have been journeying through Isaiah, Ezekiel, and all these other prophets this whole time

  • Because God continues to call out to His People

  • Think about the goodness of God is He refuses to let His People go wherever they want

  • Sometimes we think that permissiveness is a sign of goodness

  • Sometimes we think that permissiveness is even a sign of love

  • “I’ll support you no matter what you do”

  • AND YET…

  • Proverbs 13:24, “He who spares the rod hates his son…”

  • Obviously, that can be taken to an EXTREME

  • This is about DISCIPLINE

  • NOT ABOUT BEATING SOMEONE

  • This is about CORRECTING and TEACHING

  • NOT ABOUT TORTURING SOMEBODY

  • We think about corporal punishment, physical correction essentially

  • That can be OVERDONE OBVIOUSLY

  • So can a “time-out”

  • In terms of that kind of psychological abandonment

  • We can say, “We are psychologically advanced. I don’t do corporal punishment in my household.”

  • Ok that’s great

  • You can also recognize that you maybe put your child in a “time-out” and you were a little aggressive with that

  • Maybe you left them longer than they needed to

  • We recognize that our own emotions can win

  • Our own emotions can get away from us

  • When it comes to discipline, there is a MASSIVE DIFFERENCE between discipline and abuse

  • I’m sure for most of us, we can see that is very very clear to us

  • I make that note so that people don’t think that The Bible is ENDORSING ABUSE

  • IN FACT…

  • There is ROOM for this kind of DISCIPLINE

  • IN FACT…

  • Proverbs 13:24, “He who spares the rod hates his son, but he who loves him is diligent to discipline him.”

  • AGAIN…

  • NOT ABUSE

  • BUT TO DISCIPLINE

  • TO TEACH

  • WHY?

  • BECAUSE I BELIEVE THAT YOU CAN COME BACK FROM THIS!

  • So hopefully all the caveats, qualifications, and conditions were made that you understand Fr. Mike is not saying, “Let’s endorse abuse!”

  • THE BIBLE DOES NOT ENDORSE ABUSE IN ANY WAY SHAPE OR FORM

  • On to Ezekiel Chs 23 and 24

  • We have Oholah and Oholibah

  • Oholah represents Samaria, the NORTHERN KINGDOM

  • Oholibah represents Jerusalem, the SOUTHERN KINGDOM

  • Ezekiel has this metaphor about these two sisters

  • They both play the harlot

  • They come from Egypt because that’s where the Israelites came from slavery in Egypt

  • They also kept looking to Egypt to save them from the Assyrians

  • BUT…

  • They then played the harlot with Assyria

  • One of the BIG TAKEAWAYS for all of this is the Lord will continue to reiterate and drill into our heads HOW CLOSELY IDOLATRY IS RELATED TO ADULTERY

  • Here is God’s People who are meant to be HIS

  • We’ve said this before but we say it again

  • There are some relationships THAT DO NOT TOLERATE RIVALS

  • The relationship of a husband and wife, that does not tolerate rivals

  • The relationship of one neighbor to another, sure you can have lots of neighbors who are equally fun and you have rivals

  • BUT…

  • When it comes to a SPOUSAL RELATIONSHIP

  • TO BE A WIFE TO A HUSBAND

  • TO BE A HUSBAND TO A WIFE

  • DOES NOT TOLERATE ANY SINGLE RIVAL

  • God is saying, “If you think that’s true, and it is, the relationship between US…”

  • What does Scripture say?

  • “I your maker have become your husband.”

  • “I your maker have become your husband.”

  • That relationship, to turn to IDOLATRY is just like ADULTERY

  • Which is why we have that very graphic description in Ezekiel Ch 23 about turning away from the Lord God and giving oneself over to false gods

  • Even if that simply means TRUSTING THE ASSYRIANS

  • IN FACT…

  • Oholibah, the SOUTHERN KINGDOM, didn’t just kind of have their Assyrian thing

  • They had their Babylonian thing too

  • That’s why Ezekiel is prophesying in Babylon saying, “That’s what you did. You gave yourself over to Babylon.”

  • Remember when the King gave the tour of EVERYTHING HE HAD to the Babylonian emissaries and showed everything off?

  • Isaiah saw that and said, “Why are you doing this? You have just given yourself away. You have given away all the state secrets.”

  • Because God wants us to have this kind of close relationship with him

  • THAT IS WHAT WE ARE MADE FOR

  • IF ANYONE

  • IF ANYTHING

  • IS A RIVAL BETWEEN US AND GOD

  • THAT THING IS AN IDOL!!

  • AND WE ARE COMMITTING ADULTERY WITH THE LORD

  • WHICH IS JUST DEVASTATING!!

  • In Ezekiel Ch 24 we have the The Boiling Pot

  • Ezekiel 24:1, “In the ninth year, in the tenth month, on the tenth day of the month, the word of the Lord came to me…”

  • So this is very specific

  • This is an event that is going to happen

  • What did this date signify?

  • THE BEGINNING OF THE FINAL SIEGE OF JERUSALEM

  • REMEMBER…

  • Three waves of DEPORTATION

  • FIRST WAVE is Daniel and his pals got deported to Babylon

  • SECOND WAVE is Ezekiel and his crew

  • THIRD WAVE in Ezekiel Ch 24

  • Ninth year in the tenth month on the tenth day of the month

  • We have this image of the Pot

  • What is the Pot?

  • EVERYTHING GETS THROWN INTO THE POT

  • Basically here is God saying, “Ok there were relatively small deportations from Jerusalem to Babylon. Now EVERYTHING is going into the pot.”

  • Ezekiel 24:4, “...all the good pieces, the thigh and the shoulder; fill it with choice bones…”

  • Put in ALL THE PIECES OF FLESH IN THE POT AND EVERYTHING GETS BOILED UP

  • THIS IS JERUSALEM

  • This MASSIVE DEPORTATION that is going to happen

  • This MASSIVE SIEGE OF JERUSALEM that is going to happen

  • EVERYTHING GOES IN

  • EVEN THE MOST POWERFUL PEOPLE

  • But what happens is God says, “It’s not going to be purified though. It’s going to go in and we’re going to scald the whole thing. We are going to put down the fire and stoke the fire beneath this in order to burn off the rust and it’s still not going to be purified, it’s still just going to be the same”

  • Ezekiel 24:13, “...Because I would have cleansed you and you were not cleansed…you shall not be cleansed…”

  • This is REALITY

  • This is SO HARD

  • BUT REMEMBER…

  • This is NOT GOD PUNISHING

  • This is God CALLING HIS PEOPLE BACK

  • NOT ABUSE

  • BUT DISCIPLINE

  • This is a turning point in Ezekiel’s life

  • Ezekiel’s wife dies

  • On the surface, Ezekiel has been a TOUGH PROPHET

  • He seems to have thick skin, literally lying on his side for 390 days

  • His heart is revealed here in Ezekiel Ch 24

  • Ezekiel 24:16, “Son of man, behold, I am about to take the delight of your eyes away from you…”

  • She is the light of your life

  • This wife of yours, whom you love

  • Here is what is going to happen

  • Your heart will be pierced, obviously

  • BUT…

  • YOU ARE NOT GOING TO MOURN

  • People are going to see that you are not mourning and it is going to be a PROPHETIC WORD TO THEM

  • People look and wonder what is going on

  • It’s a little bit of a mystery what that prophetic action is trying to communicate

  • Here is a suggestion:

  • Ezekiel is saying, “My not mourning the desire of my heart, the desire of my eyes, the love of my life, this is what you are going to do when the Temple is destroyed. When you hear about the Temple being destroyed, you are not going to shed a tear.”

  • Now he’s not saying YOU SHOULD NOT SHED A TEAR

  • “As weird as strange it is for me not to mourn the loss of my life, my wife, as awful that is to not mourn her loss, her death, it is so awful, so strange, so crazy, so bonkers (Anyone know what the Hebrew word for BONKERS is? I was just curious 🤔🤪), that you are not going to mourn the destruction of the Temple when you hear of it. But that’s how you’re going to be. How I am now in your sight at the death of my wife, that’s how you’re going to be when it comes to the destruction of God’s Sanctuary in Jerusalem. You don’t even care.”

  • Now, Ezekiel CARED ABOUT HIS WIFE and this is so clear

  • BUT…

  • He is doing this performative prophetic action highlighting it

  • “You think it’s strange that I’m not mourning my wife and it is. And it’s just as strange that you will not mourn the fact that God’s sanctuary in Jerusalem will be destroyed.”

  • Yeah, it CUTS TO THE HEART

  • HOW OFTEN ARE WE INDIFFERENT?

  • HOW OFTEN ARE WE INDIFFERENT TO GOD’S WORD?

  • HOW OFTEN ARE WE INDIFFERENT TO GOD BEING DISRESPECTED?

  • HOW OFTEN ARE WE INDIFFERENT TO BLASPHEMY THAT’S HAPPENED?

  • HOW OFTEN ARE WE INDIFFERENT TO THOSE WHO HAVE WALKED AWAY FROM THE LORD?

  • AND SO…

  • That was a mouthful today, eh? (EVERYDAY IS A MOUTHFUL AND I LOVE IT!! 😉)

  • Maybe we spent a bit too much time on abuse vs discipline

  • This is a community of people who come from a bunch of different backgrounds

  • My family was good about discipline

  • I never felt abused

  • There was never a point where it crossed the line

  • BUT…

  • There are brothers and sisters in this community that have been abused

  • There is a DIFFERENCE BETWEEN DISCIPLINE AND ABUSE

  • This is a COMMUNITY

  • If that line was crossed in YOUR LIFE, you have brothers and sisters RIGHT NOW praying for you

  • You have a FATHER IN HEAVEN who right now LOVES YOU and DISCIPLINES BUT DOES NOT ABUSE

  • The Lord can afford to be a little bit more aggressive

  • But by my prayers with you

  • If you have been hurt like that in the past, just know that God the Father is GENTLE IN HIS CORRECTION

  • YOU DON’T HAVE TO BE AFRAID OF HIM

  • HE NEVER LOSES HIS TEMPER ON YOU

  • HE NEVER GETS OUT OF CONTROL WITH YOU

  • AND SO…

  • Please know of our prayers for you, especially if this is one of those days that really jars you

  • KNOW THAT YOU ARE NOT ALONE

  • WE ARE PRAYING FOR YOU

  • FR. MIKE IS PRAYING FOR YOU

  • PRAY FOR EACH OTHER

  • PRAY FOR FR. MIKE


Prayer by Fr. Mike: “Father in Heaven we thank you so much and we give you praise. Gosh, Lord God, thank you for this day. And thank you for continuing to call us back. We get off course so easily, Lord God. But you are just so gentle with us in bringing us back often. Sometimes you’re not. Sometimes we need to be woken up. And sometimes you shout to us to wake us up and we thank you for that. We thank you for your gentleness. We also thank you for your strength. We thank you that you are desperate, in some ways you are so desperate, Lord, to bring us back to your heart. So please today do whatever it takes. Do whatever it takes to bring us back to your heart today. Lord God, whether that be a gentle call, or a gentle correction. Or whether that be something big, Lord God. Do whatever it takes to get us back to your heart this day so we can live our Eternity and so we can live this day and Eternity with you forever. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.”