From the Daily Lectionary for Tuesday in the Fourth Week of Lent
Ezekiel 47:1–9, 12
The LORD brought me back to the entrance of the temple; there, water was flowing from below the threshold of the temple toward the east (for the temple faced east); and the water was flowing down from below the south end of the threshold of the temple, south of the altar. Then he brought me out by way of the north gate, and led me around on the outside to the outer gate that faces toward the east; and the water was coming out on the south side.
Going on eastward with a cord in his hand, the man measured one thousand cubits, and then led me through the water; and it was ankle-deep. Again he measured one thousand, and led me through the water; and it was knee-deep. Again he measured one thousand, and led me through the water; and it was up to the waist. Again he measured one thousand, and it was a river that I could not cross, for the water had risen; it was deep enough to swim in, a river that could not be crossed. He said to me, “Mortal, have you seen this?”
Then he led me back along the bank of the river. As I came back, I saw on the bank of the river a great many trees on the one side and on the other. He said to me, “This water flows toward the eastern region and goes down into the Arabah; and when it enters the sea, the sea of stagnant waters, the water will become fresh. Wherever the river goes, every living creature that swarms will live, and there will be very many fish, once these waters reach there. It will become fresh; and everything will live where the river goes. On the banks, on both sides of the river, there will grow all kinds of trees for food. Their leaves will not wither nor their fruit fail, but they will bear fresh fruit every month, because the water for them flows from the sanctuary. Their fruit will be for food, and their leaves for healing.”
The prophet Ezekiel, though a legendary figure, lived during the latter years of the Judean monarchy. Like all of his predecessors his role was to speak the word of God to the powers that be in order to call them to account. Needless to say, the voices of the long line of the prophets of Israel were largely unheeded. The first monarchy was founded under David. His reign was the golden age of Israel, but since that time the monarchy met calamity after calamity; a downward slide, as it were. After Solomon’s (David’s son) reign the kingdom of Israel split in two… Israel to the north and Judah in the south. The northern kingdom bordered Assyria, and fell apart within a century because of the Assyrians’ hegemonic ambitions. That left Judah and its capital Jerusalem as the remnant of the nation chosen as God’s people.
Ezekiel, not unlike the prophets before him, argued that the ruling leadership failed to follow their God as their venerable tradition had taught them. His prophecy is one of destruction for the kingdom of Judah. He foresees their demise, a demise that has been coming for centuries. But the demise of the kingdom of Judah is not his chief interest. Ezekiel’s prophetic legacy is that God’s Love is stronger than the apostasy of God’s people; that while certain death is inevitable, so is the coming of new life. The metaphor for Ezekiel is the wasteland surrounding the Dead Sea, just fifty miles, as the crow flies, to the east of Jerusalem in the Judean desert. The Dead Sea is 1500 feet below sea level and its salt content is more than ten times that of seawater. It is a lifeless void, barren, foreboding, uninhabitable.
In the prophet’s reverie he sees living water flowing from the Temple bringing life, abundant life, into the precincts of death…. And again we see the pattern in Judaism, not of our own choosing, but as a gift from the God who Loves us and sustains us; bringing life into places where life is utterly impossible by all reckoning.
In this time in which we live… pursued by doubt and fear, we look to the tradition; and we look for the pattern. We look for new life, a way ahead, up and against the specter of illness and death. If biblical history has one over-arching theme, it is that suffering is always overcome by God’s imaginative impulse for life and renewal. That is the high mythology of our lives of faith…. Mythology being profound truth hidden in the mystery of our collective soul, its epic narrative. Now is that time to remember that God is with us, bearing us up in preparation for the marvelous way ahead. The pattern will hold. Heed the words of the prophet, and live.
A prayer for the Nation (BCP p. 258)
Lord God Almighty, you have made all the peoples of the earth for your glory, to serve you in freedom and peace: Give to the people of our country a zeal for justice and the strength of forbearance, that we may use our liberty in accordance with your gracious will; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen
