Winkel (2026)

Ezekiel 33:1-11

My Brothers in Christ, what a great joy to have you here today as we celebrate are in the Season of Epiphany when our people get hear about how Jesus revealed that He is truly God in the flesh, and that in him they might find the hope of their salvation. It is our great joy to continue sharing this message with our congregations to this very day and warn them away from the dangers that exist around them and plague them. For the sins of the past are the sins of today, and we can rest assured that these sins will continue until Christ returns in all power, glory and might to take us to that blessed place where there is no more sin, nor death, nor any suffering. So in keeping with that I wanted to preach to you from a text that came up recently in our Sunday Bible Study. For the task that God lays upon Ezekiel is the task that is laid upon us, to preach God’s Word to His people, and to do so to a rebellious house that is not always glad to hear God’s name, nor His Word, but will pay good money, and invest significant time chasing after every other god, instead of listening to the voice of the true Shepherd who would save their souls, our Lord Jesus Christ..

So the prophet Ezekiel, just as a brief refresher, is one of those who has been taken into exile into the land of Babylon as the Lord was increasing the pressure upon the city of Jerusalem to bring them to repentance. For God does not desire the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turns from His way and repents. Ezekiel’s life is filled with action prophecies that involve laying on his side for a number of days to show God’s favor and wrath against the city of Jerusalem, cooking his food on dung, and even being forbidden to mourn his wife’s death. Our passage for today marks a turning point in the prophesies that come to Ezekiel as the judgment and wrath is about to fully fall on Jerusalem. The Law has now done its work and the Lord reminds Ezekiel of who He has called him to be. He is the watchman on the wall and he is to proclaim to the people the Word that God gives to Him.

He had been called to preach the Law to an obstinate people who were referred to repeatedly as a rebellious house. They had profaned the temple of God and abandoned the Worship of the Lord and sought the favor of whatever God they could. They set up idols, which Ezekiel refers to as fecal idols, Hummel is keen to point that out in his commentary every time it came up. It was to drive home the point that all other idols no matter how pretty, how many precious metals or gemstones are used to craft them, they are still just filth. For what sits behind the idols are the demons which are the epitome of being unclean. The people weren’t just brushing up, or accidentally stepping in this filth, they were taking into these fecal idols into their hearts, where God Himself was supposed to dwell, and so the temple that was built in Jerusalem had to come down for even though it was built by Solomon, and on the outside would put any church to shame, inside it was filled with nothing but garbage, and some one needed to speak to them the truth.

Now you and I are similar to Ezekiel, we don’t have the same action prophecies, thankfully, and the Lord doesn’t appear to us on His throne and in His majesty by the Chebar, but we have all been entrusted with God’s Word. We are watchmen who are to speak God’s Word to his people that they might be warned against their sin. For God doesn’t desire the death of those who are here anymore than he desired the death of the people who were profaning His temple, He wants their repentance.

You have been entrusted with a portion of God’s flock, not your own, but the Lord’s and as Shepherds we are to preach the Word to them even when they don’t want to hear it. We have faced the challenges of confronting sin, we have dealt with the problems that come when you speak the truth and people don’t want to let go of their lies. It is hard to practice closed communion, and to deal with someone who is cohabiting or a family member who has left church and wants to come back. They may hate you, they may slander you, and they might try to pressure you with shame, or guilt to abandon your post, but we are to love the Word more than being liked by men.

All of us know this struggle, it’s easier to be like Jonah, than Ezekiel, to hesitate to proclaim the message of repentance. Until the fish comes for us, and so we hear these words, and find that instead of speaking truth in and out of love for wandering sheep,, we didn’t want to risk upsetting them, to lose a friend, a member, either current or potential, and let them wander into the darkness of sin away from God never realizing their danger and walking the road of hell. For this God holds who accountable? Their blood is required at our hands, Its no wonder that James says not many of you should desire to be overseers, for we will be judged more harshly. The call to repent isn’t just for those in the pews, but it is also for us in the pulpit who are called to be watchmen, shepherds watching over God’s sheep, and guarding the flock, and then averted our eyes so we wouldnt’ have to do something difficult.

Thankfully, the Law is not the only message that has been revealed in God’s Holy Word, Ezekiel didn’t just proclaim wrath and destruction, the Lord also promises restoration and healing for those who have been crushed by the Law, those who have been scattered, and those who have wandered into the darkness of sin. For the Lord tells Ezekiel, that “I, I myself will search for my sheep and will seek them out” and “I will seek the Lost, and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the injured and I will strengthen the weak, and the fat and the strong I will destroy. I will feed them in justice.” We think great so God will find the ones I neglected, but what about me? Today you are part of that flock that God has sought out by His Word, that He has come to save, to restore, and to bind up and encourage you, when you are afflicted, trampled on by the sheep, knocked down, starved, and left with little to make ends meet? Remember what Jesus your good shepherd said? Matthew 5:11–12 ““Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.” Jesus is there on the cross not just for those that you minister to, Jesus is there for you.

There is a time for the Law, a time to bring us to confess our sins, but the Law does not build us up or change our hearts. That is the work of the Gospel that brings us to life, and it is easy for us to fall back into death just like it is for our members. That’s why in the stead and by the command of Christ, I forgive you, I forgive you for Christ shed his blood for your sins, and has washed them away. He has also built you up that you might know eternal life is yours. For how can we continue to proclaim a message that is never proclaimed to us. For we have been entrusted not only with a message of the Law to warn them away from sin, but also to point them to Christ that they might find the hope of salvation not in themselves, but there upon the Cross where the Son of God shed His blood, and we get to proclaim that He did this for you. To share this message we need to be brought to life as well. We might proclaim salvation with joy in our hearts for God has sent His Son, the Good Shepherd, who sought you through the Word proclaimed and bound to the Sacraments. For when the Son of God suffers there upon Calvary He is shedding His blood for all His flock even those whom He has called to preach, that when we speak of the joy of salvation we might be able to proclaim not like unfeeling robots, but as those who know what it is to be forgiven and the great need that each person has for what Christ won there for mankind.

So my dear brothers in Christ, be ready to proclaim the Word, and to speak truth to the world. For even if it hates us, reviles us, and mocks us, we lift up our eyes and see there upon the Cross the Son of God who was hated and despised by the World, but the Father did not abandon him to the grave, and has called us blessed. So fear not the world, for God has given His Son for our sake, that we may live eternally. May you be bold to proclaim the whole Word of God, both the Law, and the Gospel, that all believers might be warned away from the dangers of sin, and brought home to their Father’s house . In Jesus name. Amen.