And when he spoke to me, the Spirit entered into me and set me upon my feet; and I heard him speaking to me.  And he said to me, "Son of man, I send you to the people of Israel, to a nation of rebels, who have rebelled against me; they and their fathers have transgressed against me to this very day.  The people also are impudent and stubborn: I send you to them; and you shall say to them, 'Thus says the Lord GOD.'  And whether they hear or refuse to hear (for they are a rebellious house) they will know that there has been a prophet among them.

Today's Song of Praise is taken from Psalm 123/124(V/RSV):

        If it had not been the LORD who was on our side,
            --let Israel now say--
        If it had not been the LORD who was on our side,
            when men rose up against us,
        Then they would have swallowed us up alive,
            when their anger was kindled against us;
        Then the flood would have swept us away,
            the torrent would have gone over us;

Today's Epistle is from the Second Letter of Paul to the Corinthians, beginning at the 12th Chapter, and the 18th Verse:

        And to keep me from being too elated by the abundance of revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan, to harass me, to keep me from being too elated.  Three times I besought the Lord about this, that it should leave me; but he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." I will all the more gladly boast of my weaknesses, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.  For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities; for when I am weak, then I am strong.

+ A Reading from the Gospel of Mark, beginning at the 6th Chapter, and the 1st Verse:

        He went away from there and came to his own country; and his disciples followed him.  And on the sabbath he began to teach in the synagogue; and many who heard him were astonished, saying, "Where did this man get all this? What is the wisdom given to him? What mighty works are wrought by his hands!  Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon, and are not his sisters here with us?" And they took offense at him.

        And Jesus said to them, "A prophet is not without honor, except in his own country, and among his own kin, and in his own house." And he could do no mighty work there, except that he laid his hands upon a few sick people and healed them.  And he marveled because of their unbelief. And he went about among the villages teaching.

        We, the spiritual descendants of that Israel, are also sinful folk -- every bit as impudent and stubborn as they.  Human nature does not change quickly, if at all.

        The tendency to "do our own thing" -- regardless of the dictates of either good sense or the Lord -- is a natural part of our nature, and has been forced on the common folk culture around the world since the 1960s.  All sorts of impoliteness, nastiness, and "attitude" are glorified by music, movies, and the media.

        Jeremiah told Israel what would happen if they kept on as they were.  Ezekiel describes how it was in the middle of the tribulations that Israel's selfishness and "attitude" brought upon them.  Isaiah describes the promise of renewal, for the part of Israel that holds to the promise and the Law of the Lord.

        We, in our day, do not need Assyrians or Babylonians (or Russians) to come from outside and destroy us -- we look fair to destroy ourselves from within.  Children killing children, the national government terrorizing and massacring its citizens, a climate of fear and hate, where everyone seemingly wants the police to control everyone else, and to the Devil with any pretense of civil rights -- the fruit of impudence, and "doing our own thing".

        The Lord also tells Ezekiel to go to that rebellious and impudent nation, to speak out to them, to call them to righteousness, and speak the word of the Lord.  He says in effect:  "Give 'em hell, Zeke -- let 'em know there's a prophet among them!"
 

        The theme of today's Song of Praise makes a counter-point to Ezekiel's jeremiad -- telling the listener who the real support of the nation is.  Not the hand of man, not the machinations of diplomats, not the might of armies,  but the Lord.

        If it had not been the LORD who was on our side, when men rose up against us, then they would have swallowed us up alive when their anger was kindled against us.  Then the flood would have swept us away, the torrent would have gone over us.

        So with us -- it is not our strength, our technology, our intelligence that supports us, supports our families, supports our nations -- but the Lord in his wisdom and strength.  Without Him -- as we are seeing more and more -- the torrent of nastiness and craziness will sweep over us, and obliterate us.
 

        Salvation does not lie in strength or power, St. Paul says in his Epistle, today, but paradoxically in weakness.  He glories in the infirmity (whatever it may have been) that the Lord allowed to torment him.  By surrendering to the "thorn in his flesh", by being reminded that it is not he, himself that is important, but the Lord, he triumphs over the world and the impudence and stubbornness of his nature.

        This is one of the seminal texts for the Christian practice of penance -- "mortification of the flesh" -- to allow the spirit to shine through, so that the glory of the Lord may not be seen merely "through a glass darkly", but directly.  It has been the custom of the Church -- as it was of Israel before us -- to fast and go apart from the noise and strife of human civilization at regular intervals, so that we may hear more clearly the "still, small voice" of the Lord.

        There are those who take this practice beyond necessity, beyond good sense, and revel in the masochistic delight of injuring themselves (and often others).  The Lord does not call for us to destroy our bodies (that is Gnosticism), or our minds and spirits (that is an even darker perversion), but to take time out of our daily/weekly/monthly/yearly monkey-shines to ;listen to and behold Him who is the ground of our existence, the force that drives our lives.

        Paul says:  "For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities; for when I am weak, then I am strong."  To truly do the work of the Lord, we need to be prepared for all of those things -- the evil of the world, and its willing servants, will gleefully inflict them on us -- but the Lord is on our side, and will no let us be "swallowed up alive"
 

        Even Jesus was not immune to the rebelliousness and stubbornness of Israel -- when going into his own home town, he was treated like most of the other Prophets of Israel in their own time -- scorned.  "A prophet is not without honor, except in his own country, and among his own kin, and in his own house."   I.e. "Familiarity breeds contempt."

        St. Mark even makes the point that the lack of faith, the impudence, and the stubbornness of the Galileans in Jesus' home district interfered with his miracles -- He only cured a few sick people, whose need and faith led them to seek him out, when his ordinary neighbors scorned him.

        So, too, our scorn, and impudence keeps us away from the Lord --and from His healing, His love, His glory.   We "do our own thing", "mind our own business", and ignore Him (not to mention everyone else), and suffer the effects of selfishness -- anger, angst, and awfulness.

        We need to remember the Commandments of the Lord -- most particularly the two Great ones -- to love the Lord and our neighbor.  We need to become the sort of prophets that Ezekiel was -- "let 'em know there's a prophet among 'em!"  To be come a "light unto the nations", showing the Glory and Love of the Lord.  Let us pray that we may do that, and do it well . . .

        In the Name of
        The Father     +
        And of the Son
        And of the Holy Spirit
Amen.