“I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh” (Exekiel 36: 26). Ezekiel is speaking to the people of Israel who had only recently returned to the Promised Land after their long exile through the loving mercy and forgiveness of God. Through the prophet Ezekiel, God offers to remove their stony hearts, which the habits of sin and idolatry have hardened, and to replace them with hearts of flesh, animated by His Spirit. In other words, God is offering to cleanse them from the prideful and self-centered attitudes that were the cause of their exile and to replace them now with hearts made of humility, animated by his Spirit of selfless generosity, mercy, and love. As is true with all of scripture, we are to take these words into the flesh of our own hearts, too.
What attitudes reveal the difference between stony and fleshy hearts? Luke gives us a picture of the difference in his account of the Beatitudes. He reveals the mind, the spirit of God, to us in a powerful, paradoxical admonition, comparing those who suffer now and those who enjoy the pleasures of the world now, seemingly happy and satisfied. We read that Jesus raises his eyes to heaven and says, “Blessed are you who are poor, for the Kingdom of God is yours. Blessed are you who are now hungry, for you will be satisfied. Blessed are you who are now weeping, for you will laugh. Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude and insult you, and denounce your name as evil on account of the Son of Man” (Lk 6: 20-22).
How are the poor, the hungry, the weeping, the hated and insulted, “blessed”? The key is in the last words here, ‘on account of the Son of Man.” Those who show themselves to have hearts of flesh are those who, in the name of God, willingly choose to sacrifice what they have now to serve the greater needs of those who have less than themselves. They are those who are moved by compassion, who weep for and walk with those who suffer. They are those who hunger for justice in an unjust world, and those who are hated and insulted for loving as Jesus loved. It is these who, after suffering a little, in the name of the Son of Man, will be satisfied and will laugh with joy in the Kingdom of God.
On the other hand, to those whose hearts are hardened, Jesus says, “Woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation. Woe to you who are filled now, for you will be hungry. Woe to you who laugh now, for you will grieve and weep. Woe to you when all speak well of you, for their ancestors treated the prophets in this way” (Lk. 6: 24-26). When we think only of ourselves, when we make idols out of our possessions, our own egos, or when we think our meaning comes solely from the acquisition of wealth, fame, or earthly power; when we take inordinate pleasure in these things, our hearts become hardened to the suffering of the innocent, the forgotten, the oppressed. Sure, we may experience our “consolation” now, and all too many do, but life is short and, as we all know, we can’t take anything with us to the grave.
It is no longer Ezekiel, but Jesus, the Son of God, who is speaking directly to each one of us here. If our hearts have any flesh left in them at all, when we hear Jesus saying, ‘Woe to you’, and it causes a chill within, a slight tickling of our conscience, it might be because his words have brought us to an important crossroad. In these words, Jesus is offering us the possibility of an interior change, a conversion of heart. The American poet, Robert Frost, put it this way at the end of his poem ‘The Road Not Taken’: “Two roads diverged in a wood, and I/, I took the one less traveled by/, And that has made all the difference.” This is Jesus’ desire. He is challenging us to take the road less traveled by in this world, that is, the narrow path of his way, his truth, and his life. And it, too, will make all the difference for us here, and for our eternal souls.
Lord, we are too often caught up in and blinded by the things of the world. Give us ears to hear your word whispering through all the noise that surrounds us in our daily lives, so that we may hear your call to love and to serve as you loved and served. Give us eyes to see the beauty of your creation in all things. Give us the insight to discern what is truly good and what is not, and give us the courage to always choose the good in all that we say and do. We pray this in your name, Jesus. Amen.
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