Today’s
Scripture Reading (May 29, 2017): Ezekiel 33
Tears came to my eyes once again as I
read the accounts of the bomb blast at a Manchester, England concert almost a
week ago. I hope that terror attacks will always prompt this reaction. There is
no room in the society in which I want to live to allow terror to become some kind of new normal that no longer requires a
response from us. Terror attacks are
always wrong and must always be condemned.
And there is no doubt in my mind that these attacks of terror are always against
the divine will of God, no matter whether you call that God Allah, Jehovah, or
Yahweh – or by any other sacred name. But
what is maybe even more troubling was that the Manchester attack targeted youth.
There is no way that an eight-year-old girl should go to a concert with her
mother and sister and be worried about never coming home again. In that kind of
a world, we are all the losers.
Reports out of Manchester have
revealed that there was no way to secure the area where the bombing took place.
It was a public area and a place where users of mass transit gathered. Of course,
all involved will be second-guessing
their decisions in light of the attack. But the solution might not be an
official one. One would think that in this social media dominated world, someone might have known something or
noticed something, but either dismissed what they knew or were afraid to reveal
what they knew. In our world with a new normal, maybe we can no longer afford to second guess ourselves. We have to stand up
as witnesses of what we have seen, even if we are wrong. Eight-year-old girls
(and boys) are depending on us.
As Jerusalem falls, God instructs
Ezekiel that he is to be the watchman. As such, it was his duty to sound the
alarm – to speak what it was that he knew. Specifically, Ezekiel’s job was to
inform the remnant of Judah why things had gone wrong and what they could do
about it. In the post-Jerusalem world, there was a new normal. The people that
had flocked to the ruins of Jerusalem hoping to find the protection of God were
deluding themselves. Jerusalem was a dangerous place to be. And Ezekiel needed
to sound that warning.
According to God’s instructions, if
Ezekiel spoke the warning and the people
refused to listen, then, whatever the
outcome, Ezekiel was innocent. But if he refused
to blow the trumpet (a figurative phrase indicating a refusal to teach the people
about the reasons why Jerusalem fell and of the dangers of not listening to God’s
instructions, which included a willingness to place the practices of love into
their daily lives instead of the greed that they currently occupied their
behavior [Ezekiel 33:31]) then their demise would be his fault. Ezekiel
would bear the blame.
Our new normal requires a similar
reaction. It is time to put on love instead of greed
and be aware of what is happening around us. The enemies of love are not
everywhere, but they often show up in the
most unexpected places. And we need to be ready to blow the trumpet.
Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Ezekiel 34
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