Ezekiel had an incredible experience of being in the
presence of the living God, he was before the Lord, heard Him speak and was
commissioned as a prophet not to the nations but to his own people, those with
whom he had come into exile. No wonder
when the Spirit set him down amongst the people he was overwhelmed for seven
days. He was also told this nation that
was so humbly taken into exile was a rebellious house, not yet willing or ready
to listen to God's word. They would not
listen to Ezekiel, he was not to give them words of comfort and encouragement,
he would clearly be giving them a hard word calling on them to repent and
return, which God had always promised was where they would find blessing. After seven days of sitting among them the
Lord began to speak to him.
The other disciples get a picture of Jesus as standing alone
also. Their own impotence is exposed in
the failure to heal this child. Jesus is
the only one capable of healing him.
Jesus' frustration with all of them is great as we hear in His words
that you would think surely caused the disciples some humility. Surprisingly, shortly thereafter they are
arguing about who is the greatest. What
possible difference could it make which of them was greatest in light of what
they had seen in Jesus. In light of his
greatness was the word great even applicable to anyone else? We still have this problem of lifting either
ourselves or some other man or woman up on a pedestal. Jesus alone is worthy and to Him alone are we
to look. He should redefine greatness
and put that word out of further use.
In this passage from Hebrews you hear the echo of
Philippians 2, that Jesus didn't count equality with God something to be
grasped or held onto. He humbled Himself
taking on the form of a servant, He submitted Himself to the Father. Trinitarian theology helps here to understand
that the three are one and they are co-equal in eternity, they are not subservient
to one another but in His flesh Jesus indeed was submitted to the Father in a
new way. Their relationship was changed
in some ways during that time. He was
radically dependent just as we are radically dependent on the Father. Are we prepared to listen and obey as Ezekiel
did, as Jesus did? If Jesus needed the
Father in this way should it not indicate a great truth for our lives?
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