Grace and Peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

The text for today’s meditation is Ezekiel 2:1-7

And he said to me, "Son of man, stand on your feet, and I will speak with you." ² And as he spoke to me, the Spirit entered into me and set me on my feet, and I heard him speaking to me. ³ And he said to me, "Son of man, I send you to the people of Israel, to nations of rebels, who have rebelled against me. They and their fathers have transgressed against me to this very day. ⁴ The descendants also are impudent and stubborn: I send you to them, and you shall say to them, 'Thus says the Lord GOD.' ⁵ And whether they hear or refuse to hear (for they are a rebellious house) they will know that a prophet has been among them. ⁶ And you, son of man, be not afraid of them, nor be afraid of their words, though briers and thorns are with you and you sit on scorpions. Be not afraid of their words, nor be dismayed at their looks, for they are a rebellious house. ⁷ And you shall speak my words to them, whether they hear or refuse to hear, for they are a rebellious house.

Dictionary.com gives two definitions for rebel; a person who refuses allegiance to, resists, or rises in arms against the government or ruler of his or her country. Second, a person who resists any authority, control, or tradition. Quite a few things come to my mind when I think of a rebel. One of the first to come to mind living here in the south is the soldiers of the Confederate Army. Then there is the Rebel Alliance in the Star Wars movies and of course who could forget the "Rebel without a Cause" – James Dean. We sing about rebels, such as "Rebel Yell" by Billy Idol and the album "Rebel" by John Miles. We idolize rebel singers like Elvis Presley. Even cars go by the name Rebel; the Rambler Rebel, AMC Rebel, Honda motorcycles even had a series called the Rebel. We can’t forget our sports teams with rebel mascots; Ole Miss Rebels, UNLV Running Rebels, and many others. What is it with our fascination with Rebels?

I believe the second definition is the one that applies to the people of Israel in today’s lesson; a person who resists any authority, control, or tradition. The people of Israel are a rebellious nation that did indeed resist God’s authority, control, and tradition. In God’s own words; "They and their fathers have transgressed against me to this very day. ⁴ The descendants also are impudent and stubborn." So, God sends His servant Ezekiel to the rebels. He commands him to say to them 'Thus says the Lord GOD.' What do you think God wants him to say on His behalf? He wants Ezekiel to give them a message of repentance. They had rebelled against God by turning to idolatry. They were living their punishment of exile in Babylon. Being conquered and taken into exile didn’t change their hearts. Still, they were God’s chosen people to produce a savior. This isn’t going to be an easy task for Ezekiel. God says twice "whether they hear or refuse to hear." God doesn’t send him in unprepared does He? "And he said to me, "Son of man, stand on your feet, and I will speak with you." ² And as he spoke to me, the Spirit entered into me and set me on my feet, and I heard him speaking to me." Ezekiel had seen the Glory of the Lord and fell to the ground facedown. God not only spoke to Ezekiel but He actually picked him up. Kind of the old preverbal "picked him up and dusted him off." God’s Spirit enters Ezekiel. God prepares him for what is to come. And, God wanted his full attention because it is harder for a mind to wander when you are standing,

I’ve got a question for you. Who is it you are identifying with in this story? Is it the people of Israel or Ezekiel? I would guess a vast majority of you are identifying with Ezekiel and thinking of our command to evangelize the nations. There is an application of this lesson for that. That would be that God does indeed prepare us and gives us His words when talking to people about the kingdom. But today I challenge you to identify with the people of Israel. I hear some of you thinking, "But pastor, we aren’t a rebellious nation, we are the faithful, and after all we are here listening to you." Yes, you are here and that is a good thing to be fed by the word of God. I challenge you to think carefully about being a rebellious nation. I received an editorial from a small-town newspaper in Michigan. I would like to read some of it.

"Has America become the land of the special interest and the home of the double standard? Let’s see: if we lie to Congress, it’s a felony and if congress lies to us it’s only politics; … the government spends millions to rehabilitate criminals and they do almost nothing for the victims; in public schools you can teach that homosexuality is OK, but you better not use the word God in the process; you can kill the unborn child, but it’s wrong to execute a mass murderer; we don’t burn books in America, we now rewrite them; we got rid of the communist and socialist threat by renaming them progressives; we are unable to close our border with Mexico, but have no problem protecting the 38^th parallel in Korea…

…You can have pornography on your TV or internet, but you better not put a nativity scene in a public park during Christmas; we have eliminated all criminals in America; they are now called sick people; we can use a human fetus for medical research, but it’s wrong to use an animal. We take money from those who work hard for it and give it to those who don’t want to work; we all support the Constitution; but only when it supports our political ideology; we still have freedom of speech, but only if we are being politically correct; parenting has been replaced with Ritalin and video games; the land of opportunity is now the land of hand outs; and the similarity between Hurricane Katrina and the Gulf oil spill is that neither president did anything to help.

And how do we handle a major crisis today? The government appoints a committee to determine who’s at fault, then threatens them, passes a law, raises our taxes; tells us the problem is solved so they can get back to their reelection campaign. What has happened to the land of the free and the home of the brave?

There are some sharp words in the editorial. You may not agree with all of them but the point is we are letting these things happen to our country. No, we are not a nation like Israel who was chosen by God as a nation. As it says in 1 Peter 2 verse 9 "we are a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light." We are called to live holy lives in His marvelous light and proclaim it to the world. We are called to be the beacon of light to our culture instead of the culture affecting our light. Have we done this? Jerry sent an email that included a cute spin on how we are to live, "There was a very gracious lady who was mailing an old family Bible to her brother in another part of the country. "Is there anything breakable in here?" asked the postal clerk."Only the Ten Commandments." answered the lady." Are we rebellious, have we forgotten that even though Jesus fulfilled the law it is still God’s plan for holy living? We are rebels, every one of us.

Ezekiel had a rough time proclaiming God’s Word to the people of Israel. In the Gospel lesson Jesus experienced the same. They refused to hear Him. What Jesus experienced while on earth was much worse that Ezekiel. We are not a part of the chosen nation of Israel but we are just as rebellious. Jesus was sent to the rebels as well. He was sent for us. The rebellion against the Son of Man, Jesus Christ led Him to the cross. It is through Christ’s death that we become the new house of Israel. We become Israel through the Word of God that is proclaimed in the name of Jesus to the Gentiles. We become a part of the rebellious house of Israel through original sin, which makes us one with the original Israel, We are saved through the cross of Jesus and we are raised as part of the new Israel through Jesus’ resurrection. We hear and believe the Word of God at our baptism and that Word softens our hard heart. Return to the Word of your baptism and become once again the New Israel of God. Hear Jesus’ Word’s, do not refuse. Live as one that has heard.

Ezekiel and Jesus both ingested the Word of God. God told Ezekiel literally to eat the scroll with God’s word on it. Jesus drank the cup of lamentation and moaning and woe that comes from the rebellion of Israel. In return all of Israel receives a cup of blessing and the bread of life. We too participate in the word by inwardly digesting it in the supper of Christ’s body and blood. Don’t be fascinated with rebels. Don’t resist God’s authority, control, and tradition. Don’t be a rebel. Embrace His commands and His word. Through His word and Christ we too can proclaim 'Thus says the Lord GOD.' To the world whether they hear or refuse to hear.

Amen.