8/6/21

 The Vision of the Two Sticks

             The word of the Lord came to me:  Mortal, take a stick and write on it, “For Judah, and the Israelites associated with it”; then take another stick and write on it, “For Joseph (the stick of Ephraim) and all the house of Israel associated with it”;  and join them together into one stick, so that they may become one in your hand.  And when your people say to you, “Will you not show us what you mean by these?”  say to them, Thus says the Lord God: I am about to take the stick of Joseph (which is in the hand of Ephraim) and the tribes of Israel associated with it; and I will put the stick of Judah upon it, and make them one stick, in order that they may be one in my hand. When the sticks on which you write are in your hand before their eyes, then say to them, Thus says the Lord God: I will take the people of Israel from the nations among which they have gone, and will gather them from every quarter, and bring them to their own land.  I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel; and one king shall be king over them all. Never again shall they be two nations, and never again shall they be divided into two kingdoms.  They shall never again defile themselves with their idols and their detestable things, or with any of their transgressions. I will save them from all the apostasies into which they have fallen, and will cleanse them. Then they shall be my people, and I will be their God.

Ezekiel 37:15-23

             My Facebook feed is filled with people who would hate each other if they were actually in the same room together.  What do you do when people on both the Right and the Left are convinced that they have the Moral High Ground as well as the logical facts supporting their parties?  They resort to yelling insults at the other side, examining and criticizing the life choices of the enemy and laughing with their friends at the stupidity of people who believe differently.  The only time that we come together is when confronted with a common enemy, and even then Republicans and Democrats alike will try to leverage tragedy into power so that they can be in control and prevent future crises from occurring.

            It is not just political parties that are divided and in conflict.  Our churches fragment and splinter and walk away from each other all the time.  Sunday is the most divided and segregated day of the week as believers gather together with people who look like them and talk like them and believe exactly like them so that they will not be tainted by those with the wrong beliefs and practices.

            Israel and Judah were in a similar place.  They had actually divided from each other, becoming two separate nations who argued with each other and schemed against each other and went to war with each other…each side thoroughly convinced that they rode to battle on the side of righteousness.  By the time that Ezekiel lived and wrote his book, there was too much history and baggage to consider reuniting and becoming one people again.  Too much blood had been shed.  Too many wrongs had gone unavenged.  Too many insults had been hurled for them to ever forgive and come together. 

            Do you know what is impossible for humanity to do without God?  Reconciliation.  Reconciliation is the work of the Divine.  Be it reconciling mankind to God or mankind to each other, it is God and God alone that has the power to bring people through their wounds and fears into right relationships.  Notice that God does not tell Ezekiel to wait for the sticks to come together on their own.  Nor does He tell His prophet that it is his job to get the nations to forget the wounds of the past.  God describes it as a work that He is doing and Ezekiel is left to watch the promises become realities.

            I do not have the time nor the emotional energy to bring people together.  All of my patience for drama is spent on those living under my roof.  All of the self-control needed to help people work through their issues and grudges and baggage has already been used in trying to help my son negotiate his life.  God, in all His wisdom, should find someone else to do this work.

            However, we are to follow in His footsteps.  We are to be people of Reconciliation, peacemakers who are equipped to bring together parties who are in conflict and help reunite lost children with their Heavenly Father.  To do that we need to understand both the issues that are being debated and the bigger picture of Eternity.  We need to learn what it is that drives people apart and what God is doing to bring them back together.  We need to listen to the Voice of God in order to come alongside and faithfully do what has been given to us to do.  We need to be willing to enter into someone else’s drama instead of being absorbed by our own.

            He will be our God and we will be His people.  All of us.  Together.  That is the vision.

  

A moment to reflect:

How has God invited you into being a reconciler?  What excuses do you grab onto to avoid that calling?