Ezekiel 18:1-4, 25-32
Proper 21 (26) - Year A
Ezekiel catches us just right - whining - "That's not fair! G*D's not fair."
And we are right, G*D's not fair.
Otherwise we would be graded on the curve with extra credit given for our intentions and our creedal fidelity. If G*D were fair it would be noted that I'm not as bad as so-and-so, so I should get a better seat in heaven. If G*D were fair I would not be tempted at all, much less only up to what I can bear.
What fairness do you expect from G*D? And since you don't get that fairness, what are the specifics of your whining?
This may actually be a helpful self-help technique - listen in on your whines to find out what you need working on.
http://www.kairoscomotion.org/lectionary/2002/september2002.html
Ezekiel 18:1-4, 25-32 or Exodus 17:1-7
There are so many riddles of life. Is baptism divine or communal? Can a staff that brings bloody water also be a staff that provides drinking water? Do the generations support me or am I the culmination of them? Does God give water to Moses at Meribah to support moving toward "a promised land" and hold Moses back at River Jordan on the eve of entering that land?
How we read the story seems to depend on where we are situated. Are we focused on the divine (religiously/priestly) or the human (community/prophetic)? We will come at things differently and be more attuned to one part of the story or another. A grand trick of life is to keep experiencing until we can appreciate both, though at any given time one or the other is more called for.
When is hardship of evacuation important and when is the comfort of temporary housing crucial? There is a time and a place for both and either can get in the way if we focus on it at the wrong time.
Are we oriented toward anticipation and prevention or on response and band-aids? Both are needed but in differing proportions as time goes by.
Am I really on my own before G*D or are we in this together so none will be saved until all are saved? Our understanding of this basic relationship between creature and creator, between G*D and Humanity will go far in determining how we interact between ourselves. Wherein, really, lies the distinction of social sin we all are part of and individual sin we are all part of? Trying to cut this Gordian knot with the sword of individualism is no more satisfying than avoiding it with the club of generational determinism.
So many riddles, so few eternal verities. Perhaps the best we can do at the moment is to hear a larger positive intention of G*D to keep dealing in hope when we hear such a lament as, "I have no pleasure in the death of anyone."
http://www.kairoscomotion.org/lectionary/2005/september2005.html
Ezekiel 18:1-4, 24-32 or Exodus 17:1-7
Psalm 78:1-4, 12-16 or Psalm 25:1-9
Philippians 2:1-13
Matthew 21:23-32
An intriguing image of G*D is presented in Philippians -- an emptying G*D [?in distinction to a creating G*D, or are these integrally bound?] If you substitute Moses for Jesus Christ and then look back at Exodus you can catch a glimpse of this emptying G*D.
See again where G*D is - in front of Moses - where Moses will strike (unless he swats at a rock behind him). Can you see G*D facing Moses (no backside here) and saying, "Strike through me." Would you have the courage and humility of Moses to strike G*D to strike water for the people? Whether anyone else could be witness to this or not, Moses understood he was to strike G*D that the waters from beyond (that had been pent up at Creation and again in Noah's time) might surface through G*D, through Horeb, through a suffering and emptying of G*D.
Where are you called to strike that life-giving water might flow? Does it feel like you would have to muster more strength and humility than you have, to do so? Does not G*D always need to be bruised for life to flow? Do we always need to work through our own resistance to striking G*D that we might grow the next stage of our journey?
- - -
obey this why don't you
here it comes our difficulty
work out your own salvation
not someone else's
work it out in the absence of G*D
not for G*D's good pleasure
for your own
this is G*D's pleasure too
obey this past pleasure
again a difficulty
work with your fear and trembling
not someone else's
work in the presence of G*D
enabling with pleasure
a willingness to face fear
our pleasure too