The prophet’s task is not always to deliver tough truth. We often need the deepest source of consolation. This is one such time - everywhere, especially when the politicians fail. Can we be consoled by the prophetic?
Jerusalem - for so many generations a hotspot of holiness and hot-headed conflicts is once again a home for grief and mourning, and once again eager for consolation.
Ezekiel - visiting Jerusalem in his mind, is known for his big visions - but he also knew when to deliver caring words that helped people heal from the raw realities of war and grief.
The last two verses of his 14th chapter, read earlier this week on our @belowthebiblebelt929 journey, offer soothing words to the last survivors of Jerusalem, who lived past sword, famine, plague and beast. The prophet promises them that the mere existence of survivors -- will in itself offer solace and a hopeful future to the nation - just as a new seedling will grow from the burning soil after a forest fire. Somehow, eventually, the sacrifices will make sense, the consolation enable the next chapter:
“Yet there will be survivors left, sons and daughters who will be brought out. They will be coming out to you; and when you see their ways and their deeds, you will be consoled for the disaster that I brought on Jerusalem, for all that I brought on it.You will be consoled through them, when you see their ways and their deeds and realize that not without cause did I do all that I did in it—declares YHWH.”
For the people of Jerusalem then - and now -- the mere fact of survival may not be the full extent of consolation needed - but it is indeed a start.
This week’s recap was filmed in Nof Zion - a neighborhood in East Jerusalem that is technically a settlement. I wouldn’t have gone here had it not been a Shiva - House of Mourning, where my teacher David mourns Eitan, his 21 year old grandson, an Israeli solider with a big smile, who fell in the line of duty in Gaza, earlier this week.
As the death toll rises in this war - civilians, soldiers, too many smiles silenced - too many are in mourning, and too many are in need of consolation. Showing up at Shiva houses, simply to stand in solidarity with pain - is one ancient way we have to offer consolation, our silence as well as our words.
Politics aside, with all the complex and challenging realities at play here, Ezekiel’s words echoed as I drove away from Eitan’s Shiva this morning, through the somber streets of Jerusalem, praying for prophets who will ease this terrible tension, promise not just consolation but solutions, help us heal and start again.
May memories be blessings. And may the hurting heal.
Our Task is Consolation