Laid low

So God has given Ezekiel a glimpse of His glory, followed by the role of watchman over the people of God in exile. He is to remind them of the consequences of their actions and the effect these will have on their relationship with God.

Just not yet. First he is to go home, shut the door and say nothing. Nothing at all.

Weird, you may think. Just wait. It is all about to get a whole lot weirder.

Chapter 4 is a list of instructions to follow. Things to do without speaking.

1. Make a model of the siege of Jerusalem out of clay
2. Take an iron pan and place it between you and the model and stare at the pan
3. Lie on your left side for 390 days. One day for each year Israel sinned against their God
4. Lie on your right side for 40 days. One day for each year Judah sinned against their God
5. By the way, you’ll be tied up with ropes during these periods to make sure you can’t move from that position
6. Make a special bread out of wheat and barley, beans and lentils, millet and spelt
7. Eat only that – a set amount at set times
8. Drink only a set amount of water at set times. These are a reminder of what the people in Jerusalem are going through.
9. Oh and by the way, use human poo as fuel to cook the bread. The people of God are going to be scattered and have to eat defiled food.
10. OK, if you really can’t bring yourself to do that, use cow poo

What? People must have thought Ezekiel had gone mad. Ezekiel must have thought God had gone mad.

Lying down for well over a year! Over a year immobile when he could be out there travelling far and wide spreading God’s message! It’s crazy!

And only able to eat bread and water for that whole period. Defiled bread cooked over excrement. Ezekiel had been a priest – he had never eaten defiled food in his whole life!

As an aside – that bread. That bread is like a superbread, packed with natural goodness. So good that there’s a company out there that produces Ezekiel 4:9 bread. I kid you not. Google it and be amazed! I’m shaking my head in disbelief as I write.

So yes, all this is proper weird, but what it has to say to us is helpful I think.

Firstly, symbols are important. Finding expression for stuff that is hard to express. Visual reminders. That’s why creativity matters. It finds expression for the tough stuff. All the arts. I can still vividly recall the exhibition of Outsider Art I went to at the Wellcome Centre in London – art produced by individuals suffering with serious mental health issues. And there’s an exhibition opening at the Laing Gallery in Newcastle soon – a collection of pieces around displacement and migration. Finding our own ways to express what’s inside is important – get a journal and write. Or doodle or sketch or paint. Play music. Sing. Dance. Get a lump of clay and play with it. Whatever works for you.

Secondly, being laid low is sometimes part of the plan. We learn an awful lot about ourselves when we cannot function at our best. Whether it is illness or disability or mental health issues or anything else, sometimes we have to accept this is not our time to be out there changing the world. And maybe how we react to our limitations does speak volumes to those around us…without any need for words.

Nutrition matters. That’s the next point. We have to stay healthy and look after our bodies. Not overeat. Not undereat. Eat and drink the right stuff. even when we don’t feel like it.

The reason Ezekiel is instructed to eat in this way is all about empathy I think. It connects him to what is going on in Jerusalem. He may be far away but he can begin to understand if he himself goes without his normal comforts. That’s why people give up things for Lent maybe, or take part in sponsored fasts or sleepovers in church halls – to get a glimpse of what it is like to go without. Even when people do these epic runs or ordeals for a particular cause – they’re putting themselves through a huge amount to raise money for those who are suffering far more than they are. When I first trained for the Great North Run to raise money for Breast Cancer, whenever I felt like giving up, I would tell myself that this was nothing compared to what my friend was going through with her chemotherapy.

And finally, I’m not going to suggest using excrement for fuel. But this whole thing around what’s clean and unclean is interesting. Sometimes we do have to compromise our own levels of hygiene. And sometimes recognise that our own levels of hygiene may be a bit extreme. A funny example – my friend who is funny about such things was accepting jelly babies out of the bare hands of strangers as she was running the Great North Run course and commented ‘You see, this run is really messing with my brain. I would never ever do this normally!’ Do the things we care so strongly about really matter more than the connection that could be made by accepting a cupcake made by a child for example? Or a cup of tea in a not terribly clean house?

So you see what started out as seeming pretty crazy has thrown up some interesting points.

Now who’s for some Ezekiel 4:9 toast?