Ezekiel - Performance Artist

It’s Valentine’s Day weekend, KK and I are dating, and I invite her to go with me. A romantic getaway weekend, with my parents and big sister and her family.

More of a trial by fire, maybe.

But we are on the plane, and KK has told me that she will not back down from a bet. So I decide to challenge here.

The dude next to us, by the window, is eating chips. I dare you, to look him in the eyes, not say a word, reach into his bag while maintaining eye contact, take a chip and eat it.

And I’ll give you a $.

And she did. And it was glorious.

What would you do for a $?

(Or, maybe in this case, for a boy?)

Maybe not much. But what would you do for a million $$s?

Steal a chip from a stranger? In a heartbeat.

I think you’re going to have to get pretty creative (or immoral) to find something I won’t do for a million dollars.

The Willingness of Ezekiel

We talked about the obedience of Ezekiel last week. He had all kinds of feels about being taken away from Israel, from his people, from the temple, from his calling as a priest he had spent his life preparing for...

And now he is in a refugee camp, by the rivers of Babylon, full of bitterness and anger. But God calls him to be a prophet. And he goes.

This noble calling, to go and speak to the people of Israel. They won’t listen, but speak anyway.

And Ezekiel 3:14

Ezekiel 3:14 ESV

14 The Spirit lifted me up and took me away, and I went in bitterness in the heat of my spirit, the hand of the Lord being strong upon me.

He went.

What do you think he is picturing? What is his calling going to look like? There’s some noble words in here:

Ezekiel 3:17 ESV

17 “Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel. Whenever you hear a word from my mouth, you shall give them warning from me.

Oooh… a watchman. Standing on the walls, seeing the danger coming, and letting the people know. That’s pretty good, powerful words for a prophet priest.

Prophetic Communication

So what is this really going to look like?

Is he going to be like Elijah and Elisha, doing signs and wonders, whirwinds and fire from the sky. Awesome!

Is he going to be more like Isaiah, speaking in the courtroom and writing to all the peoples?

Or like Jeremiah, proclaiming in the streets and the temples, weeping over the coming destruction.

God gives him his first prophetic mission here in chapter 4.

Ezekiel 4:1–3 ESV

1 “And you, son of man, take a brick and lay it before you, and engrave on it a city, even Jerusalem. 2 And put siegeworks against it, and build a siege wall against it, and cast up a mound against it. Set camps also against it, and plant battering rams against it all around. 3 And you, take an iron griddle, and place it as an iron wall between you and the city; and set your face toward it, and let it be in a state of siege, and press the siege against it. This is a sign for the house of Israel.

Now, that’s just kind of fun. You get to make a model and stand with a skillet. Go down to HobbyLobby… Maybe smash it with the skillet??? I could see this art project. Not super interesting, but doable.

But wait, Ezekiel has a part to play in this:

Ezekiel 4:4–5 ESV

4 “Then lie on your left side, and place the punishment of the house of Israel upon it. For the number of the days that you lie on it, you shall bear their punishment. 5 For I assign to you a number of days, 390 days, equal to the number of the years of their punishment. So long shall you bear the punishment of the house of Israel.

Three hundred and ninety days. Lie on your left side. Is this even possible? Think of the bed sores! Presumably he didn’t do this 24-7. Lies down there all day, maybe returns home in the evening? But even then… no book, no iPad, no headphone audio book, on specifically his left side everyday for more than a year. And then...

Ezekiel 4:6 ESV

6 And when you have completed these, you shall lie down a second time, but on your right side, and bear the punishment of the house of Judah. Forty days I assign you, a day for each year.

40 more days. The right side must have felt like SUCH a relief, for like an hour. And then… I wish I could roll over.

Is he explaining what this represents to people? Do people come and ask what it all means? Are they meant to interpret themselves, or wait until the book comes out to understand what the weird guy in the refugee camp is doing?

Ezekiel 4:7–8 ESV

7 And you shall set your face toward the siege of Jerusalem, with your arm bared, and you shall prophesy against the city. 8 And behold, I will place cords upon you, so that you cannot turn from one side to the other, till you have completed the days of your siege.

So he’s tied up as he lies there.

Ezekiel 4:9–11 ESV

9 “And you, take wheat and barley, beans and lentils, millet and emmer, and put them into a single vessel and make your bread from them. During the number of days that you lie on your side, 390 days, you shall eat it. 10 And your food that you eat shall be by weight, twenty shekels a day; from day to day you shall eat it. 11 And water you shall drink by measure, the sixth part of a hin; from day to day you shall drink.

SO we get a bit of a hint that he isn’t tied up and lying on his side the WHOLE time. He gets to cook and eat and drink occasionally. He gets to eat muffins, in fact. But, oh by the way:

Ezekiel 4:12 ESV

12 And you shall eat it as a barley cake, baking it in their sight on human dung.”

WORST. MUFFINS. EVER!!! All the way, worst muffins ever. Is the lead buried here? Did that sneak up on anyone else? In this little living art project, performance art, is anyone going to paying attention to all the other little details… or just the guy using poop fires to cook muffins!!!

Ezekiel 4:13 ESV

13 And the Lord said, “Thus shall the people of Israel eat their bread unclean, among the nations where I will drive them.”

Here is where Ezekiel draws the line. He was “bitter and angry” before… now God is making him eat poop muffins!

Ezekiel 4:14–17 ESV

14 Then I said, “Ah, Lord God! Behold, I have never defiled myself. From my youth up till now I have never eaten what died of itself or was torn by beasts, nor has tainted meat come into my mouth.” 15 Then he said to me, “See, I assign to you cow’s dung instead of human dung, on which you may prepare your bread.” 16 Moreover, he said to me, “Son of man, behold, I will break the supply of bread in Jerusalem. They shall eat bread by weight and with anxiety, and they shall drink water by measure and in dismay. 17 I will do this that they may lack bread and water, and look at one another in dismay, and rot away because of their punishment.

And… apparently Ezekiel is fine with this compromise. He is willing.

Maybe he’s more bitter and angry now, I don’t know. I would be. But the hand of the Lord is strong upon him. And he obeys.

Would you do it? Make and eat poop muffins?

And not just once, every day for more than a year. Be that guy, be that girl. You’d build a reputation real quick. Setup over here in the park, the story would spread, people would talk about you!

Would you do it? How about for a million dollars?

This is by far the best one, but God has Ezekiel do some other crazy things.

I love the creativity in Ezekiel. What has a hope of getting through to these people? Words aren’t doing it. Let’s try theater, let’s try art, let’s try to shock them, let’s reach them anyhow, anyway we can.

The willingness on Ezekiel’s part to throw dignity aside. He lost all dignity at poop muffins. And this guy was trained to be priest, can you imagine a higher expectation of respect and dignity?

He lays it all down. Liking it is optional, but he obeys.

He goes on, he cuts his hair and weighs it and burns some and scatters some.

In chapter 12 he starts carrying his luggage around for no reason and digging through walls with his bare hands, symbols of the exile and captivity.

In chapter 24 his wife dies, and God commands him not to mourn, act as normal. And we don’t think it is strange, but it tells us this blew people’s minds. And they asked.

Those people who wouldn’t listen, they asked:

Ezekiel 24:15–20 ESV

15 The word of the Lord came to me: 16 “Son of man, behold, I am about to take the delight of your eyes away from you at a stroke; yet you shall not mourn or weep, nor shall your tears run down. 17 Sigh, but not aloud; make no mourning for the dead. Bind on your turban, and put your shoes on your feet; do not cover your lips, nor eat the bread of men.” 18 So I spoke to the people in the morning, and at evening my wife died. And on the next morning I did as I was commanded. 19 And the people said to me, “Will you not tell us what these things mean for us, that you are acting thus?” 20 Then I said to them, “The word of the Lord came to me:

Ezekiel is willing to do anything that people might hear God’s Word.

Dignity on the line. Pride sacrificed. Health and taste buds sacrificed. Honor and dignity of his wife, in an honor-based society, sacrificed.

Anything that people would hear what God was saying.

And in Ezekiel’s case, he had to be the bearer of bad news.

You get to be the bearer of the best news ever!

Behold, your sins are forgiven.

Good news: God loves you! He forgives you, and He has brought you eternal life. Here, take it!

Obey. Preach boldly the Word that God gives you.

The old adage, attributed to Francis of Assisi is true: Preach the Gospel, when necessary, use words.

(That’s a great picture of Francis)

Now, we are inspired by the figure of Ezekiel, but it doesn’t mean you should go out and start doing bizarre things for no reason. Instead, Ezekiel did exactly as God commanded him to do. As God led him to do.

Likewise, you are called to share the gospel exactly as God is leading you to. In the ways he has made you to do it. Through the story He has given you. Through the gifts he has given you.

It isn’t necessarily going to look like the way I do it.

But, I do suspect this, it is going to feel uncomfortable. Maybe even humiliating. Like sacrificing your dignity for the sake of the other.

When your friend is sharing how stressed out she is, gathering up the courage to share the “rest and hope and strength you find in Jesus.” They might look at you sidewise… but they might also listen. And isn’t that worth every possibility of awkwardness?

When your neighbor is lonely and isolated, living out the love of God for them. Washing their feet, metaphorically or literally, whatever you can think to show God’s love for them. Whatever He leads you to.

This isn’t about “talking about religion” or “forcing your views on people.”

This is about sharing the best thing that has ever happened to you. The best news they could ever hear. The most relevant information on the most important decision they’ll ever make in their lives.

This is about being the love of God, as He has first loved you.

Forget about what you would do for a million or billion dollars. What would you do for the God who saves you, who is now saving and rescuing all of humanity, all of the cosmos, and He’s asking you to be a part of it.