Ordinary 11

The Eleventh Sunday of Ordinary Time

Ezekiel 17:22-24; Psalm 92; 2 Corinthians 5:6-10; Mark 4:26-34

Ezekiel was a priest six centuries before Christ. I am a priest twenty centuries after Christ. With two and half millennia between Ezekiel and myself, turbulence and bleak times mark both our priesthoods.

Ezekiel was deported and exiled with the Judean king and other prominent leadership to Babylon. The Catholic priesthood has been exiled to the sidelines of most people’s lives.

What was life like for Ezekiel all those years in Babylon? What is a priest without a temple and altar?

What is life in exile like for today’s priests? We are priests in the middle of a pandemic with half emptied temples. Priests in the middle of a secular culture whose philosophies and beliefs       characterize many of our parishioners thinking more than that of the Gospel.Priests in the middle of a self-inflicted scandalous wound.

Ezekiel and I live in very different political situations. His world is one in which religion and state were one and the same. My society is one where state and religion are distinct and yet at times inexplicably entangled. Our two worlds though have some commonalities that I believe can teach us.

Ezekiel experienced a great time of religious transition.

With the destruction of the Temple of Jerusalem, where did that leave the Jewish people? There is no nation, no monarchy, no priesthood, no Temple, no sacrifice. All the aspects of life which marked and gave identity to the Jewish people were now non-existent.

Though the period of exile was a disaster for Judah’s political life it was a creative period for its religious and faith life. It is in exile that what we know as the Old Testament the Hebrew Scriptures, began to be written down and formed. Religious identity began to flourish around the reclaiming of Shabbat, the Sabbath day and a re-commitment to the God of the Covenant sealed by the blood of circumcision. Exile was not a fallow period but filled with the movement of the Spirit of God to prepare the people for renewal and return.

I too live in a period of religious upheaval on a global plane.

Our period has been marked by a movement away from religion or contrariwise, toward extreme violent forms of religion. We believers may complain about the rise of secularism, but we are responsible for secularism. Secularism is a response to and a product of the 16th through 18th century European wars of religion. In reaction to Christian religious violence, modern society moved to reject religion. Thus religion has been replaced by science, psychology, agnosticism and a marketplace of ideas. Christianity is only one choice out of many.

Empires falling and empires rising mark my experience and that of Ezekiel.

The Kingdom of Israel was destroyed by the Assyrian Empire. The Kingdom of Judah was defeated by the upstart Babylonian Empire which was in turn was conquered by the Persian Empire, followed by the Ptolemaic, Seleucid and Roman Empires.

Within the past century we have seen the demise of the British, Ottoman, Austro-Hungarian, Soviet, and dare we say, American Empires, and the authority and domination of the Catholic Church throughout the world. I expect, astute watchers of history ponder the futures of China, India, digital currency and cyber empires.

And what is happening within and among religions?

What might we learn from Ezekiel’s experience of exile for our own changing and uncertain times?

Ezekiel offers us a wonderful image of hope.

“Thus says the Lord God:I too, will take from the crest of the cedar,from its topmost branches tear off a tender shoot,and plant it on a high and lofty mountain.It shall put forth branches and bear fruit, and become a majestic cedar.”

I expect we have all noticed that the newest part of growth on a house plant is the freshest, brightest and shiniest green. It speaks of new life even on an old plant. And so we ourselves have taken the tender shoot of an old plant, placed it in water to grow a root system and replanted it in fresh soil.

As the priesthood and our church seem to lie fallow, seem to be wandering aimlessly and lost in the midst of an increasingly turbulent and violent world, are we experiencing this period as a time for creative reflection on church structures and a re-commitment to our faith?

Do we, who claim to be so busy and lacking time, not need to reclaim Sabbath, the Lord’s Day, as a day of worship, rest and rejuvenation? What does your Sunday usually consist of?

As the blood of circumcision was a mark of the Covenant, should we not in the Eucharist each week renew our baptismal covenant by drinking the Blood of the Lamb?

Are we not being called into a deeper relationship and trust in our God who is above the machinations of politics and empire? Recall it is God who tears off the tender shoot and replants it.

As the synagogue system emerged in the exile experience, eventually replacing the Temple, are we using this period to rethink on how we pass on the Catholic Christian faith so as to root our beliefs and lifestyle more deeply in the soil of people’s souls? Are past and current methods and structures effective anymore? Are we making disciples of Jesus or simply churning out another generation of cultural Catholics?

If the tender crest is to bear fruit and grow so that “birds of every kind can dwell beneath its branches in the shade,” will we allow God to give us the vision of inclusivity so that all people are drawn into the shade of Christ the cedar?

Like Ezekiel and the other Hebrew prophets, who might be the prophetic voice that we desperately need for our time? Who is our Ezekiel, our Saint Francis, our Saint Teresa of Avila, or Saint Ignatius of Loyola?

Ezekiel and I. Two priests. Two and a half millennia apart.

I wonder what Ezekiel’s questions were while in exile?

These are my questions.

What are your questions?