Eating the Bible

Ezekiel 3:1-11

He said to me, O mortal, eat what is offered to you; eat this scroll, and go, speak to the house of Israel. So I opened my mouth, and he gave me the scroll to eat. He said to me, Mortal, eat this scroll that I give you and fill your stomach with it. Then I ate it; and in my mouth it was as sweet as honey.

He said to me: Mortal, go to the house of Israel and speak my very words to them. For you are not sent to a people of obscure speech and difficult language, but to the house of Israel— not to many peoples of obscure speech and difficult language, whose words you cannot understand. Surely, if I sent you to them, they would listen to you. But the house of Israel will not listen to you, for they are not willing to listen to me; because all the house of Israel have a hard forehead and a stubborn heart. See, I have made your face hard against their faces, and your forehead hard against their foreheads. Like the hardest stone, harder than flint, I have made your forehead; do not fear them or be dismayed at their looks, for they are a rebellious house. He said to me: Mortal, all my words that I shall speak to you receive in your heart and hear with your ears; then go to the exiles, to your people, and speak to them. Say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord God’; whether they hear or refuse to hear.

Several years ago I saw a new product that REALLY got my attention. I try not to fall victim to marketing campaigns, but I couldn’t believe this one. It was a little package of mints, like LifeSavers, except these were square. There was a picture of one of them on the outside of the package, and I noticed it had a cross on it. The wrapper had the phrase, “Pass the Word!” written on it. I cracked up there in the store! I had never seen, heard, or even thought of anything like this. You may have heard of them; they are called “Testamints”. When you buy a bag of the things, each one is wrapped in scripture. They are an easy way to get the Word of God out there in the hands of all kinds of people—maybe even people who don’t know anything about the Word of God. Now, it is not my intention to be flippant about the Testamints, although I suspect there may be other and better ways to teach people the Word of God than by printing it on the wrappers of mints.

When I was in the third grade, we moved to a new city and a new church. The first Sunday we were there, my mom and dad helped me find my Sunday school class which was Mrs. Lang’s class. It was for 3rd – 5th graders, and there were about 8 of us in that class. I loved Mrs. Lang; all I really remember about her was that she was always there, she was sweet, and I loved her a whole lot. She was the first teacher I ever had who made me memorize scripture, and I’m pretty sure she was also the last. Mine to remember was the parable of the lost sheep. I’m not sure we were actually supposed to memorize it word by word as much as we were supposed to learn it. I was so embarrassed when I couldn’t remember the whole thing! The only other thing we’d had to learn in Sunday school was the Lord’s Prayer, and since we said that in church every week, that wasn’t so hard to remember. But the parable of the lost sheep has a few more details that you might remember—at least for a 3rd grader it did. Luckily, Mrs. Lang gave me another chance to learn the story. I suspect she would have given me a hundred more chances to get it right.

The very first lesson of Disciple I Bible study involves an exercise in which the participants in the class talk about the first Bible they ever received. Where did it come from? What do you remember about it? The first one I ever remember receiving was quite large. I think it must have been printed on paper that was at least 11 x 17 inches, because it was almost hard to carry it. It was the one that kids at my church received when we finished third grade. It had pictures and was written in English that was supposed to be a little easier to understand. And it had a blue cover. I still have it at home, and one day I’ll show it to Joy when she is big enough not to eat the pages or rip them out.

Do you remember your first encounter with the Word of God?

Part of my intent in designing summer messages that introduced us to some of the characters in the Bible was to help us understand and think about the fact that the people described in the Bible were real, flesh and blood children of God just like you and I are, and they were called for a purpose just like you and I are, and their “Yes,” to God took their lives on some pretty amazing and interesting paths, just like yours and mine do—although we are hesitant to think of ourselves on equal playing ground with the characters of the Old and New Testaments, aren’t we? We tend to place the people in the bible on a kind of supernatural pedestal and assume that they were a little larger than life and somehow a little closer to God than we are today. The truth is that they are us, and we are them. Last week we talked about our brother Isaiah and his call to speak the word of God to people who had grown convinced that they really didn’t need God anymore. He brought words not only of conviction but also of hope to the people of God. And today Ezekiel: our brother, the prophet, who saw great visions of God, gave life to dry bones, and brought the Word of God to God’s people when they were in exile in Babylon.

So, as for relating your life to Ezekiel’s, I wouldn’t start with the first chapter. There you will find his vision of human beings with 4 faces, a great chariot, something described as a wheel within a wheel, and an incredible throne. He was, after all, a priest, and you know that we come up with some crazy things from time to time. We talk about things that no one else talks about; we tend to be a little nerdy about the Bible and God stuff; we even use words like justification and sanctification, and we know that people stare at us, befuddled. But one of the things that draws me into the story of Ezekiel is his willingness to embrace the vision of God, outrageous as it is.

We enter his story as the inaugural vision seems to be winding down: God has approached Ezekiel and has begun to give him his assignment. ‘Speak to your people, who are stubborn and won’t hear you, and tell them that I am God and that bad times are coming.’ Ezekiel got the fun job.

In the verses immediately preceding chapter 3, we find out that the scroll Ezekiel is invited to eat has words written all over it—on the front and the back—and the words were words of lamentation, mourning, and woe. These were the words that Ezekiel had to swallow, take into his being, and then share with others—whether they wanted to hear it or not. And the scroll was sweet in his mouth; the Word of God was very pleasing to his mouth.

And then came the instruction: go to your own people, people you know, people who know you, and speak the words of lamentation, mourning, and woe to them. You won’t even have to learn a new language or new people. God has such high hopes for Ezekiel: “Surely, if I send you to them they will listen to you,” God says in verse 6. Ezekiel was a priest who was asked to eat scripture and then sent to the people of his community to tell them that they were in trouble with God. Sounds just like us, doesn’t it?

We are not priests. Well, except for Laura and me, the rest of us here are members of the congregation. We do not actually eat the Bible. Who needs to eat paper or even vegetables when we have a range of tasty fiber bars to choose from these days? And I doubt that any of you will leave here today and go walking down your street telling all your neighbors how disappointing their lives are to God. Ezekiel, our brother?

But it’s the way he did it! Ezekiel likely had spent his childhood in the Temple, gathering with other children to hear the Word of God from the Torah and its interpretation from the priests. He had been trained in the story and proper worship of God. He had heard the stories of other people and their experiences with God while contemplating his own. And then this happened!

What God wanted for Ezekiel was that he would take God’s Word not just into his mind but into his whole heart, soul, and mind. God wanted the Word to be Ezekiel’s essential being. It is one thing to know what holy scripture says; it is quite another to live it out in your life. For generations, the people of God had relied upon simply knowing what the Torah said: about God and God’s power, God’s love for God’s people, and God’s mercy and forgiveness for people who rebel. But they had lost the ability to live in that knowledge. They relied upon their own power and the power of Babylon to provide a comfortable, entertaining life. And God knew that words would not necessarily win them over. It would take much more: it would take faithfulness, vision, and keeping the Word of God close in your heart, your soul, your mind—your very being.

Then the Word of God would just eminate from you. It would pour out of your life, out of everything you did. It would turn you all into priests, the kind who live sermons with your lives and only use words when it is absolutely necessary. You wouldn’t have to tell your neighbors how sinful they are; you would tell the church how much it needs to change by opening yourself to others in ways the church doesn’t yet.. You wouldn’t have to remind anyone to love others; you would enjoy watching them respond to your good example. You would not have to convince people that forgiveness is the way to go—holding grudges would be a thing of the past. Have you ever considered the influence of your behavior on the people around you?

Our brother Ezekiel reminds us of the fact that having a relationship with God requires more of us than reading the words on the page. Having God in your life is having God IN your life. It is telling the world about the selfless love of Christ with your life and how you give of yourself expecting nothing in return but love to be given freely. It is taking God’s Word into your very being and letting it live and grow there for others to see—a witness far more meaningful than words on a mint wrapper.

What are the things you know by heart? Is the story of God’s love for the world in Jesus Christ one of those things? Does your life speak the sweet Word of God? If you need a little help, I bet we have a scroll or 2 around here that you could snack on for a while. Thank you, brother Ezekiel, for your strange visions, for saying, “Yes,” to God, and for reminding us that its not about how many verses we memorize but how much our lives reflect God to all to whom you send us.

It truly is the Word of God—honey, lamentation, and all—for the people of God.

Thanks be to God!