Monday 09 June 2014

Background

Today's passage is the last of six parts to a vision that beganat the beginning of chapter 8. In it we see a restoration promisedto the exiles.

So here God chooses the exiles despite the understanding of theremnant in Jerusalem who had said, "They have gone far from theLord; to us this land is given for a possession" (v. 15). SoEzekiel hears God saying that staying in the land is not enough forGod to restore you.

On the other hand it seems that the exiles are not chosen becausethey have been more faithful. They will have to "remove from it allits detestable things and all its abominations" (v. 18). Clearlythey are not chosen for restoration for their behaviour.

It leaves me wondering why and how God chooses the people tobecome his people? If they are not chosen because they have stayedwith God in Jerusalem and if they are not chosen because they havebeen faithful, then why does God choose the exiles?

It seems to me that we often fall into one or other of thesetraps: either believing we are chosen because of who and where weare, or that we are chosen because of our faithfulness. Ezekiel'svision somehow fits with the understanding we have of God's gracethat we see in Jesus. We are saved because of God's grace (the lovethat we do not deserve either from our location and lineage or fromour deeds).

Instead in this vision Ezekiel sees God reaching out to therefugees, to those who are seen as worthless or have losteverything. I wonder who we see God reaching out to today? Who arethe equivalent to these exiles today?

The way that God restores is also beautiful: a united heart offlesh and a new spirit. Here is new life and a new chance expressedin a way that may remind us of Jesus describing being born again(see John 3:1-21), including his insistence that itis only possible through the loving power of God.

To Ponder

• Who might be considered the exiles by a modern-day Ezekiel andwhy?

• What do we pin our hopes on? Why might God choose to restoreus? And how does this fit with God choosing the exiles?

• What do you think the vision of "I will give them one heart,and put a new spirit within them" would be like and mean foryou?