Ezekiel 3:1-11

"He said to me, O mortal, eat what is offered to you; eat this scroll, and go, speak to the house of Israel. So I opened my mouth, and he gave me the scroll to eat. He said to me, Mortal, eat this scroll that I give you and fill your stomach with it. Then I ate it; and in my mouth it was as sweet as honey.

"He said to me: Mortal, go to the house of Israel and speak my very words to them. For you are not sent to a people of obscure speech and difficult language, but to the house of Israel—not to many peoples of obscure speech and difficult language, whose words you cannot understand. Surely, if I sent you to them, they would listen to you. But the house of Israel will not listen to you, for they are not willing to listen to me; because all the house of Israel have a hard forehead and a stubborn heart. See, I have made your face hard against their faces, and your forehead hard against their foreheads. Like the hardest stone, harder than flint, I have made your forehead; do not fear them or be dismayed at their looks, for they are a rebellious house. He said to me: Mortal, all my words that I shall speak to you receive in your heart and hear with your ears; then go to the exiles, to your people, and speak to them. Say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord God’; whether they hear or refuse to hear" (Ezekiel 3:1-11).

Comment:

I'm sorry that technical difficulties prevented me from responding as quickly as you would have liked.

This passage is evocative of so many other biblical attempts to describe the interaction between our human personalities and our true spiritual Being. Moses is told in Exodus that the Hebrews are hard-headed and stubborn-hearted. Isaiah uses the same imagery of 'eating the scroll'—that is, totally incorporating—'grokking'—spiritual Truth into our very cells. And, of course, the author of Revelation borrows liberally from Ezekiel in his own description of the human/spiritual challenge.

Speaking or maintaining our belief in spiritual Truth can be very challenging when we are interacting with people and events that seem to reject it. We must fully incorporate it ourselves, and then be steadfast in lovingly maintaining it in our human experiences. Moreover, the prophet is warned that those people—representing the variety of thoughts in our ego consciousness—who insist on 'knowing what they know' will be the most resistant to our new message. It is the thoughts of confusion and uncertainty that will be most responsive.

Blessings!

Rev. Ed