Pack Your Bags!

Sermon on Ezekiel 12:1-16

Introduction
When was the last time you were going somewhere and needed to pack your bags? The recent church retreat at Malacca? What kind of packer are you? Do you first prepare a list of things to bring? Or pack as you go along? How long do you take to pack your bags? My wife is often impressed with my packing skills. Not only do I pack fast, I am good at maximizing space. I am able to pack more things in a small bag than what she can do in a big bag. The trick is to know the shape and sizes of the items clearly and mentally picture where each item should go, before you place them in. I pack pretty fast and I rarely use a list. Sometimes I would forget one item or two when we get to our destination. Not a good packer after all.

Some of us may pack our bags for school or for work, and sometimes, for holidays. What you pack in the bag depends on where you are going. In the passage today, Ezekiel was also asked by God to pack his bag. He will also be going on a trip. But this trip is not a holiday. It is into exile. But isn’t he already in exile? Why would God ask Ezekiel who is already in exile to pack his bag to go into exile? To be in exile is to be chased away from your homeland. Not knowing when he will return, how does one pack a bag in preparing for exile? Let’s find out.

A house of rebellious people
The chapter begins with the traditional prophetic format “the word of the Lord came to me” (v. 1), signifying the beginning of a new prophecy. The Lord tells Ezekiel that he is dwelling in the midst of a rebellious house. This rebellious house refers to the house of Israel. These “rebellious people…have eyes to see, but see not, who have ears to hear, but hear not” (v. 2 NIV). This phrase has been used at various parts of the Bible. It is a familiar theme in prophetic preaching. They are blind and deaf to the word of God. They have already experienced one catastrophe during the first siege in 597 BC, and have heard the prophets, and yet have learned nothing. They continue to live in sin and follow the ways of foreign gods.

In Isa. 6:9-10, it explicitly tells us that the Lord is responsible for the blindness and deafness of Israel. God has been very angry with Israel and commanded Isaiah to tell his people that He will make their heart dull, even more unresponsive than it is now.

Isa. 6:9-10
“Keep on hearing, but do not understand; keep on seeing, but do not perceive.' 10 Make the heart of this people dull, and their ears heavy, and blind their eyes”

They were given hearts to love God, but they did not. They were given ears to hear God’s word, but they listen not. They were given eyes to see God, but they choose to see idols instead. If they had been faithful, God would not blind the eyes of Israel and deafen their ears. In simple words, “If they want to live in sin, I will let them live in sin even more!” It was intentional for Ezekiel to perform his sign-act “in their sight.” (vv. 3-7). For they have eyes, but they see not. Ezekiel was to speak the oracle to this “rebellious house.” They have ears, but they hear not. They are both blind to God and deaf to His word.

An exile’s baggage
In the next part of the sign-act, Ezekiel was asked to packed his bag and go into exile (v. 3 and 4). The Lord does not tell him what to pack nor tells him how long he will be away for. Ezekiel was also told to dig through the wall and bring his baggage out through it (v. 5). Ezekiel could not leave by the gate or the door, as this act of digging was meant to be symbolically destructive. The wall represents the safety and security of the Jerusalem as mentioned in the previous sermon. Ezekiel will cause a hole in the wall, as the wall will soon be destroyed by her enemies.

Ezekiel was also told to lift the baggage upon his shoulder and carry it out at dusk, and cover his face (v. 6). The prince of Jerusalem as mentioned in v. 12 will also cover his face. This act of covering his face (or his eyes) holds multiple meanings. On one hand, it symbolizes that the house of Israel has covered her face from seeing God. They are walking in blindness and have turned away from God’s ways. They no longer see God for who He is.

When we recall last week’s sermon about the cooking pot, the princes of the people, the leaders of Jerusalem and advisors to the king were also spiritually deaf and blind, unresponsive to the Lord. By covering his eyes, Ezekiel could also represent the tragedy of the exile, where neither the king, nor his people, will ever see their land again as they will be brought into captivity by the Babylonians.

Ezekiel as a sign
Ezekiel did everything as was told by the Lord (v.7), and “the word of the Lord,” came to Ezekiel again in the morning (v. 8). The house of Israel will question Ezekiel’s actions (v. 9), asking him “What are you doing? Why are you packing your bag and going away?” The Lord tells Ezekiel to reply as such, “'Thus says the Lord GOD: This oracle concerns the prince in Jerusalem and all the house of Israel who are in it.' 11Say, 'I am a sign for you: as I have done, so shall it be done to them. They shall go into exile, into captivity' (vv. 10 and 11). Not only was Ezekiel performing sign-acts in the sight of his people, he himself is the sign in today’s sign-act. In the whole book of Ezekiel, only in two places we read that Ezekiel is a sign for Israel. The first occurs here. The second occurs when his wife died.

A Prince’s Blindness
Beginning from v. 12, the attention of the sign-act shifts to the prince in Jerusalem instead. This prince refers to Zedekiah, the last king of Judah. He will lift his bag upon his shoulders and shall go out (v. 12). Ezekiel was asked to bring his baggage out. The house of Israel will bring the prince out through the wall instead. He is called a prince here because he was a vassal king of the Babylonians. Together with the house of Israel, Zedekiah will soon be judged by the Lord. Like Ezekiel, he shall also cover his own face. The prince shall not see the land with his eyes.

This covering of the prince’s face and not seeing the land is a prophecy which came true for Zedekiah. After the Fall of Jerusalem in 587 BC, Zedekiah saw his own sons executed before his eyes and then “they put out his eyes, bound him with bronze shackles and took him to Babylon” (2 Kings 25:7). Blinding the captives was the punishment typically meted out to rebellious vassals in the Near East, from ancient times. Just as we have seen also in the story of Samson (see Judges 16:21 and compare with 1 Sam. 11:2).

There is hope!
In the following verses, the Lord announces his punitive actions against the king. “And I will spread my net over him, and he shall be taken in my snare. And I will bring him to Babylon, the land of the Chaldeans, yet he shall not see it, and he shall die there” (v. 13). The Lord himself will cast the net to capture them. They shall go into exile, into captivity. Not only would the king be punished, all those around him, his helpers and his troops will also be scattered like the wind. The Lord will put them to death for their offense against Him. But there is hope for Israel. There will be a few who will “escape the sword, from famine and pestilence” (v. 16). They will confess their sins among the nations and they will know that YHWH is the Lord.

Significance of the exile’s baggage
What is the significance of today’s sign-act? What does the exile’s baggage represent? Who does Ezekiel represent? Ezekiel represents God when he performs this sign-act. The packing of his bag signifies that God is going away. The covering of his face signifies that God is going to turn a blind eye to the house of Israel. God will no longer watch over the house of Israel. As this sign-act was to be performed in the sight of Israel, God wants them to see that He is going to walk away from them. God is going into exile, by his own choice. Their Lord, God of their forefathers, is abandoning them. How is this possible? How could God abandon the very people He has chosen? What happened to the God of love?

Jesus was also abandoned
The God of love had also abandoned Jesus on the cross. Not because Jesus had rebelled against God like Israel, but that Jesus represents us all, in all our sinfulness and rebelliousness. We are like the house of Israel, a rebellious house. God has every right to turn his back on us. But because of Christ’s death on the cross, this eternal abandonment is no more. God will never abandon us every again because of what Christ accomplished on the cross for us. Jesus was abandoned and forsaken for our sake.

We are also rebellious
The truth is that all of us should have long been abandoned by God many times over. We are rebellious like the house of Israel. We never truly worship Him as our Lord. We know what God wants, but we choose to do otherwise. Some of us may think that this rebellious nature is just a phase in our lives. Once we become a Christian, we will never turn against Him, ever! But we are wrong. From toddlers, to teenagers, from adulthood to being elderly, we continue to rebel against God. For we have been given free will to choose between God and not-God.

Our journey in life
Our journey in life is never smooth-sailing. In every journey, there will be moments of decisions, hard decisions. Do we turn left or do we turn right? Do we rest now or do we walk on? Most of our every-day decisions are often neutral in nature. But there are some decisions which we are very important and life-changing. Some critical decisions may lead to dire consequences. We will live with those consequences, good and bad, for the rest of our lives.

Conclusion: Catch Me If You Can
Surprisingly, the message of Ezekiel can be quite relevant when we reflect about our own rebellion against God. I shall end my sermon with a story about one young man’s rebellious journey in a life of crime and how he was given a second chance.

Frank Abagnale w as a notorious imposter and fraudster of the 1960s. By the age of 21 Abagnale had the reputation as America’s most gifted con man, successfully impersonating an international airline pilot, pediatrician, stockbroker, college professor and even an assistant attorney general all while cashing $2.5 million dollars in forged checks. Eventually he was caught in France in 1969, and had served time in the French and Swedish prisons. After which he was deported back to US and sentenced to 12 years in a federal prison for multiple counts of forgery.

Out of the 12 years, he had served 4 and was released after agreeing to help the FBI as an expert on fraud. For the next 34 years, he worked closely with the FBI in criminal cases involving Enron and other high level crimes. Abagnale turned down pardons offered by three U.S. presidents because he said a piece of paper would not excuse his past. In the end, he said only his actions would. Although not legally obligated, he has since repaid every cent of the money he stole, because he said he knew his sons would expect him to.

A Second Chance
From his speeches, he said, “Though I know people are fascinated by what I did as a teenage boy, I look back on what I did as immoral, illegal, unethical and a burden I live with every day of my life and will until my death, I was very fortunate to have been born in a country where everyone is given a second chance.” His riveting story provided the inspiration for Steven Spielberg’s 2002 film, Catch Me if You Can, starring Leonardo DiCaprio as Abagnale and Tom Hanks as the cop fast on his heels. Recently, I had the privilege to attend a dinner talk with Mr Frank Abagnale when he was in Singapore last week. Truly an inspiring story about how a man was given a second chance in life and he took it.

We begin our sermon with a reflection about packing our bags. Allow me to extend this symbolism back unto us. Have we packed our bags? Do we know where we are going when our life on earth ends? Are we preparing for our journey in the light of day? Or, do we walk in darkness, not knowing where to go? Lost? Confused and frightened?

As I reflect on today’s passage, we understand that God does not give up on us totally. There are those who will be restored by God. We can be one of them. Even in God’s abandonment, there is hope. There is hope when we repent. God is constantly giving us second chances in life. The question is, “how many second chances is enough for you?” When will you take the next step and turn back to God? I hope that today’s sermon will encourage you to accpet that invitation of a second chance today.

Let us pray.

Discussion Questions:
1. Have you ever been rebellious against God? When and How?
2. Have you ever experienced God’s abandonment? Do share.
3. How do we recognize God’s second chance for us today?