Embedded Files
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.”
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