Skip to main content

Ezekiel 34:16

Sometimes, I stumble across a Bible verse that has somehow gone unnoticed after so many years of studying, that is just so moving.

Today, I noticed Ezekiel 34:16, which comes in the lectionary on Reign of Christ/Christ the King Sunday on November 20th.

It reads, "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, but the fat and the strong I will destroy. I will feed them with justice."

Wow.

Comments

Dan Trabue said…
He that oppresses the poor reproaches his Maker.

Proverbs 14:31

As a cage is full of birds, so are their houses full of deceit: therefore they are become great and waxen rich....they overpass the deeds of the wicked: they judge not the cause, the cause of the fatherless, yet they prosper; and the right of the needy do they not judge. Shall I not visit for these things? saith the Lord: shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?

Jeremiah 5:27-29

You know...I've wondered here lately how many warnings there are in the Bible to the wealthy and how it would compare to the number of warnings to the sexually immoral (if there are any).

Once you had those numbers, it might be interesting to see how many sermons cover the dangers of wealth and lack of compassion vs how many cover sexual immorality.

It'd make an interesting juxtaposition, I suspect.
Anonymous said…
Beth,

I used to think the Book of Ezekiel as waaaaaayyy out there. I mean, off the reservation. I bet I read it through 3 or 4 times and never got more than "Son of Man....." out of the whole text.

But as I read Ezekeil over and over and over again, and continued to try and understand it more and more, it is slowly starting to come to me. I love the story of the dry bones. I see the modern day nation of Israel from 1948 forward in that story.
I love the verses of the Gog-Magog war in Chapter 38. It is so interesting to read about the alliances refered to there and then pick up a newspaper each and every day for the next 3 or 4 weeks and read the front pages.
I loved this verse that you pointed out. I may have to plow through Ezekeil again.
MikeC said…
Wow! indeed. Comforting words in the era of the Bush II administration. There are those passages from the OT that look like they came from the NT, and this is one of them. Thanks, Beth, for the look ahead in the lectionary.
Anonymous said…
fat and the strong .. luckily you usuaully aren't both at the same time.

:)
Anonymous said…
In Ezekiel,
Why does God refer to Ezekiel as Son of man(about 50 X) I counted
Also in no other book of the Bible does God,keep saying,"Because I am God " over and over,About(60X)or more.
And the intro,to decieve man,that God is Flying around in a UFO Burnished brass and woosh off he goes in a Whirlwind. So as Jesus warned,there will be terrible sight in the sky,Mathew 23. Satan can use that,allabourd, and stael away there souls,Also,in Mathew,God say's I am against those who make men fly to steal their souls...ie Rapture

Popular posts from this blog

Sermon for the First Sunday in Advent, "Hope: A Thrill of Hope," Mark 1:1-8

Sermon 11/26/17 Mark 1:1-8 Hope: A Thrill of Hope             Are you a pessimist or an optimist? Is the glass of life half empty, or half full? My mom and I have gone back and forth about this a bit over the years. She’s wildly optimistic about most things, and sometimes I would say her optimism, her hopefulness borders on the irrational. If the weather forecast says there’s a 70% chance of a snowstorm coming, my mom will focus very seriously on that 30% chance that it is going to be a nice day after all. I, meanwhile, will begin adjusting my travel plans and making a backup plan for the day. My mom says I’m a pessimist, but I would argue that I’m simply a realist , trying to prepare for the thing that is most likely to happen, whether I like that thing or not. My mom, however, says she doesn’t want to be disappointed twice, both by thinking something bad is going to happen, and then by having the bad thing actually happen. She’d rather be hopeful, and enjoy her state of

Sermon for First Sunday in Lent, Year B, "Jesus in the Wilderness," Mark 1:1-4, 9-15

Sermon 2/18/18 Mark 1:1-4, 9-15 Jesus in the Wilderness             You’ve heard me say before that the gospel of Mark is my favorite gospel. Part of the reason I love it is because of Mark’s brevity. I don’t love that he’s short on details, exactly. I love that he seems practically breathless in getting the good news of Jesus to us, and that he seems to believe that the news is so good it isn’t even going to take very many words to convince you of his message! His frantic style strikes me as showing both how important and how convincing he believes Jesus’s message to be.             But, then we arrive at a Sunday like today, and I find myself a little frustrated perhaps, or at least a little challenged by Mark. In the lectionary, the series of the first Sunday in the season of Lent always focuses on the temptation of Jesus – his time in the wilderness, where he confronts Satan, and commits to God’s path rather than the flashy alternative Satan presents. This is the fo

Sermon for Second Sunday in Advent, "Peace: All Is Calm, All Is Bright," Isaiah 11:1-10, Mark 13:24-37

Sermon 12/3/17 Mark 13:24-37, Isaiah 11:1-10 Peace: All Is Calm, All Is Bright             “Silent night, holy night. All is calm, all is bright. Round yon’ virgin mother and child. Holy infant, so tender and mild. Sleep in heavenly peace. Sleep in heavenly peace.”             This week, I read news stories about North Korea testing a missile that perhaps could reach across the whole of the United States.             This week, I spoke with a colleague in ministry who had, like all churches in our conference, received from our church insurance company information about how to respond in an active shooter situation. She was trying to figure out how to respond to anxious parishioners and yet not get caught up in spending all of their ministry time on creating safety plans.             This week, we’ve continued to hear stories from people who have experienced sexual assault and harassment, as the actions, sometimes over decades, of men in positions of power have been