In the reading from Ezekiel we hear about the sins of the leaders of the Israelites. They are depicted as shepherds who have no concern for their sheep; they are motivated primarily by self-interest and have no regard for the poor or dispossessed in their community. Rather than serve others they use their power to exploit them.
It seems the Israelites, as God’s chosen people, believed that they were beyond judgement: That it was the other nations who would be punished by God and that they, living on the land that God had given them, would remain secure. So they have ignored God’s commandments and in the passage from tonight’s reading those with power are being reminded of God’s call to care for their people.
What is interesting about the words of Ezekiel in this passage is that they resonate so powerfully with the gospel imperative to feed the hungry, to welcome the stranger, clothe the naked and visit the sick and those in prison.
The state of sin into which the leaders had fallen by ignoring the call to social justice, seems one to which we are perhaps vulnerable today. After all, we are often encouraged by advertisers and the media to put ourselves first ‘because you’re worth it’. However much we might feel we can rise above such advertisers’ jingles the message is consistent and unceasing; comfort and convenience are desirable (which of course they are), and we, the manufacturers, can help you achieve that. It is worth your while to invest in this endeavour, rather than any other. Whilst we might never make a conscious choice to deprive our neighbour, or to not care for the poor, nevertheless our global capitalist system ends up, very often, failing to reach any sort of equality.
So the call to social justice which Ezekiel proclaims is applicable to us today. Our habits and routines which make up our lifestyles mean we are permanently in danger of, like the Israelites, becoming complacent. We sin, not deliberately but simply because the structure of society makes it less convenient not to sin, and more, we grow accustomed to the conveniences of the existing patterns and habits of our lifestyle.
Very often it is only possible to change the everyday through having an entirely unusual experience, which makes us see the world, and our place in the world in relation to others, differently. And this is what Ezekiel is trying to do; to give the Israelites a new sense of themselves. To shock his listeners so that they will be forced to re-evaluate what it means to be God’s chosen people; only by disrupting their view of themselves can Ezekiel hope to bring about change within the Israelite people. To turn them away from worshiping Baal rather than God, and from self-interest to caring for their neighbour.
The language and analogies he uses in his attempts to bring an end to their complacency become more and more obscene. In Chapter 23 Ezekiel depicts Judah and Samaria as two prostitutes in a way which seems almost pornographic. By using such extreme images Ezekiel was trying to shock the people, to disrupt their old certainties and so bring about change.
In the light of the words of Ezekiel we might be led to re-examine our own lives and the ways in which we use what power we have. Do we use this power to serve others, or does this power serve as our own safety net which will cushion us from the blows that may otherwise, if we weren’t educated or wealthy for example, knock us off our feet?
This is a question which confronts us starkly in the light of the poverty which many millions of people live in throughout the world.
The Nobel Prize-winning economist Amartya Sen writes:
“The persistence of widespread hunger is one of the most appalling features of the modern world. The fact that so many people continue to die each year from famines, and that many millions more go on perishing from persistent deprivation on a regular basis, is a calamity to which the world has, somewhat incredibly, got coolly accustomed. It does not seem to engender the kind of shock and disquiet that might be reasonable to expect given the enormity of the tragedy. Indeed, the subject often generates either cynicism (‘not a lot can be done about it’) or complacent irresponsibility (‘don’t blame me it is not a problem for which I am answerable’) ..”
Of course, the United Nations did meet last week to discuss how to redress the balance between the richest and poorest nations and there is now, fortunately, some public pressure on our leaders to consider the effect of trading policies on the poorest countries.
Now, in today’s reading from Acts we hear Paul’s ‘on the road to Damascus’ conversion story. Until this point he had lived a life where he persecuted others. He is not motivated by self-interest or greed as the Israelite leaders were but like them he believes that his relationship with God means that he is beyond reproach. Furthermore he feels that he should his power to oppress the newly emerging group of Christians.
However, in receiving a vision of Jesus Christ he describes an experience which transforms his understanding of what is truth. Not only this but he experiences and understands himself differently. From being a high-ranking Jew en route to participate in the persecution of Christians he is blinded by a vision of the very Lord who he is persecuting. He is rendered powerless and suddenly vulnerable.
From this moment on his life is utterly changed and he gives up the power that he had as a Roman citizen and as a high-ranking Jew. He instead preaches the gospel and makes testifying to this new truth his sole occupation.
Both Ezekiel and Paul were blessed with visions of God which led them to use the power that they had for the service of others.
Now we may not expect to receive a vision of Jesus Christ as we walk up Hampstead High Street but it is possible that we can look to experiences where we have, even if momentarily, been made to feel vulnerable or we have suddenly been able to see the world through the eyes of the poor or marginalised.
More than this, it is through engaging in the plight of the poor and dispossessed that we come face to face with Jesus Christ in our world today. In this way our routine can be disrupted and our taken-for- granted assumptions about the world and our place in the world thrown upside down. I imagine many of us can look to experiences which have, in some senses, been a ‘conversion experience’. And this doesn’t mean that we have led lives of wickedness and then suddenly seen the light of Jesus Christ, but perhaps we have always believed and then through an experience which disrupts the everyday, come to understand our beliefs differently. This points to the fact that conversion to Christian discipleship is a life-long process not something that begins and ends in one out-of-this world experience. Rather we are called to be in this world and to shape it through engaging with the call to social justice. By doing so we ourselves will be changed to become better ambassadors of Christ. Amen
Sarah Eynstone