Word to the Wise
Monday, August 11, 2008 - St. Clare
[Ezekiel 1:2-5, 24-28 and Matthew 17:22-27]Like the bow which appears in the clouds on a rainy day was the splendor that surrounded him. Such was the vision of the likeness of the glory of the Lord.
For the next week or so, with the exception of Sunday and the feast of the Assumption (August. 15), the first scripture of the day will come from the book of the prophet Ezekiel. If we think Isaiah, Jeremiah and the "minor" prophets were vivid after considering them earlier, Ezekiel easily tops them. His visions are dramatic, colorful and very challenging. Since he was a priest connected with temple worship, his visions often concern matters of the temple. Some folks might say he was sniffing too much incense! Ezekiel is preaching to people in exile. The Babylonians, just as Jeremiah promised, came and destroyed the temple and hauled most of the people and temple treasures off to Babylon. The end of the Jewish kingdom was a devastating event. Ezekiel tries to help them sort out what happened and what will be necessary to overcome the despair. Today's passage comes from the very first verses and we are told from the outset that this prophet is in touch with the Almighty in a very intimate and sometimes bizarre way. He gives us the time and place of his vision and says, "There the hand of the Lord came upon me!" In reading stories of the call of frontier preachers to ministry, I often came upon the expression, "The Lord laid a burden on me!" For Ezekiel that burden was considerable but he persevered in the task, knowing that the visions had their source in God and were meant to give hope as well as challenge to God's people in exile. When we encounter terrifying trauma, a sense of helplessness can overwhelm us. It takes strong medicine to pull ourselves together and start creating a future. Over the next few days, we'll see how Ezekiel did it. AMEN
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