This text is the designated sermon text for Christmas Eve in the German protestant Church. At first I asked myself, what on earth could have moved the church to choose these words to celebrate Christmas Eve – the coming of the child? Since then I have seen some wisdom in it.
These words come out of the Babylonian exile, from someone who had lost everything and seen his land fall into the hands of people who welcomed the enemy. They are the words of an inspired man who struggled to improve the character of his people. A struggle which, towards the close of the captivity, ended idolatry and brought about a return to the law. It is said to have been around thirty years after the close of his ministry that the decree of the Jews’ restoration was issued.
This shows that such people had to show what faith was in the sight of defeat and humility. That is: faith in the promises of their God; faith in the perspective of restoration; faith in reunion and the return of unity. The blessing of their God was a sign of completeness, soundness, welfare, peace – in short, of Shalom. That is the promise of the new covenant that gave them hope. The sanctification or dedication of a people to their God meant first of all that the people went through a phase of moral cleansing, symbolically washing from themselves the influences that cause derision and division amongst a people, breaking their union and weakening their moral fibre. It was a time of confessions and weeping, a time of healing and forgiveness.
When modern Christians talk of faith, you get the feeling that the meaning has shifted. It is all so easy since Christ, as the suffering servant, has taken all of this upon himself. But the Gospels show that Jesus was seeking the faith of the exile, seeking the dedication that would strengthen his people in the face of cruel oppression. Israel was not deported, but occupied. The same renewal was necessary; indeed, the renewed Covenant of Jeremiah was what the Disciples grasped at Pentecost, but it was short-lived in Israel. Instead, Paul saw the covenant expanded to take in the nations, who would humbly relate that new covenant to Israel. The dispersion finally took away the hope of a short-termed renewal of Israel. The miracle of the Jewish survival and even periodic prosperity began, despite terrible onslaught amongst the nations, and there could have been a joint witness to the power of prophecy – but there was not.
When we hear the prophecy of Ezekiel at Christmas in 2006, do we foresee the sons of Israel that return from among the nations being Jews and Christians? Do we envision a time of cleansing prior to that, a time of confessions and weeping, a time of healing and forgiveness? Could that be what the German church is trying to invoke with these words from Ezekiel? Amongst all of the lights and presents, despite the traditional nativities and matins, can we hear the call of prophecy calling us to repent?
Repentance isn’t an emotional answer to some moralistic appeal; it is the recognition that a people needs moral fibre and unity to stand up to the powers that be in this world. At the present, globalisation seems to be splitting people, taking away structures that have caught those people who fell from the high fancies they had been building. In its supposed attempt to spread welfare, it causes poverty through installing competition as the main driving force of society. Community is swept aside, rivalry and contest takes its place and promotes individualism. A war of cultures or religions is instigated as a cover up for the machinery of ravenous greed and power – idolatry.
How history repeats itself! Can we find the strength for renewal – or do we have to wait until we are dispossessed?
Shalom – and Merry Christmas!