Ezekiel 1:1

This is part of a syndicated series for Lent 2019 with Harvard’s Christian Journal Ichthus. Visit Ichthus at http://www.harvardichthus.org

by Yale Logos Staff.

Ezekiel 1:1​ “In my thirtieth year, in the fourth month on the fifth day, while I was among the exiles by the Kebar River, the heavens were opened and I saw visions of God.”

Psalms 137:1 “By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept when we remembered Zion.”

Ezekiel’s thirtieth year marks the date of his supposed inauguration into the priestly order. The celebration is overcast by the reality of Israel’s exile. The rivers of Babylon flow mingled with the tears and memories of the Israelites. Ezekiel’s life, having led up to this moment, is bereft of meaning. He is a priest with no temple. An israelite with no land. A man without a home.

How often have we been Ezekiel? How often have we wept in a foreign place, alienated from what we thought our purpose was? Whether it be a missed opportunity, or a difficult season of doubt, at the very least we should weep. Weeping means that we acknowledge our higher home. Weeping means that we know where we have come from. Weeping is a cry for God to answer us in the midst of our grief.



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