You boasted against me and spoke against me without restraint, and I heard it. – Ezekiel 35:13

Today’s Scripture Reading (May 31, 2017): Ezekiel 35

On the television show NCIS, Leroy Jethro Gibbs always seems to turn up at the exact moment that his underlings decide to talk (gossip) about him. Then comes the scramble, the killing of the computer monitors or the quick change of subject. But Gibbs knows; he always knows. And then, of course, what Gibbs knows results in the famous Gibbs slap to the back of the head. Did you know that the Gibbs-slap has even made it into our Urban dictionary? It is defined as “a sharp, upward slap to the back of the head given to someone acting blaringly stupid.”

NCIS might be a fictional television series, but the sensation of being overheard when we are in the midst of gossiping about somebody is an experience we all know much too well. The easy solution, and the godly one, is “don’t gossip.” But sometimes that kind of restraint seems to be beyond our ability. It is maybe the one universal sin for which we all need to repent.

Edom had spoken against God. Their sin was multiplied because they had also spoken against Judah and cheered their struggles. The words that they said would never have been repeated if the people of Edom had realized that God was listening to them. Much to their surprise, God was listening. And now God was about to speak out against them. According to God, Edom would share in the fate that they had cheered because, in the end, they were no better than the subjects of their degrading conversations. Edom had gossiped, and now the only thing they could do was steal themselves for a good Gibbs-slap.

This is one of the struggles that God has with loose words. Gossip really only has two purposes. One is to prove that we are important because of the things that we know. If I can tell you something about someone else that you don’t know, my sense of importance is raised, albeit artificially. Gossip columnists are made important in our culture by the stories that they can tell about the stars, and in doing so become stars themselves. (Cue Perez Hilton.)

The second purpose is to try to lift us up above those about whom we are gossiping. I am more important than he/she is because you would not catch me doing what they do. What we miss is that what gossip does is prove that we have no story of our own tell. And that is sad, and always deserving of a good Gibbs-slap because gossip is always blaringly stupid.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Ezekiel 36