Ezekiel’s task was to proclaim God’s message, both in declared word and in acted parable. How difficult that must have been, on the day when his wife died. “The word of the Lord came to me: Mortal, with one blow I am about to take away from you the delight of your eyes; yet you shall not mourn or weep, nor shall your tears run down. Sigh, but not aloud; make no mourning for the dead” (Ezekiel 24:15-17). So it came to pass that Ezekiel preached in the morning, and when evening came his wife died; and the following day Ezekiel did not mourn (24:18).

The people were able to tell that this meant something, but they did not know what: so they asked (24:19). And Ezekiel had to answer them: this is what is going to happen to you. You will feel the same heartbreak without being able to mourn. Your families, your children who are still back in Jerusalem, are going to die in the war. And you’ll have to go on living here in Babylon, as if nothing happened: in public you will look normal, only groaning to one another. My bereavement is a sign to you of what is coming (24:21-24).

We are so used to thinking of the Bible’s message as being about redemption: and it is, isn’t it? Yet the message also includes words of judgment that can be very stern – though we usually ignore that and assume that God will always just let our shortcomings slide. But listen: “I the Lord have spoken; the time is coming, I will act. I will not refrain, I will not spare, I will not relent. According to your ways and your doings I will judge you, says the Lord God” (24:14).

We should note that this same contrast between inner and outer mourning forms the structure for Psalm 137. Although the captives arriving in Babylon wept with sorrow at what they had lost (Psalm 137:1), and raged both against the Babylonians who had destroyed Jerusalem (137:8-9) and also against the Edomites who had cheered for the Babylonians as they tore down the city (137:7), nevertheless on the outside they had to sing and pretend to be happy for their captors – who now owned them as slaves and could require them to present smiling faces (137:3).

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It is so very difficult for us to imagine the devastation of Jerusalem and the heartbreak of the captives, O God. It is impossible to imagine that such a thing would ever happen to us. Yet how could we claim to be immune? Teach us repentance even now, we pray: and in your mercy, hear our prayer and redeem us.