Anarchy | Wayfarer

“Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: You have been more unruly than the nations around you and have not followed my decrees or kept my laws. You have not even conformed to the standards of the nations around you.”
Ezekiel 5:7 (NIV)

One of the more interesting things that I have observed in my lifetime is the increasing extent to which individuals and groups are given and driven to sow anarchy and chaos. It seems that wherever and whenever protesting crowds descend into rioting, violence, looting, and burning, there is always an element participating that cares nothing about whatever cause started with the protests. This element is there to encourage the crowd’s descent into chaos.

Fascinating.

In today’s chapter, God continues to describe to the young prophet Ezekiel his first prophetic assignment. What started out as strange just gets seemingly more strange as God tells Ezekiel that when the 430 days of his metaphorical siege on his little model city of Jerusalem is over, he is to cut off his hair and beard. A third of it is for burning the model city of Jerusalem, a third for striking with a sword around the model of Jerusalem, and a third for scattering a third of it to the wind.

For the people of Ezekiel’s day, the metaphors were much more clear than they are for modern readers. Hair in Mesopotamian cultures was often considered part of a person’s essence, and for this reason, hair was often used in religious rituals and divination practices. The prophet’s hair was God’s metaphorical essence that was in His people. The end of the siege of Jerusalem would end up with God’s people being burned inside the city, slaughtered if they tried to flee, and scattered in exile.

As God explains the judgment against His people, He states that they have been more “unruly” than the nations around them. The Hebrew word hāman has an expansive meaning that includes descriptors such as turbulence, rage, and clamor. This is where it gets really interesting.

Remember that Ezekiel is among the exiles in Babylon. In ancient Babylonian literature, a similar word translated as “clamor” is repeatedly used to describe the increasing and never-ending wickedness that draws the wrath and judgment of their gods. This includes the Babylonian version of the Great Flood story. The Hebrews would know well these words from Genesis 6 that led to the flood:

The Lord saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time.

Through Ezekiel, God is telling the Hebrews living in Babylon that their unruly “clamor” is like the same “clamor” that caused God to bring the Great Flood (according to both the Hebrew and Babylonian versions of the story) is what will bring the destruction of Jerusalem if they refuse to repent. Not only that, but their “clamor” was greater than “the nations around them” which included their Babylonian captors.

In mixing metaphors from both Hebrew and Babylonian traditions, Ezekiel is telling his people: “Even our evil Babylonian captors get it better than we do!” This was a stinging rebuke, a desperate warning, and an urgent plea to His people to repent.

In the quiet this morning, my head and heart go back to how I see this “clamoring spirit” alive and well in today’s world. As I meditated on it in the quiet this morning, I came to the conclusion that it is always present in this fallen world. The only thing that changes is the amount and intensity which has ebbed and flowed throughout history. What a contrast to the fruit of the Spirit that Jesus asked His followers to sow in this fallen world to bring redemption, reconciliation, righteousness, and peace which will lead towards increasing order.

I find this a simple litmus test for my life and the human systems which I influence. If my life repeatedly results in me amidst chaos and disorder, then I need to take a long introspective look in the mirror. As a disciple of Jesus, I should find myself with a growing and increasing sense of peace in any and all circumstances. If not, then I’ve missed something important along the way.

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.
John 14:27 (NIV)

One of the most instrumental classes of my entire education was Eighth Grade English with Mrs. McLaren. Not only did she teach me about how writing is structured, but she also taught me about how story is structured. She was the first teacher to teach me that every good story contains conflict. Conflict comes in many forms. It might be good versus evil, conflict between God and a person, conflict between a person and the world, a person against another person, or a person fighting against themselves. Our lives and. our world are filled with conflict, and conflict disrupts peace.

In the Great Story, conflict is unleashed like a torrent in Genesis 3. Evil disrupts the peace and harmony of the Garden by causing the man and woman to question what God has said (Good vs. Evil) and then tempts them to eat the forbidden fruit. This creates conflict (shame and blame) between God and His creation (God vs. humans)and between the man and woman (person vs. person). The result of this conflict is more conflict. God kicks the man and woman out of the garden (God vs. humans), curses the evil one (God vs. evil), curses the man to toil and death (man vs. the world; man vs. self), curses the woman to pain in childbirth and struggle with man (woman vs. world; woman vs. man), and the whole thing establishes a special animosity between the woman and evil one (woman vs. evil).

There’s a whole lot of conflict going on!

In today’s chapter, Jesus is sharing with His followers on the night before He is to be crucified. Unlike the other three biographers (Matthew, Mark, and Luke) who focus on the events of Jesus’ final night and the day of His crucifixion, John dedicates four of his final seven chapters to all of the things Jesus told them on that fateful night. As the last of the four biographers, and as one writing from a waypoint much further down life’s road, John is writing from the perspective of what his readers need to hear. Most followers of Jesus know the events because the other three biographies have been spread and read far and wide. Inspired by Holy Spirit, John realizes that Jesus’ followers need to hear what Jesus told them the night before His execution.

In reading Jesus story, people often forget to understand these final hours of Jesus’ earthly life in the context of the Great Story. I’ve said all along that one of John’s themes is identity, and in today’s chapter I can identify all of the players from Genesis 3. Jesus even references the Evil One in today’s chapter: “The prince of this world is coming. He has no hold over me.”

Back in Genesis 3, God said this to the evil one:

“And I will put enmity
    between you and the woman,
    and between your offspring and hers;
he will crush your head,
    and you will strike his heel.”

After the Garden incident, the evil one identified as the “prince of this world” was given dominion over all the kingdoms of this world. The evil one even offered to give Jesus all the kingdoms of this world when he tempted Jesus before the beginning of His ministry, asking that Jesus merely bow and worship him. Jesus refused, and the conflict continues.

Now we have the God (in the incarnate Christ), man (in the disciples), woman (there were several women in Jesus entourage who were there), and the woman of the prophecy in the person of Jesus’ mother Mary who was also present with them, living with them, and traveling with them. What is happening is more than mere happenstance. This is a cosmic convergence and climax to the Great Story.

In light of all this conflict, I find it fascinating that Jesus says that He is giving His followers peace (that’s different than the world can give) and they shouldn’t allow their hearts to be troubled or afraid.

In the quiet this morning, I can’t help but think about what chaotic times we live in. I can’t help but think about the tremendous lack of peace I see amidst fear of death, fear of COVID, fear of those who don’t think the same, fear of tragedy, fear of anarchy, or fear of [fill in the blank]. Yet Jesus wanted me, His follower, to experience peace amidst the turmoil still being stirred up by the prince of this world and all the age old conflicts that have plagued human beings since the fourth chapter of the Great Story.

As I mull these things over, I realize that I experience greater peace today then at any other time of my life journey. This isn’t because my circumstances have changed but because I’ve changed. The further I get in my spiritual journey, the more I grow in relationship with Jesus, the more I’ve experienced the peace He references in today’s chapter. As I see the world growing more anxious and fearful, I’ve grown less so. I find it important that Jesus told me not to allow my heart to be troubled. I have a say in this. I have a choice. I can allow the fear and anxiety being stirred up and pedaled by the prince of this world to keep me tied up in knots today, or I can believe Jesus, trust His Word, and embrace how the Great Story ends with “all things working together for good for those who are in Christ Jesus.” The more a I truly and consciously choose the latter, the more I experience peace.

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.