Sermon for 14th Sunday after Pentecost – Ezekiel 33:7-11

Some of you know that in my weekday job, I manage a team of software engineers. If you don’t know what that’s like, maybe you’ve seen Big Bang Theory on TV. Better yet, I commend the Dilbert cartoons to you. A lot of truth there. Which probably means I’m more like the pointy-haired boss than I want to admit. Especially right about now. Because it’s time for year-end assessments. Where I have the joy, or dread, of talking with folks about what went well, and not so well. Not nearly as fun as sharing highs and lows with our confirmands! Now, these folks are high-achievers, so some conflict isn’t unusual. That’s the hard part. I’m not good with conflict. But it doesn’t help that we’re all facing a laundry list of conflicts. Politics, protests, pandemics. Folks are on edge. It’s overwhelming. But maybe it helps to know we’re not the only ones who have lived through such as these.

In our Old Testament reading today, God tells Ezekiel to “warn the wicked to turn from their ways.” The story starts back in Jerusalem, where there’s been a series of self-serving kings with their own agendas, abuse of power, corruption, and folks abandoning God for all sorts of idols. Maybe this sounds familiar? Meanwhile, Babylon is the rising power looking to sweep in and conquer. Which they do, and they round up thousands of folks, the movers and shakers of Jerusalem, and cart them off to Babylon. The exile. Ezekiel was one of the temple priests, so he gets swept off with the others. So after a few years in this exile, the word of the Lord comes to Ezekiel and calls him to prophesy to the other exiles.

Now, here’s the thing. God’s people have a track record of rebelling against God, so God keeps sending prophets to warn them. Repent and return to the Lord, or be swept away into exile. Lo and behold, here we are. Do they finally repent? Of course not. In fact, a bunch of these exiles grow to like Babylon. They start businesses. They get involved in government. They forget that this exile is God’s way of driving them to repent, not some kind of new normal. So God calls Ezekiel to “warn the wicked to turn from their ways,” because they’re missing the point. But it’s strange. God tells Ezekiel that if he doesn’t warn folks, he’ll be liable for their perishing. But as long as Ezekiel speaks the Word of the Lord, even if folks ignore him, then he’s absolved of all responsibility.

But does that actually work? We see someone heading for a trainwreck and we say something because we truly care. Even if they ignore us, don’t we still feel guilty? Maybe deep down we know we’re somehow involved even if we can’t figure out how. We talk about boundaries and detachment to let ourselves off the hook, but we shouldn’t be surprised that we’re not good at those. Ezekiel’s got the same problem. God calls him a sentinel. That doesn’t mean he’s a disaffected observer. That means he’s stuck in exile with these people to suffer every unrepentant thing. They all fall together no matter what they believe. No one’s insulated. That’s what it means when God calls Ezekiel to speak to the house of Israel. One message for everyone, because deep down everyone’s at fault, even if it doesn’t make sense. If it made sense, they wouldn’t need a prophet. But don’t we figure it takes a lot of nerve to be a prophet? It’s not just that folks ignore you, and revile you, and want to crucify you. It’s knowing your own unworthiness, and the weight of your own guilt with every accusation that comes out of your mouth. After all, Ezekiel’s still an exile, prophet or not.

So, what about us? We have an election drawing close. Daily protests against racial injustice and wrongful deaths. The fact that we take offense at any statement that lives matter, maybe because deep down we know we don’t act like it, even if we try to prove otherwise. The way we politicize everything about our pandemic and public safety. If we’re this alienated from each other, how much more are we alienated from God? This is our exile. Some say silence is violence, but how do we really know the difference between fighting for injustice or craving for others to think we’re woke? Or we keep our mouths shut to try to preserve some little peace with our friends and family, even though the word of the Lord has come to us to speak. God tells Ezekiel, “I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from their ways and live.” Yet, our mortality remains.

But folks, thank God that’s not the end of the story. Because the word of the Lord has come to us in Jesus, our friend and our savior. Jesus, who was ignored and reviled and even crucified for our sake. Jesus, who binds all of our sin, our politics, our silence, our wokeness to his own body. So that by his dying and rising he binds us to the power of his resurrection. And he does all this each and every time he tells you and me, “I forgive you.” Unconditionally. Nothing we earn or deserve. But Jesus doesn’t have time to wait for that. He does it anyway.

Now, when you’ve got a Word this powerful, who wouldn’t want to give it away to everyone else too? So, we hear Jesus talking to his disciples about how that works. Of course, Jesus knows Ezekiel really well, so this should sound pretty familiar. If another member of the church sins against you, point out the fault when the two of you are alone. If they listen, great. Else bring a couple witnesses. Else the congregation. We don’t love the escalation, especially when we’re surrounded by so much escalation. But Jesus is telling the truth about the danger of being a prophet. We will poke a few bears. But at least we never have to do it by ourselves. Though, Jesus also makes very clear these are NOT our enemies. He says, “let them be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector.” Because who does Jesus love? Gentiles and tax collectors! He flips the script. No one gets written off. No one is beyond reach. Jesus gives us faith to build relationships in the midst of conflict. Not to be nice, because it’s not about us. Not because we’re supposed to. But because this is where forgiveness happens, and it’s where we find a whole lot of folks to share it with. Folks who are more like us than we realize.

So that’s why Jesus says, “Whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” Forgiveness is that powerful AND controversial. It binds in order to release. It kills in order to make alive. Forgiveness has to reveal our chains because it’s the only way to know we’re free. Free to be vulnerable and speak truth to power. To be imperfect and cry out for justice. And always to be the beloved community, because Jesus promises, “where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them.” And so he is. Thanks be to God.