Yesterday Sofi and I watched an old Joan Crawford movie on TV. The movie was named Mildred Pierce. It tells the story of a woman who wanted to give her two girls everything that she never had. And so she worked her fingers to the bone to make extra money so that she could afford a piano and singing lessons and new clothes for the children. This myopic devotion to giving her children things cost the woman very much. And even though she experienced great success, she paid the price by losing her marriage, by being taken advantage of by a variety of men who were more interested in her money than in her.
Things got worse for Mildred Pierce. But the real tragedy what happened to her oldest daughter, Veda. Even though the mother gave Veda everything that money could buy, the daughter grew to become a young woman who hated her mother. She became a completely materialistic human being who had no use for those who loved her. She was a user. Veda despised the fact that her mom had had to work as waitress and as a baker. She told her mom that she smelled like grease. Veda thought that mom was too much of a commoner and unworthy of for company. But mom continues to try to win her does everything that she can to win her daughter back – even going deeply into debt to acquire a huge estate. She even marries a cad that the daughter held in high esteem. But to no avail – the daughter continued to reject her mother. Eventually, this daughter even had an affair with the cad that her mom married.
This movie has a tragic story-line doesn’t it? One can hardly imagine that humanity can sink to the depths that this picture portrays. Is it possible that people can be so ungrateful that they would reject those who want nothing but to love them? Is it possible that people could be so self-consumed and selfish that they would despise those who’ve sacrificed for them? Those questions are what we will deal with today.
We begin our consideration of this topic by reading the words of Ezekiel – an Old Testament Prophet called to serve people that have, at a minimum, taken the Lord for granted, and at worst, have outright rejected and rebelled against God. Let’s read the words of the Old Testament Lesson together: [read Ezekiel 2:1-5]
“Go,” God tells Ezekiel, “Go to these Israelites, to a rebellious nation that has rebelled against me.” The original language says this in a way that would bring shock to the original hearers. Gods words are literally, “I send you to the people, to nations of rebels who have rebelled against me.” The contrast here says to the hearers, “Your rebellions have made you like the gentile nations. You are outside of my covenant. Your idolatry and rebellion have splintered the unity of the nation and you are no better than the pagan nations surrounding you.”
Wow! The Lord was sending a powerful message to the rebellious people. First, they clearly see that they have been ungrateful. Here is their God – who went to great lengths to carve out for Himself a people through whom to bring the Messiah – to preserve the witness of the Living God – the Creator – among all the nations of the world. But like the daughter in the movie, Veda, the temptations of materialism and the desire for things other than what God offered them cost them the dearest relationship they had – the one with their God. The people were unfaithful, and they continually had affairs with other gods.
And so Ezekiel is sent on the mission of bringing the people back. God Tells him to let them know how far they’ve strayed and the danger in which they find themselves. The work of the prophet is to be like a scalpel that is used to cut away the rottenness in order to allow the body to heal. But the Lord knows that this won’t be an easy job. There will be those who hear the message and reject it. They will literally try to kill the messenger. Nevertheless, God wants the people to avoid the destruction that their rebellion will ultimately work. And so He tells Ezekiel in the last verse of our text and in the two that follow: “And whether they listen or fail to listen - for they are a rebellious house - they will know that a prophet has been among them. And you, son of man, do not be afraid of them or their words. Do not be afraid, though briers and thorns are all around you and you live among scorpions. Do not be afraid of what they say or be terrified by them, though they are a rebellious house. You must speak my words to them, whether they listen or fail to listen, for they are rebellious.” (Ezekiel 2:5-7)
You see, nobody likes to be rejected. Nobody likes to say things that they know will be hard to hear and maybe make the hearers angry. But the work of the prophet is to speak the words that God has given them to proclaim. In effect, God was saying, “You tell them what I am telling you to tell them. Let chips fall where they may.”
You see, beloved, the work of proclamation is always to people who don’t know that they don’t know. The knowledge that our sins have made us despicable beings before a Holy God always comes as a shock. It offends and it hurts. It causes the most robust believers to wilt as they hear the words, “No one is righteous, no not one; they all have gone astray; they all have become as an unclean thing; and they will die for the wages of sin is death.” (excerpts from Romans 3) Even on this side of the cross we feel the pangs of having rebelled against God. Because, truth be told, we have quite a bit of the rebellious Israelites – and daughter Veda – in us. We know that against the standard of perfection that heaven requires, we fall way short.
And yet in the story of God sending Ezekiel to the rebellious people we have a beautiful message of love. You see, God could have let his rebellious people continue to wander. But He kept working to bring them back to Himself. He sent them Ezekiel who was one among a long line of rejected messengers that God sent to restore his nation of rebellious people.
Our Gospel lesson today speaks of a very special prophet sent by God. It was his very own Son – Jesus Christ. And like those who came before Him, we read in our Gospel lesson how He was rejected. “ ‘Where did this man get these ideas? Who gave him this kind of wisdom and the ability to do such great miracles? Isn’t this the carpenter, the son of Mary, and the brother of James, Joseph, Judas, and Simon? Aren’t his sisters here with us?’ So they took offense at him.” (Mark 6:2b-3) Ultimately that offense resulted in the crucifixion of Jesus.
A rebellious, hard-hearted people killed the Lord Jesus. They rejected Him, just like the prophets before had been rejected. They caused Jesus to be beaten and scourged and nailed to a harsh wooden cross. And there we see the great love of God the Son for us. Even though He knew how things would turn out, He came. He came and died for us even though He knew how we would reject Him and live our lives thinking that we know better.
And through that death, He bought us life. He bought us forgiveness, he bought for us a restoration with God that doesn’t depend on our righteousness and strength or on our obedience. It is a salvation that is obtained simply by believing and trusting in the forgiveness that the Savior won for us on the Cross.
A construction crew was building a new road through a rural area, knocking down trees as it progressed. A superintendent noticed that one tree had a nest of birds who couldn’t yet fly and he marked the tree so that it would not be cut down. Several weeks later the superintendent came back to the tree. He got into a bucket truck and was lifted up so that he could peer into the nest. The fledglings were gone. They had obviously learned to fly. The superintendent ordered the tree cut down. As the tree crashed to the ground, the nest fell clear and some of the material that the birds had gathered to make the nest was scattered about. Part of it was a scrap torn from a Sunday school pamphlet. On the scrap of paper were these words: “He careth for you.” (Bits & Pieces, November, 1989, p. 23.)
May the message from the God of all love and grace continue to come to us. Sometimes that message is a call to repentance – like Ezekiel’s message to the Israelites. Sometimes the message seems to bring the trees crashing down around us. But I encourage you, beloved. to let the fact that God continues to make his word come into your life be a clear sign of his love and care for you. It is our Father’s way of calling us home and drawing us to Himself. In the name of Jesus - Amen.
