Ezekiel 36 | Wayfarer

“I had concern for my holy name, which the people of Israel profaned among the nations where they had gone.”
Ezekiel 36:21 (NIV)

Growing up, my mother had a set of fine china and a “silver service” of tableware that was actually silver and had to be polished. The entire set was kept in a special box. It only came out on very special occasions. You knew that when mom broke out the fine china a very special meal was about to take place. It was an event.

Imagine, if you will, a Twilight Zone-esque scenario in which I needed to feed our dog, Tuffy. So, I broke open the box of my mom’s fine china and grabbed one of the large plates along with one of her silver serving spoons. I popped open a can of that nasty-looking brown stuff you feed dogs and I dug that gunk out of the can with mom’s silver spoon onto the fine china plate and then threw it on the floor for the dog. Just as I do this my Mom walks in and sees what I’ve just done. How do you think she would have reacted? You are correct, I would very quickly have been living outside in the kennel with Tuffy. Fortunately, I knew better than to feed the dog with mom’s fine china.

Along life’s road, I had heard the word “profanity” many, many times. Usually, it had to do with “bad words” that I wasn’t supposed to use. I was in college before I learned that “profanity” means to “empty something of its meaning.” I’ll never forget watching Professor McFadzean miming the action of dumping something upside down and spilling its contents on the floor. You take something meaningful and treat it as if it’s meaningless.

Taking mom’s fine china and feeding Tuffy with it is the act of profaning it. It has a very special meaning for my mother. It’s exclusive, meant only for rare occasions to serve the finest food for the most worthwhile moments in life. Feeding the dog with it empties it of that meaning. It profanes it.

Back in Exodus, when God revealed Himself to Moses from the burning bush, God told Moses His name: “Yahweh” which means “I Am.” God told His people that this name was holy. It was special. It was sacred. Therefore, they never uttered it. It was too holy to even speak it.

In today’s chapter, God through Ezekiel proclaims that one day He is going to bring all of His people back from exile to the land of Israel. Jerusalem would be rebuilt. God’s people and the land would once again prosper with life. But then God repeatedly tells them that the Hebrew exiles have profaned His name among the nations where they are living in exile. They took something holy and sacred and metaphorically threw it on the ground and stomped on it. He goes on to tell them that when He brings the exiles home and restores the land He is doing it for the sake of His Holy name. In other words, it’s not because God’s people earned it or deserved it. It’s because God is a holy God, love incarnate and full of grace.

In the quiet this morning, I find my mind going down two trails of thought. The first is very simple and straightforward as it relates to what I’ve known to be profanity my entire life. I find it fascinating that in our culture the name of Jesus Christ is used as common swear words. We don’t do that with Buddha, Mohammed, or Krishna. But people routinely take the name that “is above all names” and the name at which demons flee and at which scripture says “every knee will bow and every tongue confess.” We take that name and use it as an empty, meaningless, momentary exclamation of everyday anger. That’s profane to the core.

The other trail my mind went down is to think about what Jesus did for all of us. What God is proclaiming to His people in exile is very much a foreshadowing of what He will do through Jesus. Not restoring and redeeming land and a city, but restoring and redeeming our hearts and souls through the death and resurrection of Jesus. Not because we deserve it or somehow earned it, but because He is Love and full of grace.

And that is holy.

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

I had concern for my holy name, which the people of Israel profaned among the nations where they had gone. Ezekiel 36:21 (NIV)

As I have led our local community theatre for the past decade, the subject of language has been an ever present topic of conversation. In fact, the subject of language on stage has always been a topic in productions. Playwrights often lace their characters’ lines with language that producers know will offend large portions of a local audience. If you eliminated all of the potential plays and musicals which contain language or content someone in your audience might find unsuitable, you’ll eliminate about 99% of classic works. Shakespeare himself is full of off-color language and bawdy humor, but most audiences today don’t catch it.

It is technically illegal to change a playwrights copyrighted lines without permission, but local productions regularly choose to tone down a play’s language for their patrons. Still, you can’t please all the people all of the time. Even after choosing to tone down a script’s language I still have to regularly write letters of apology to audience members with hyper sensitive ears. It goes with the territory.

Because of my experiences with language and the stage, I have studied the nature of “dirty” language over the years and found some fascinating lessons to be learned. Most people do not understand the difference between profanity and obscenity, but there is a key difference which adds a layer of meaning to our message from Ezekiel in today’s chapter.

Profanity can be thought of as taking something meaningful, and emptying it of its meaning for a more base use. The most common example would be the name of Jesus. Followers of Jesus believe there is spiritual power associated with the name, so when others use it as angry exclamation it profanes the name, emptying it of its spiritual meaning to be used as a common expletive.

Obscenity, on the other hand, can be thought of as dirty language. Think of George Carlin’s seven dirty words you can’t say on television (Well, you couldn’t say them on television back when he did the routine in the days of my childhood). Bodily functions, fluids, excretions and sexual references used for exclamation, descriptive embellishment or other effect.

The concept of swearing is actually a version of profanity. In the middle ages, people lived together crammed in one room and both the excretory and sexual body functions were not done as privately as they are today. Obscenities were not a social taboo because everyday social reality was itself a dirty existence. In those days, however, to take an oath (to swear) was thought of as having significant spiritual power. If you wanted to really let fly with profanity in those days, you’d make an oath and swear “by his (e.g. Jesus’) blood” or “by his (e.g. Jesus’) wounds.”

Shakespeare used contractions that were considered swearing (an oath), but not really. “Zwounds” or “Zounds” was a contraction of the profane oath “By his wounds.” In the same way we contract and alter words to soften the social blow (i.e. “Fucking” becomes “Fricking,” “God damn” becomes “Gosh darn,” “Jesus” is contracted down to “Jeez” or transformed to “Jeez Louise,” “Jesus Christ” is transformed into the doppleganger “Jesus H. Christ” which we all know is a completely different person ;-).

In today’s chapter, God takes exception with his people’s profaning His name. The word picture is of them emptying a precious and priceless word of its meaning, pouring it out on the ground and dirtying it up.

Today, I’m thinking about my own words and the choices I make in every day conversation. I am admittedly guilty of letting colorful words fly from time to time. Today I am reminded that I need to be careful with the words I wield.