Day 228: The Watchman's Duty

Jeremiah 5:1-31 As mentioned in other prophecies, Jeremiah cites the infidelity of the people of Judah and their failure to repent. Furthermore, the people ignored the prophet’s warnings and admonitions. Though they would be conquered and exiled to foreign lands, God promised that a remnant, repentant and converted, would return. Jeremiah repeated that their trust in foreign powers prompted divine punishment. (CCC 1740, 2088)

Ch 5:7 Adultery is marital infidelity involving sexual relations between a married person and another who is not his or her spouse. In the Old Testament adultery served as a metaphor for idolatry when applied to the covenant relationship between God and Israel. Adultery is a grave offense against the Sixth Commandment; Christ taught that even the desire to commit adultery is a grave evil (cf. Mt 5:27-28). (CCC 2380)

Ezekiel 33:1-9 Ezekiel resumed his role as the watchman over Israel who transmitted God’s Word to his people regardless of whether they accepted it or not. By this time, Jerusalem had fallen, giving the prophet greater responsibility as a watchman amid conflict. Now his mission was to address those who had been unfaithful to the covenant, moving them to repentance and conversion.

Ch 33:10-20 The exiled Jews, knowing that their plight was due to their sins, realized that repentance and forgiveness would lead God to forgive and show mercy. No sinner is ever beyond redemption and forgiveness no matter how grave the sin. The belief that we cannot be forgiven is a sin of DESPAIR in violation of the First Commandment. (CCC 2091)

Ch 33:21-33 Everyone sinned to some extent and faced chastisement. All, therefore, were called to acknowledge their sins and to seek repentance and conversion. 

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

• GOSH YOU GUYS!!

• Ezekiel Ch 33 is kind of a stellar chapter

• Obviously it is the chapter on THE WATCHMAN

• But it is known in the Scriptures, especially in the Book of Ezekiel, as the PIVOT POINT (PIVOT!!! PIVOT!! PIVOT!! 🤪)

• There’s a PIVOT!! point when his wife died and he was not able to mourn

• BUT…

• There is also a PIVOT!! point right here because the destruction of Jerusalem finally comes down

• So remember the FIRST WAVE OF EXILE was Daniel and his crew (I am guessing you remember this by now since it seems like it’s been mentioned in almost every day that we have been in this Era 8: Exile, eh? If not….REMEMBER!!!)

• The SECOND WAVE was Ezekiel and his people

• People kept thinking that they were going to get back to Jerusalem

• SO NOW…

• We have the ACTUAL DESTRUCTION of Jerusalem and there is a TINY TINY REMNANT of people left behind

• This DESTRUCTION is part of the THIRD WAVE OF THE EXILE TO BABYLON!!

• First, the beginning of Ezekiel Ch 33 is The Watchman’s Duty

• There is something so INCREDIBLY POWERFUL about The Watchman’s Duty

• The Word of the Lord comes to Ezekiel and says, “If there is a WATCHMAN and they see the sword coming, they see the battle coming, they see the armies coming, and they don’t blow the horn, they don’t alert people to the fact that there is battle, there is war, there is violence, there is a sword on its way, then yeah they may die. But that was on their heads. Because that was his job.”

• YOU HAD ONE JOB!!

• Ezekiel 33:7, “So you, son of man (Ezekiel), I have made a watchman for the house of Israel; whenever you hear a word from my mouth, you shall give them warning from me.”

• Now why is God making this BIG POINT?

• Overall, the role of the PROPHET is to say THE HARD WORDS OF THE LORD

• And the words of COMFORT, because Ezekiel, Isaiah, and Jeremiah had those words as well

• BUT ABOVE ALL, it is to SPEAK WHATEVER IT IS THAT GOD WANTS SPOKEN

• THAT IS THE CALL

• If the people do not HEAR the Word of God

• If those who are charged with TEACHING the Word of God DON’T ACTUALLY TEACH the Word of God 

• Then it is NOT THEIR FAULT

• Yes, they will die in their sin but they won’t be held GUILTY

• Who is going to be the guilty one?

• The person who was supposed to have TOLD THE RUTH

• The person who was supposed to have TAUGHT THE TRUTH

• This is one of the reasons why James 3:1, “Let not many of you become teachers, my brethren, for you know that we who we teach shall be judged with greater strictness.”

• We recognize that those who are PASTORS

• Those who are PRIESTS

• Those who are PROPHETS

• Those who are TEACHERS

• ALL THOSE WHO HAVE A RESPONSIBILITY TO TEACH OTHERS, WE HAVE TO TEACH THEM THE TRUTH

• WE HAVE TO SPEAK THE TRUTH EVEN WHEN IT IS HARD

• Fr. Mike had a situation like that recently

• When it comes to people who are not living as practicing Catholics, this can be a VERY HARD MOMENT

• What do we do with those who were RAISED Catholic but are not a PRACTICING CATHOLIC?

• Do I say something about this?

• Do I not say something about this?

• Is it my role to say, “You are called to go back to Confession and be reunited with the Church, to come back to Mass on a weekly basis at least.”

• The question is at what point do we speak?

• We have been named KINGDOM PROPHETS

• We have been BAPTIZED AS PRIEST PROPHET AND KING/QUEEN

• So here is the Lord God who says, “Ok Watchman, you better speak the words that I have given to you to be spoken. And if you don’t then yes the person might die in their sins, but it will be upon YOU. Because that was YOUR JOB.”

• Now this can be Fr. Mike as a PRIEST

• This can be the general baptized Christian as a PROPHET

• It can also be those who have a role, for example PARENTS

• TEACHERS

• Whenever we have the role of having to SHAPE AND FORM the consciences and hearts of those people around us, THAT IS A CRITICAL OPPORTUNITY FOR ALL OF US

• TO EITHER ACCEPT OUR ROLE AS PROPHET

• OR…

• TO FAIL IN OUR ROLE AS A PROPHET

• NOT ONLY WITH OUR WORDS

• BUT WITH OUR ACTIONS

• There is this sin called the SIN OF SCANDAL

• Whether through our words or our actions that I am saying something BAD is actually FINE and I am saying something GOOD is actually WRONG

• How many times as Christians when they look to us may say, “You do this so it must be ok.”

• “Oh no. The Lord has not said that that’s ok. I just failed to live up to the Lord.”

• And then we may think, “Well that’s not my responsibility. I don’t have to be responsible for everyone around me.”

• AND YET…

• If we fail to live up to our CALL AS CHRISTIANS

• Then with OUR VERY LIVES we are saying that what is WRONG is RIGHT

• Then with OUR VERY LIVES we are saying that what is RIGHT is WRONG

• KEEP THAT IN MIND

• BE CONVICTED BY THAT

• WE ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR ONE ANOTHER

• Here is The Watchman who is responsible for themselves whether they witness to the truth or not

• Ultimately, the person is going to decide on their own

• BUT…

• Ultimately ultimately, we get to decide what we do in OUR LIVES

• GOSH!

• WHAT A GIFT!

• Because the GIFT is that God says, “And if the wicked person turns from the wickedness and becomes righteous, I’ll accept that righteousness.”

• THAT IS SO GOOD!

• THAT IS SO JUST!

• THAT IS SO MERCIFUL!

• God also says, “Those who turn from righteousness to commit wickedness, I will forget their righteousness. I will remember their wickedness. This is what they chose.”

• AND WE GET WHAT WE HAVE CHOSEN

• Fr. Mike exacerbated that….is exacerbate the right word? 

• No he beat a dead horse and that is the term there (for international brothers and sisters, “beat a dead horse” in this context means to keep talking about a subject that has already been discussed 😁)

• Ezekiel 33:21, “In the twelfth year of our exile, in the tenth month, on the fifth day of the month, a man who had escaped from Jerusalem came to me and said, ‘The city has fallen’.”

• This is The Fall of Jerusalem

• It is a HORRIBLE MOMENT in Ezekiel’s life

• We said this before...

• All the people living in Babylon in exile still had hope

• “While we are here exiled, while we are far away from our homeland, at least worship is happening in the Temple. We can’t participate in it, but we know it’s going on. At least people are there still occupying the land the Lord God has given to us, to the people of God, to Abraham.”

• AND NOW…

• THE CITY HAS FALLEN

• Babylon has ultimately and in some ways definitively, although in 70 years they will come back, have laid waste to the city and laid waste to the Temple

• One of the things that we walk away with is this CONVICTION that, “I’ve heard God’s words. But I have not lived them out.”

• AND THERE IS A CONSEQUENCE TO THAT

• For example, at the end of Ezekiel Ch 33

• Ezekiel 33:30, “As for you, son of man, your people who talk together about you by the walls and at the doors of the houses, say to one another, each to his brother, ‘Come, and hear what the word is that comes forth from the Lord.’ And they come to you as people come, and they sit before you as my people, and they hear what you say but they will not do it; for with their lips they show much love, but their heart is set on their gain. And behold, you are to them like one who sings love songs with a beautiful voice and plays well on an instrument, for they hear what you say, but they will not do it.”

• THAT IS ALL OF US, RIGHT?

• We have been listening to the Word of God for 228 days

• AND STILL WE STRUGGLE WITH SIN

• WE STILL STRUGGLE PUTTING INTO PRACTICE THE WORDS OF WISDOM FROM PROVERBS

• WE STILL STRUGGLE PUTTING INTO PRACTICE THE WORDS OF GOD THAT CALL US TO REPENT TODAY

• BECAUSE WE ONLY HAVE TODAY

• AND YET…

• Just like in The Book of Jeremiah, we keep thinking, “The day is going to come. It’s not here yet.”

• AND YET…

• The day is going to come upon us LIKE A THIEF IN THE NIGHT

• And so here we have in Jeremiah this SPIRIT OF REBELLION

• SORRY LET’S GO BACK QUICK!

• So let’s be erratic with Fr. Mike together (but it sure makes typing all this out superfun 🤪)

• We mentioned the ROLE OF THE PROPHET OVERALL

• The connection between Ezekiel and Jeremiah

• And that role in particular is the fact that at the time of Jeremiah, there were prophets who prophesied WHAT PEOPLE WANTED TO HEAR

• Jeremiah 5:11-12, “For the house of Israel and the house of Judah have been utterly faithless to me, says the Lord. They have spoken falsely of the Lord, and have said, ‘He will do nothing; no evil will come upon us, nor shall we see sword or famine.”

• And that is what was happening

• There were prophets who were WELL LOVED during the time of Jeremiah

• Jeremiah was NOT well loved

• Jeremiah would not speak what people WANTED TO HEAR

• Jeremiah spoke what people NEEDED TO HEAR

• Jeremiah did not speak HIS OWN WORDS

• Jeremiah spoke the WORDS OF THE LORD

• AND YET…

• Those other FALSE prophets spoke WHAT PEOPLE WANTED TO HEAR

• Which is a connection between Ezekiel and Jeremiah today

• What the WATCHMAN who would say, “Things are fine. There’s no destruction coming. There’s no judgment coming. Whatever you want to do, keep on doing that.”

• AND THAT IS A FALSE PROPHET

• Jeremiah has all these false prophets around him

• Jeremiah 5:13-14, “The prophets will become wind; the word is not in them. Thus shall it be done to them!’ Therefore thus says the Lord, the God of hosts: ‘Because they have spoken this word, behold, I am making my words in your mouth a fire, and this people wood, and the fire shall devour them.”

• If we give our hearts over to FALSE PROPHETS who only tell us what we WANT TO HEAR as opposed to what we NEED TO HEAR

• Tell us what THEIR THOUGHTS are as opposed to telling us what THE WORD OF THE LORD IS

• THEN WE ARE NOT IN GOOD SHAPE!!

• Jeremiah 5:4-5 talks about how God’s judgment is coming, “Then I said, ‘These are only the poor, they have no sense; for they do not know the way of the Lord, the law of their God. I will go to the great and will speak to them; for they know the way of the Lord, the law of their God.’ But they all alike had broken the yoke, they had burst the bonds”

• Ok So this next part should go somewhere in the middle of the above Bible verse due to Fr. Mike SQUIRRELING and I couldn’t figure out how to get it in there. Thank you and good day. “Basically, there are people among us who aren’t seeking the TRUTH. They are not seeking God. But they are also the poor. They have no sense. They have not been educated.”

• There is this sense that we sometimes think that those who are WISE

• Those who are EDUCATED

• Those who KNOW THE BIBLE REALLY WELL

• Well of course, when THOSE PEOPLE hear the Word of God, then THEY WILL REPENT

• The people who claim to be RELIGIOUS, when they hear the Word of God, then THEY WILL REPENT

• It makes sense that those who don’t really know the Word would not turn to the Lord

• AND YET…

• God says, “But they all alike had broken the yoke, they had burst the bonds”

• The YOKE is the apparatus around the head and shoulders of a beast of burden that gets put to work

• So if I have BROKEN THE YOKE, then I have shown that I am REBELLIOUS

• I have shown that I CANNOT BE TRUSTED

• I have shown that I PLACE MY TRUST IN MYSELF

• I have shown that I WILL NOT DO WHAT THE ONE GUIDING ME ASKS

• I have shown that I WILL DO WHAT I WANT TO DO

• MAN THAT IS US REGARDLESS OF HOW EDUCATED OR UNEDUCATED WE ARE

• THAT IS US REGARDLESS OF HOW POWERFUL OR NOT POWERFUL WE ARE

• EVERY ONE OF US HAS A REBELLIOUS STREAK IN US

• EVEN A 2 YEAR OLD CAN BE REBELLIOUS

• BUT SO CAN A 92 YEAR OLD

• SOMEONE WHO IS INCREDIBLY POOR IN THE STREETS CAN BE REBELLIOUS

• BUT SO CAN SOMEONE WHO LIVES IN A HIGH RISE IN A PENTHOUSE SUITE AND IS THE CEO OF A COMPANY

• EVERY SINGLE ONE OF US

• Those who are outside the Church

• Those who are leaders in the Church

• WE CAN ALL BE REBELLIOUS

• So we are called to do what?

• TO SUBMIT OURSELVES TO THE LORD!!

• Because that is the ONLY WAY THAT WE CAN COME BACK TO THE LORD

• God calls his attention TO JUDGMENT

• The Word of Jeremiah is going to be REPENT, but really BRACE FOR IT

• This is not going to happen for a while yet

• Maybe an entire generation after Jeremiah begins speaking

• But Jeremiah is drawing the people’s attention to the coming judgment even if they are not going to experience it IMMEDIATELY

• BECAUSE THEY NEED TO PREPARE FOR IT

• JUST LIKE US

• We can say, “Gosh, we’re doing fine here. Yeah things aren’t the best, but it’s not over yet.”

• Yeah, because God is drawing our attention to our need to be converted not just in our actions, not just on the external surface, but down to the depths of our hearts

• Because we have had prophets speak to us

• We have had people point out that this way of life and that way of life is not good for us and does not actually glorify the Lord

• AND YET…

• WE ARE SO SLOW IN REPENTING

• FR. MIKE IS SO SLOW IN REPENTING (OH MY GOODNESS I’M DOOMED!!! FR. MIKE IS SLOW TO REPENT????? 🤔)

• Pray for Fr. Mike and help him repent to the core of his heart, not just on the surface, not just in his actions, but even the depths of his thoughts, the depths of his heart

• Fr. Mike is praying for you too so that you can have that GRACE to REPENT on the surface actions, but also down to the core, to the depths of YOUR HEART and the depths of YOUR MIND

• So that ALL OF US can say, “Lord, I have heard your word. And I do not rebel. I do not turn back. But thy will be done.”

• WE NEED PRAYERS FOR THAT

• WE NEED GRACE FOR THAT

• PRAY FOR FR. MIKE so that he can also say, “Thy will be done.” to our Heavenly Father

• PRAY FOR EACH OTHER

Prayer by Fr. Mike: “Father in Heaven we give you praise and glory. Gosh, Lord God, thank you for continuing to put before us wisdom as a goal. And not just wisdom as the end, but wisdom as the goal to have so that we can have you as our end. That you can be the one thing that our hearts are set upon. Lord God, in all the stuff that we have to do, in all the people we have to love, in all the things that we care about in our lives, they are gifts. And yet they can oftentimes take our eyes off of you, off of the giver. So please, Lord God, help us to have our eyes fixed on you. To have our hearts fixed on you. To have all of our desires fixed on you so much that we desire nothing more than to live wisely so that we can attain you, that we can have you as the source and center of our lives. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.”