Ezekiel 3:1-9: a reflection

1He said to me, “Son of man, eat what you find. Eat this scroll, and go, speak to the house of Israel.” 2So I opened my mouth, and he caused me to eat the scroll. 3He said to me, “Son of man, eat this scroll that I give you and fill your belly and your bowels with it.” Then I ate it. It was as sweet as honey in my mouth. 4He said to me, “Son of man, go to the house of Israel, and speak my words to them. 5For you are not sent to a people of a strange speech and of a hard language, but to the house of Israel— 6not to many peoples of a strange speech and of a hard language, whose words you can’t understand. Surely, if I sent you to them, they would listen to you. 7But the house of Israel will not listen to you, for they will not listen to me; for all the house of Israel are obstinate and hard-hearted. 8Behold, I have made your face hard against their faces, and your forehead hard against their foreheads. 9I have made your forehead as a diamond, harder than flint. Don’t be afraid of them, neither be dismayed at their looks, though they are a rebellious house.”

God gives Ezekiel a strange command: eat this scroll, then go and speak to the house of Israel. The prophet must take God's words in, fill himself with them, before he can carry them to anyone else. And when he eats the scroll, it is sweet as honey in his mouth. The word of God, even a word of hard truth, tastes sweet to the one who receives it inwardly.

But the assignment is not easy. God tells Ezekiel plainly that this people will not listen, not because they cannot understand the language, but because they are unwilling to hear. So the Lord prepares his messenger accordingly, making his face firm and his forehead like the hardest stone, not so that Ezekiel becomes harsh, but so that he will not be crushed by rejection. Do not be afraid of their looks, God says.

There is a pattern here for anyone called to speak truth into a resistant place. First, take God's word deeply into yourself until it becomes sweet, your own nourishment and not just a message. Then be ready for the possibility that people will not receive it, and let God give you the steadiness to keep speaking anyway. Feed on his word first, and trust him to make you firm enough for whatever comes.

Lord, before I speak your word to anyone, teach me to eat it, to take it so deeply into myself that it becomes sweet and mine. Then, where I meet resistance, give me the steadiness you gave Ezekiel, firm without being harsh, unafraid of hard faces. Let me feed on your word and speak it faithfully, whatever the response. Amen.