Daily Prophets
Day 153
“Now, human, I have appointed you watchman for the House of Israel; whenever you hear a message from My mouth, you must transmit My warning to them. Now, say to the House of Israel; this is what you have been saying: Our transgressions and our sins weigh heavily upon us; we are sick at heart about them. How can we survive? Say to them: As I live, declares God, it is not My desire that the wicked shall die, but that the wicked turn back from his evil ways and live. Turn back, turn back from your evil ways that you may not die, House of Israel!” (Ezekiel 33.7-11).
Ezekiel is once again explaining where the words he says are coming from, God. He is trying to get the House of Israel to understand that he is not just another false prophet, he is not being oppositional to the other prophets and the ruling class - he is part of the ruling class as a priest- and he is coming with God’s message to the people in order to remind them that they are still savable.
This is an important passage for everyone to hear, consider and engage in. So many people believe the lies that Israel believed, “our transgressions and our sins weigh heavily upon us”. This story has been the reason that so many people will not look at themselves and do T’Shuvah. The weight of their errors seems too much to bear and the idea of admitting our errors, making the proper amends, accepting responsibility for our part in the error/interaction and turning back from the path the ‘transgressions’ have laid out for us, is just too much for many people. They regard doing T’Shuvah, making amends as being weak and vulnerable and they do not have the soul strength to overcome these obvious self-deceptions.
Their survival is based on their denial and the blaming of another(s), they believe. These are the people who caused the destruction of the Temple (first and second in my opinion) and continue to cause the grief, mischief, terror, war, destruction up until today. They cause destruction for their fear of facing what is really true and certain. God’s gift of T’Shuvah is true and certain, humanity’s need to deny and believe their myth of perfection is false and dangerous. People who need to be right always, who are afraid to acknowledge their errors,are people who have little soul strength and maturity and much false pride and false ego. These supposedly “God-fearing” don’t truly fear God because they cannot/do not hear God’s call as Ezekiel gives voice to it.
People continually to misread the Bible and deny the importance of God’s words, God’s desire’s and God’s instructions because they call God “of the old testament and angry God” which is as far from the truth as evidenced above. God does not want the death of ‘sinners and transgressors’; God wants us back, God wants our return, God cries out for us to repent, return, and have new responses to life’s challenges.
Yet, the people I spoke of above still can’t hear this message. They are so full of themselves, and they sound so logical and rational, they continue to deceive themselves and everyone around them that evil is good, they are the smartest people in the room and they destroy the spirit of everything good that another(s) has created, nurtured, and grown under the guise of progress. It is not progress, it is a power grab, it is an envy towards the creative spirit that drives a prophet, a creator, a helper, etc. God wants us to live and these people want to live at the cost of another(s) life. They would rather deny to their certain spiritual death and physical death their errors than live in repentance and what they believe would be shame. “Turn back from your evil ways” God is calling to all of us-will we listen.
In recovery, we heard this call from God. While we have been scared to be this vulnerable, while we have had our errors used against us by another(s), answering this call of God has given us a new freedom, a new relationship with ourselves, our families, our loved ones, our friends, our world and God. This freedom begins with not hiding anymore, it continues to being responsible for our part only and being forgiven, going on to learning more about how to live life well and growing us up to be better partners with God in making our corner of the world a little better. We also know this is not a one and done proposition; it is a constant dive into our actions and making every effort to live more congruent and with more integrity each day.
I have lived this call for the past 32+ years, as imperfectly as I have lived my almost 70 years. I have been on the receiving end of the people I wrote about above, on a personal as well as being part of humanity who suffers because of the deception of another(s) that is always rooted in their own self-deception. I work hard to stay in truth and, when I fall into self-deception to recognize it quicker and have people around me help me stay true to God. My return to God and decency has allowed me to thrive, not just survive, these past 32+ years and will help me move forward. My failures have propelled me to learn more and my learning has been difficult and painful for me, for the people close to me and for another(s) as well. I am sorry and have made my amends. Reading Ezekiel reminds me that God has cleansed my guilt and I have to allow it to wash away and begin again clean, bright and hopeful. Stay safe and God Bless, Rabbi Mark.