“Now, son of man, take a block of clay, put it in front of you and draw the city of Jerusalem on it. Then lay siege to it: Erect siege works against it, build a ramp up to it, set up camps against it and put battering rams around it. Then take an iron pan, place it as an iron wall between you and the city and turn your face toward it. It will be under siege, and you shall besiege it. This will be a sign to the people of Israel.”
Ezekiel 4:1-3 (NIV)

As I have mentioned before, I spent a handful of years mentoring individuals within my local gathering of Jesus’ followers in the art of preaching. It was a great experience, and I continue to believe that perhaps I learned more over that stretch of time than my protégés.

As I think back to those years and try to remember the messages of the people I coached, there is one thing that makes many of them stand out in my memory: unusual visual lessons. I remember one message using a full-sized rowboat on stage. Another message was delivered while walking on a treadmill. One of my favorites was the individual who came out portraying Mr. Rogers, singing the theme song, switching from suit coat to sweater, and changing from dress shoes to sneakers. Not only were these things attention grabbers, but the metaphors they presented visually with a boat, a treadmill, and Mr. Rogers helped to remember the message they were trying to get across.

In today’s chapter, God assigns the young prophet Ezekiel his first prophetic message to the people of Israel already living in Babylon. In modern terms, it was like God saying, “Grab some Legos from the kids’ room, a skillet from your kitchen, some bungee chords you have in your garage, and the ingredients for making bread from your pantry. Oh, and grab a bottle of water, too.”

God had Zeke create a model of the City of Jerusalem as if it was under siege, then put the skillet between the City and himself as he tied himself up with ropes, lay on his side, and made bread for lunch using a dried cow pie as fuel along with rationed sips of water at regular intervals. Oh, and he was to repeat this little performance art piece every day for 430 days.

The scene, of course, was a message in and of itself. I always say that God’s base language is metaphor. Zeke’s daily performance art symbolized what God was about to do, allowing His people in Jerusalem to suffer a long and bitter siege by the Babylonians because they refused to listen, repent, and turn their hearts back to God even after years of His prophets like Jeremiah warning them of the bitter consequences if they refuse. Zeke’s Lego and bungee chord performance art not only gave his people a memorable visual, but it drew attention, created conversation, and the daily repetition for over a year ensured that it would stick in people’s heads, even if they refused to let it penetrate their hearts.

As I sit in the quiet and meditate on Ezekiel’s first prophetic message, I have to believe he was more than a little taken aback by the assignment. I have found human beings to be stringent in our herd mentalities. We want to be normal, socially acceptable, and not make waves. We don’t want to stand out or be labeled as strange. If Zeke was like the average human being, he would have initially balked at what God was asking Him to do, and indeed he does push back at God when the original instructions were for him to use human excrement as his fuel for baking bread every day, which is exactly the type of extreme measures that human beings stuck in a city under siege had to resort to to stay alive. God wasn’t pulling any punches with Zeke’s metaphorical message.

Of course, Zeke did obey, and I can only imagine the negative reactions he had to endure. How courageous he was in his obedience.

And, what lengths God was willing to go to get His message across to His people. He broke convention, grabbed attention, and gave memorable visuals that were hard to ignore. Zeke’s audience in Babylon had already experienced phase one of what God had been proclaiming through the prophets for decades. Having endured a 900-mile exile march and now living in a strange land, I would tend to think they might be more open to Zeke’s unorthodox warning.

I’m reminded this morning that sometimes I need to be more unorthodox when delivering a message, and more open-hearted when receiving one.

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