MONITE NOVEMA 27, 2023
No Mourning
‘E ‘Ikai Te ke Tengihia
EZEKIEL 24:16-18
"SON OF MAN, BEHOLD, I AM ABOUT TO TAKE THE DELIGHT OF YOUR EYES AWAY FROM YOU AT A STROKE: YET YOU SHALL NOT MOURN OR WEEP, NOR SHALL YOUR TEARS RUN DOWN. SIGH, BUT NOT ALOUD; MAKE NO MOURNING FOR THE DEAD. BIND ON YOUR TURBAN, AND PUT YOUR SHOES ON YOUR FEET: DO NOT COVER YOUR LIPS, NOR EAT THE BREAD OF MEN." SO I SPOKE TO THE PEOPLE IN THE MORNING, AND AT EVENING MY WIFE DIED.
‘ISIKELI 24:16-18
16 Hako‘i-tangata, ko au ‘eni ‘oku ou to‘o meiate koe ‘a e mamana‘anga ‘o ho mata ‘aki ha fo‘i tā: ka ‘e ‘ikai te ke tēngihia, pea ‘e ‘ikai te ke tangi, pea ‘e ‘ikai hao lo‘imata ‘e tō. 17 Te ke māpuhoi fakalongo pē; ‘e ‘ikai te ke fai ha tangilāulau koe‘uhi ko e pekia; ‘ai ho tatā, ‘o nono‘o, pea ‘ai sū ki ho va‘e, pea ‘e ‘ikai te ke ‘ufi‘ufi ho kava, pea ‘e ‘ikai te ke kai ‘a e me‘akai ‘oku ‘omi ‘e he kakai. 18 Pea ko e pongipongi ia na‘a ku fai ‘eku lea ki he kakai, pea na‘e pekia hoku uaifi efiafi: pea pongipongi hake na‘a ku fai ‘a e me‘a na‘e tu‘utu‘uni mai.
Being a prophet was not a nine-to-five job, but an entire existence. It defined you. And sometimes it killed you-or, in Ezekiel's case, one you loved. His wife would suddenly die, God said, just as Jerusalem and her temple were about to die. The prophet was to model what his people's reaction to the news must be. Nothing. Business as usual. They are not to safad ("mourn, lament, wail"). We have our grieving rituals; in the ancient world, they had theirs: loud lamentation, cutting hair, going shoeless, and so on. Ezekiel and his people were to say no to safad.
The harsh acceptance of God's decree is one facet of the life of faith. There are times to weep and wail, just there are times to say Amen and move on. Ezekiel exemplifies the latter. He knew, as do we, that whatever pains the past holds, the future is always God's storehouse of hope.
Increase our faith, O Lord, as we pray, "Thy will be done."
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