Hope and pessimism. The prophet Ezekiel proclaims a great promise from God, that the division and brokenness between the two kingdoms will cease. And the writing is on the wall for Jesus. Readings for Today.
Hope and pessimism
At first glance, the first reading might seem a little out of place. The Lord speaks a great promise for Israel and Judah. They will again be one kingdom. The division that has been experienced will end.
The imagery Ezekiel uses is quite optimistic. The Lord will do great things. The sins, the abominations, the evil will be no more. The divided land will be united under God's servant King David. All will be well.
If this sounds a little familiar to us today it is because it really is a foreshadowing of the Messiah, the ultimate king of the world. And this ultimate king is not King David, but his descendent, Jesus.
And so, we finish out this week with a beautiful reminder of what Lent is all about. And we finish out this week with a reminder of just what will happen to Jesus. But this is not to make us sad, but to rejoice!
It is not that the ultimate hope is about politics. No, the ultimate hope is our salvation. And so what might be seen as pessimism in the gospel becomes pointed to the great and hopeful promise of God for each one of us.
It is an interesting exercise to hear the words of the first reading as if the Lord is speaking directly to us. So let's alter the first reading a little bit. Consider that God is not speaking to an entire people, but to you. Here is the edited text.
No longer shall they (you) defile themselves with their (your) idols, their (your) abominations, and all their (your)transgressions. I will deliver them (you) from all their (your) sins of apostasy, and cleanse them (you) so that they (you)may be my people and I may be their (your) God.
For this is the promise of God for each one of us. That we will no longer be ruled by our sins, our idols, our abominations and transgressions. The suffering of Christ is for nothing less than our salvation. All that he endures for us, as painful and difficult as it is, has no other purpose but to save us.
The negative aspects of our sins has brought us to this moment. We fail, and we, through our sinful failures are the reason we need a savior. And even more powerful is that the suffering Christ is to spare us from the judgement that could condemn us for all eternity.
Because of the works of Jesus, the people are coming to believe. And that is a problem. There are a few reasons the Christ was killed. But today we see in the Jewish leaders the fear that the civil world could collapse. The Romans could take away everything.
If we think of the crucifixion, the cross, from the perspective or the view that we must do this so that our nation does not collapse, we see a different perspective than we might have focused on before.
The Jewish leaders are concerned that the Romans will take away the privileges they have to practice their faith. But in reality, without realizing it, they have traded away their loyalty to God for loyalty to the comfortable.
We can be tempted to do the same thing. Where do our loyalties lie? With our political leaders or with God? With this political party, or with God? Do we worship money, or do we worship God? Do we want to sacrifice what we will stand for so as not to rock the boat?
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