God’s Job = Judgement / Punishment; Our job = faithfulness

There is a great backstory to the first reading for this Sunday, Ezekiel 17:22-24.  King Josiah came to power and began reforms of the religion of Judah, bringing it back to the covenant, and exclusive worship of Yahweh.  His son, Jehoiakim, rejected the covenant.  So God allowed the Babylonians to conquer Judah as punishment.  Zedekiah, became ruler while Jehoiachin the heir to the throne was taken into exile.  Zedekiah made a covenant with the Babylonian king, who was seen as the agent of God’s punishment.  But Zedekiah took matters into his own hand, and broke his oath to the Babylonians, and thus, also his oath to God. 

Ezekiel, the prophet relates how the Babylonian king uprooted the “Cedar of Lebanon” meaning the Kingdom of Judah, and took it away, and planted it in a foreign land.  Ezekiel uses the same poetic language to describe how God himself will take a cutting from the Cedar, and plant it on a high hill, where it will flourish, and all the other “trees” / nations will know that God will “bring low the high tree / lift high the lowly tree / wither up the green tree / and make the withered tree bloom.” (Ezekiel 17:24)  They will know that God determines destiny, not human beings. 

Christians can look back on this prophetic poetry and interpret it in light of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus.   Jesus is the branch clipped from the tree, the Davidic line of kings, and is planted on a hill.  Jesus is planted on the hill of Calvary where he is seen as cut down, and withered.  But, he is also raised, and the withered tree (Jesus) blooms.  The tree that sprouts and blooms is the Kingdom of God. 

But as the Gospel for Sunday reminds us, we do not know how the Kingdom grows.  We go to sleep each night, and rise each morning.  All the while the Kingdom grows, until we witness it ripening. (Mark 4:26-29)  God ordains the destiny of the Kingdom of God.  The Kingdom grows with or without our efforts.  At most our mission is to plant the seed, and care for it as it grows. 

We have to resist the temptation to take control of the process of the Kingdom of God.  God warns us through Ezekiel, that our mission is to remain faithful to the covenant.  We must trust in God.  The Covenant of the Old Testament was summarized by Jesus in the Law of Love: love God, and love neighbor.  We betray that covenant / law of love when we seek revenge, punishment, or express disdain for others through judgement.  We place ourselves in God’s place when we “bring low / lift high, or wither / make bloom.”

It is our mission to remain faithful, not to pass judgement, or determine punishment.  This is important for us in the Christian community.  We claim to follow the truth.  We claim to be disciples of the one true God who became human and lived among us.  We claim to be empowered by the Holy Spirit, transformed from a group of individuals into the body of Christ acting in the world.  Sometimes we observe the poor and put them into categories of more worthy or less worthy of our compassion.  When we do, we have failed to love our neighbor, and to love Christ who is present in that person.  The same is true of the person who disagrees with us.  When we assign motives to the person, we are putting ourselves in God’s place.  We are abandoning the covenant of Love that Christ established with us.  When we decide that someone who disagrees with us does not belong in the Church, we are acting like a person who was put in charge of watering the orchard deciding to do some pruning.  The master gardener may not appreciate the branches that person cut off. 

Our primary mission is to remain faithful to the covenant.  We must love as Jesus loves, participate as best we can in his mission of love.  Plant seeds of the Kingdom, and care for the Kingdom as it grows.