The Bible in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz) - Day 228: The Watchman's Duty (2022)

Episode Date: August 16, 2022

Fr. Mike expands on Ezekiel 33 and emphasizes that the role of a prophet, is to be God's watchman and speak whatever it is God wants to be spoken. He stresses the reality that those who are teachers and leaders, who shape and form the consciences of others, have the responsibility to speak the truth even when it's hard. Today's readings are Jeremiah 5, Ezekiel 33, and Proverbs 14:21-24. For the complete reading plan, visit ascensionpress.com/bibleinayear. Please note: The Bible contains adult themes that may not be suitable for children - parental discretion is advised.

Hi, my name is Father Mike Schmitz, and you're listening to the Bible in a Year podcast, where we encounter God's voice and live life through the lens of Scripture. The Bible in a Year podcast is brought to you by Ascension. Using the Great Adventure Bible timeline, we'll read all the way from Genesis to Revelation, discovering how the story of salvation unfolds and how we fit into that story today. It is day 228. Congratulations, y'all. We're reading from Jeremiah chapter 5, Ezekiel chapter 33, and Proverbs chapter 14, verses 21 through 24. As always, the Bible

translation that I'm reading from is the Revised Standard Version, the Second Catholic Edition. I'm using the Great Adventure Bible from Ascension. If you want to download your own Bible in a Year reading plan, you can visit ascensionpress.com slash Bible in a Year. You also can subscribe to this podcast by clicking on subscribe and you would receive daily episodes every single day, including today, day 228, Jeremiah chapter 5, Ezekiel 33, and Proverbs chapter 14, verses 21 through 24. The book of the prophet Jeremiah, chapter 5, the godlessness of Jerusalem. Run back and forth through the streets of Jerusalem. Look and take note. Search her squares to see if you can find a man,

one who does justice and seeks truth, that I may pardon her. Though they say as the Lord lives, yet they swear falsely. O Lord, do not your eyes look for truth? You have struck them down, but they felt no anguish. You have consumed them, but they refused to take correction. They have made their faces harder than rock. They have refused to repent. Then I said, These are only the poor.

They have no sense, for they do not know the way of the Lord, the law of their God. I will go to the great and will speak to them, for they know the way of the Lord, the law of their God. I will go to the great and will speak to them for they know the way of the Lord, the law of their God. But they alike had broken the yoke. They had burst the bonds. Therefore, a lion from the forest shall slay them. A wolf from the desert shall destroy them. A leopard is watching against their cities.

Everyone who goes out of them shall be torn in pieces, because their transgressions are many, their apostasies are great. How can I pardon you? Your children have forsaken me, and have sworn by those who are no gods. When I fed them to the full, they committed adultery, and trooped the houses of harlots. They were well-fed, lusty stallions, each neighing for his neighbor's wife. Shall I not punish them for these things, says the Lord? And shall I not avenge myself on a nation such as this? Go up through her vine rows and destroy,

but make not a full end. Strip away her branches, for they are not the Lord's. For the house of Israel and the house of Judah have been utterly faithless to me, says the Lord. They have spoken falsely of the Lord and have said, he will do nothing. No evil will come upon us, nor shall we see sword or famine. The prophets will become wind. The word is not in them. Thus shall it be done to them. Therefore, thus says the Lord, the God of hosts, because they have spoken this word, behold, I am making my words in your mouth a fire, and this people would,

and the fire shall devour them. Behold, I am bringing upon you a nation from afar, O house of Israel, says the Lord. It is an enduring nation. It is an ancient nation, a nation whose language you do not know, nor can you understand what they say. Their quiver is like an open tomb. They are all mighty men. They shall eat up your harvest and your food. They shall eat up your sons and your daughters.

They shall eat up your flocks and your herds. They shall eat up your vines and your fig trees. Your fortified cities in which you trust, they shall destroy with the sword. But even in those days, says the Lord, I will not make a full end of you. And when your people say, why has the Lord our God done all these things to us? You shall say to them, as you have forsaken me and served foreign gods in your land, so you shall serve strangers in a land that is not yours. For the sea, a perpetual barrier which it cannot pass. The waves toss, they cannot prevail. Though they roar, they cannot pass over it.

But this people has a stubborn and rebellious heart. They have turned aside and gone away. They do not say in their hearts, let us fear the Lord our God, who gives the rain in its season, the autumn rain and the spring rain, and keep for us the weeks appointed for the harvest. Your iniquities have turned

these away, and your sins have kept good from you. For wicked men are found among my people. They lurk like fowlers lying in wait. They set a trap, they catch men. Like a basket full of birds, their houses are full of treachery. Therefore they have become great and rich, they have grown fat and sleek. They know no bounds in deeds of wickedness, they judge not with justice the cause of the fatherless to make it prosper, and they do not defend the rights of the needy. Shall I not punish them for these things, says the Lord, and shall I not avenge myself on a nation such as this? An appalling and horrible thing has happened in the land. The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests rule at their direction.

My people love to have it so, but what will you do when the end comes? The Book of the Prophet Ezekiel, Chapter 33, The Watchman's Duty The word of the prophet Ezekiel, chapter 33, The Watchman's Duty. The word of the Lord came to me, Son of man, speak to your people and say to them, If I bring the sword upon the land, and the people of the land take a man from among them and make him their watchman, and if he sees the sword coming upon the land and blows the trumpet and warns the people, then if anyone who hears the sound of the trumpet does not take warning, and the sword comes and takes him away, his blood shall be upon his own head. He heard the sound of the trumpet and did not take warning. His blood shall be upon himself. But if he had taken warning, he would have saved his life. But if the watchman sees the sword coming and does not

blow the trumpet, so that the people are not warned, and the sword comes and takes away any one of them, that man is taken away in his iniquity, but his blood I will require at the watchman's hand. So you, son of man, I have made a watchman for the house of Israel. Whenever you hear a word from my mouth, you shall give them warning from me. If I say to the wicked, O wicked man, you shall surely die, and you do not speak to warn the wicked to turn from his way, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity. But his blood I will require at your hand. But if you warn the wicked to turn from his way, and he does not turn from his way,

he shall die in his iniquity, but you will have saved your life. And you, son of man, say to the house of Israel, Thus have you said, Our transgressions and our sins are upon us, and we waste away because of them. How then can we live? Say to them, As I live, says the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn back, turn back from your evil ways, for why will you die, O house of Israel?

And you, son of man, say to your people, the righteousness of the righteous shall not deliver him when he transgresses. And as for the wickedness of the wicked, he shall not fall by it when he turns from his wickedness. And the righteous shall not be able to live by his righteousness when he sins. Though I say to the righteous that he shall surely live, yet if he trusts in his righteousness and commits iniquity, none of his righteous deeds shall be remembered. But in the iniquity that he has committed, he shall die.

Again, though I say to the wicked, you shall surely die, yet if he turns from his sin and does what is lawful and right, if the wicked restores the pledge, gives back what he has taken by robbery, and walks in the statutes of life, committing no iniquity, then he shall surely live. He shall not die. None of the sins that he has committed shall be remembered against him.

He has done what is lawful and right. He shall surely live. Yet your people say, the way of the Lord is not just, when it is their own way that is not just. When the righteous turns from his righteousness and commits iniquity, he shall die for it. And when the wicked turns from his wickedness and does what is lawful and right, he shall live by it. Yet you say, the way of the Lord is not just. O house of Israel, I will judge each of you according to his ways. The Fall of Jerusalem

In the twelfth year of our exile, in the tenth month, on the fifth day of the month, a man who had escaped from Jerusalem came to me and said, The city has fallen. Now the hand of the Lord had been upon me the evening before the fugitive came, and he had opened my mouth by the time the man came to me in the morning. So my mouth was opened, and I was no longer mute. The Survivors in Judah. The word of the Lord came to me, Son of man, the inhabitants of these waste places in the land of Israel keep saying, Abraham was only one man, yet he got possession of the land. But we are many. The land is surely given us to possess. Therefore say to them, thus says

the Lord God, you eat flesh with the blood and lift up your eyes to your idols and shed blood. Shall you then possess the land? You resort to the sword. You commit abominations and each of you defiles his neighbor's wife. Shall you then possess the land? Say this to them. Thus says the Lord God, as I live, surely those who are in the waste places shall fall by the sword, and him that is in the open field I will give to the beasts to be devoured, and those who are in strongholds and in caves shall die by pestilence. And I will make the land a desolation and a waste, and her proud might shall come to an end, and the mountains of Israel shall be so desolate that none will pass through. Then they will know that I am the Lord, when I have made the land a desolation and a waste because of all their abominations which they have committed.

As for you, son of man, your people who talk together about you by the walls and at the doors of the houses say to one another, each to his brother, come and hear what the word is that comes forth from the Lord. And they come to you as people come and they sit before you as my people. They hear what you say, but they will not do it. For with their lips, they show much love, but their heart is set on gain. And behold, you are to them like one who sings love songs, with a beautiful voice, and plays well on an instrument. For they hear what you say, but they will not do it. When this comes, and come it will, then they will know that a prophet has been among them. The book of Proverbs chapter 14 verses 21 through 24.

He who despises his neighbor is a sinner, but happy is he who is kind to the poor. Do they not err that devise evil? Those who devise good meet loyalty and faithfulness. In all toil there is profit, but mere talk tends only to want. The crown of the wise is their wisdom, but folly is the garland of fools. Father in heaven, we give you praise and glory. Gosh, Lord God, thank you for continuing to put before us wisdom as a goal and not just wisdom as the end, but wisdom as the goal to have so that we can have you as our end, that you can be the one thing that our hearts are set upon. Lord God, in all the stuff that we have to do and all the people we have to love and all the things that

we care about in our lives, they are gifts and yet they can oftentimes take our eyes off of you, off of the giver. So please, Lord God, help us to have our eyes fixed on you, have our hearts fixed on you, to have all of our desires fixed on you so much that we desire nothing more than to live wisely so that we can attain you, that we can have you as the source and the center of our lives. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. So gosh, you guys, chapter 33 in Ezekiel is kind of a stellar chapter. Obviously, it's the chapter on the watchman, but also it's known in the scriptures as, especially in the book of Ezekiel, as the

pivot point. I mean, there's a pivot point when his wife died and he wasn't able to mourn. But there's also a pivot point right here because the destruction of Jerusalem finally comes to him. Remember, Ezekiel, they have the first wave of those who were brought away from Jerusalem and brought to Babylon. That was Daniel and the bros, right? Part of that first wave.

Then the second wave was Ezekiel, and he was brought away from Jerusalem, wasn't able to be in Jerusalem. But people kept thinking, oh, no, no, we're going to come back. We're going to come back. We're going to come back. And now in chapter 33 is the actual destruction of Jerusalem with only a small remnant of people left behind there. We're going to get to that in just a second.

But we have first the beginning of chapter 33, which is the watchman's duty. And there's something so incredibly powerful about the watchman's duty. So gosh, I mean, I can just retell the story that the word of the Lord comes to Ezekiel and says, you know, if there's a watchman and they don't, they see the sword coming, they see the battle coming, they see the armies coming and they don't blow the horn. They don't alert people to the fact that there is battle, there's war, there's violence, there's a sword on its way. Then yeah, they may die, but it'll be on their heads because that was his job. That was, he had one of those, you had one job kind of situations. And so in verse seven, the Lord God says, so you son of man, basically you Ezekiel,

I've made a watchman for the house of Israel. Whenever you hear a word from my mouth, you shall give them warning from me. Now, why is God making this big point? Well, overall, because the role of the prophet obviously is going to be to say the hard words of the Lord. The words of comfort, of course, because Ezekiel has those words. Isaiah had those words. Jeremiah has those words.

Above all is to speak whatever it is God wants spoken. And that's it. That's the call, right? And if the people don't hear the word of God, if those who are in charge with teaching the word of God don't actually teach the word of God, it's not their fault. Yep, they will die in their sin, but they won't be held guilty. Who's going to be the guilty one? The person who was supposed to have told the truth, the person who was supposed to have taught the truth. And so this is one of the reasons why in the book of James,

the letter of James in the New Testament, chapter three, where James says, not many of you should aspire to be teachers, my brothers, because those of you who are teachers will be liable to a greater judgment. Because we recognize this, right? We recognize that those who are pastors, those who are priests, those who are prophets,

those who are teachers, all those who have a responsibility to teach others, we have to teach them the truth. We have to speak the truth, even when it's hard. And that's, gosh, you know, I had a situation like that about this just in the last couple of days of my life, where, you know, it comes to people who are not living as practicing Catholics. That can be a really hard moment because it's like, okay, what do we do? Raise Catholic, but they're not practicing Catholic. And that sense of like, do I say something about this? Do I not say something about this? Is this my role to say,

like, you know, you're called to go back to confession and be reunited with the church, to come back to mass on a weekly basis at least? And that question is, at what point do we speak, right? We've been named prophets and we've been baptized as priest, prophet, and king. So here's the Lord God who says, okay, the watchman, you better speak the words that I have given to you to be spoken. And if you don't, then yes, the person might die in their sins, but it'll be upon you because that was your job. Now, this can be me as a priest. It can be the general baptized person

as a Christian who's baptized as prophet. It can also be those who have a role, for example, parents, as mentioned, teachers earlier. Whenever we have the role of having to shape and form the consciences and the hearts of those people around us, that is a critical opportunity for all of us to either accept our role as prophet or to fail in our role as prophet, not only with our words, but also with our actions. You know, there's this sin called the sin of scandal. And the sin of scandal is often, whether through our words or through our actions, that I'm saying something that is bad is actually fine.

Something that is good is actually wrong. How many times as Christians, people look to us and they say, well, you know, so-and-so, you know, you do this, so it must be okay. And we realize, oh, no, no, but the Lord has not said that that's okay. I just fail to live up to the Lord. And we say, well, that's not my responsibility. I don't have to be responsible for everyone around me. And yet, if we fail to live up to our call as Christians, then with our very lives, we're saying that what is wrong is right. And sometimes what is right is wrong, as we're saying. And so just keep that in mind, be convicted by that, because we are responsible for one another, especially here's

the watchman who is completely very much responsible for the other. Actually, no, sorry, let me say this. They're responsible for themselves, whether they witness to the truth or not. Ultimately, the person is going to decide on their own. But ultimately, ultimately, we get to decide what we do in our lives. So, gosh, what a gift. Because also the gift is that God says, and if the wicked person turns from their wickedness and becomes righteous, I'll accept that righteousness. And that's so good. It's so just.

It's so merciful. But God also says those who turn from righteousness to commit wickedness, I will accept that righteousness. And that's so good. It's so just. It's so merciful. But God also says, those who turn from righteousness to commit wickedness, I will forget the righteousness and I will remember their wickedness. This is what they chose. And we get what we've chosen. So kind of exacerbated that. Exacerbated, is that the right word? No, I think beat the dead horse is the term there.

But then in verse 21 of chapter 33, we get this. We get the fall of Jerusalem. And it is a horrible moment in Ezekiel's life. As I said before, all the people living in Babylon in exile had still held out hope that, yes, while we're here exiled, while we are far away from our homeland, at least, at least worship is happening in the temple. We can't participate in it, but we know what's going on. At least people are there still occupying the land that the Lord God has given to us,

to the people of God, to Abraham. And now here is the word that says, nope, the city has fallen. That Babylon has ultimately, and in some ways definitively, although in 70 years or so, they're going to come back, but has really laid waste to the city and laid waste to the temple. And so one of the things that we walk away with is this conviction that I've heard God's words, but I have not lived them out. And there's a consequence to that. For example, at the end of chapter 33, the Lord God says to Ezekiel, the people, you know, they're going to come and they're going to keep listening to you. Those who are exiled, those who are still in Babylon, those who have seen the city destroyed and have heard of the city destroyed, they're going to come and listen to you. And they'll sit before you as my people and they hear what you say,

but they will not do it. For with their lips, they show much love, but their heart is set on gain. And behold, you are to them like one who sings love songs with a beautiful voice and plays well on the instrument. For they hear what you say, but they will not do it. And that is just, that's all of us, right? We've been listening to the word of God for 228 days and still we struggle with sin, still we struggle with actually putting into practice the words of wisdom in Proverbs. We struggle putting into practice the words of God that call us to repent today because we only have today. And yet, just like in Book of Jeremiah,

we keep thinking, oh, the day's gonna come. The day's gonna come. You know, it's not here yet. It's not here yet. And yet the day is gonna come when it comes upon us like a thief in the night, right? And so here we have in Jeremiah, this spirit of rebellion. Sorry, let me go back quick. I know this is a little bit erratic and kind of all over the place. I mentioned the role of the prophet overall, but the prophet

particularly is connection between Ezekiel and Jeremiah. And that role of the prophet in particular is the fact that at the time of Jeremiah, there were prophets who prophesied what people wanted to hear. So Jeremiah is saying that, no, he even says this. He says in verses 11, 12, 13, and 14, he says, the house of Israel and house of Judah have been utterly faithless to me. They have spoken falsely of the Lord and have said, he will do nothing. No evil will come upon us, nor shall we see sword or famine. And that's what was happening. There were prophets who were well-loved at the time of Jeremiah. Jeremiah was not well-loved because he would not speak what people wanted to hear. He spoke what people needed to hear. He did not speak

his own words. He spoke the word of the Lord. And yet those other false prophets spoke what people wanted to hear, which is the connection, once again, between Jeremiah and Ezekiel today with the watchman who would say, no, no, no, things are fine. There's no destruction coming. There's no judgment coming. Whatever you want to do, keep on doing that. And that's a false prophet. Jeremiah had all these false prophets around them. And what it says in verses 13 to 14 is the prophets will become like wind. The word is not in them. Thus shall it be done to them. Therefore, thus says the Lord, the God of hosts, because they have spoken this word, behold, I'm making my words in your mouth, Yeah, if we give our hearts over to false prophets who only tell us what we want to hear, as opposed to what we need to hear, tell us what their thoughts are, as opposed to telling us what

the word of the Lord is, then yeah, we're not in good shape. Now, here are two last thoughts in Jeremiah. In verses four and five, it talks about how God's judgment is coming. But then I said, Jeremiah says, these are only the poor. They have no sense, but they do not know the way of the Lord, the law of their God. I'll go to the great. I'll go to those who are wise, right? I'll go to those. Basically, yeah, there are people among us who aren't seeking the truth. They're not seeking God. They're not turning, but they're also the poor. They have no sense. They haven't been educated. So I will go to the great. I'll go to the educated. I'll speak to them for they know the way of the Lord, the law of their God. But he says, but they all

alike had broken the yoke. They had burst the bonds. And there's that sense of like, we sometimes think that those who are wise, those who are educated, those who know the Bible really well, that of course, you know, when they hear the word of God, they'll repent. And when those people who claim to be religious, you know, when they hear the word of God, then they'll do this. But you know, it makes sense that those who don't really know the word wouldn't repent, wouldn't turn to the Lord. And yet here's what God says, but they all alike had broken the yoke. They had burst the bonds, which basically highlights the fact that broken the yoke, right, is the yoke that goes around the head and shoulders of a beast of burden and gets put to work.

If I've broken the yoke, what I've done is I've shown that I'm rebellious. I've shown that I can't be trusted. I've shown that I place my hope in myself. I place my trust in myself and that I will not do what God asks or what essentially the one guiding me asks. I'm going to do what I want to do. And that, man, that's us, regardless of how educated or uneducated we are, that's us, regardless of how powerful or lack of power we have, you know, lack of whatever the word is for not powerful, that we recognize every one of us has a rebellious streak

in them. I mean, think about this. Even a two-year-old can be rebellious. Two-year-old has no power, can be rebellious, but also so can a 92-year-old. That's someone who's incredibly poor on the streets can be rebellious, but so can someone living in the high rise and the penthouse suite who's in charge of fortune 50 companies can be rebellious. Every single one of us, those who are outside the church and those who are leaders in the church, companies, can be rebellious. Every single one of us, those who are outside the church and those who are leaders in the church, we can all be rebellious. And so we're all called to submit ourselves to the Lord

because that's the only way that we can come back to the Lord because God calls his attention to judgment. And this is so important. This is the last thing. During this whole time, I had mentioned before that the word of Jeremiah is gonna be repent,

but underneath repentance is really just brace for it because this is what's happening. Now, this is not going to happen for a while. I mentioned this the other day as well. This is not going to happen for a while, maybe an entirely entire generation after Jeremiah is speaking, but he's drawing the people's attention to the coming judgment, even if they're not going to experience it immediately because they need to prepare for it. Just like all of us, we could say, well, gosh, I mean, we're doing fine here. I mean, yeah, things aren't the best, but it's not over yet. Yeah, because God is drawing our attention to our need to be converted, not just in our actions, not just in how we, the externals, not just on the surface, but down to the depths of our hearts.

Because we have had prophets speak to us, right? We have had people point out this way of life and that way of life is not good for us. It doesn't actually glorify the Lord. And yet we're so slow. I am so slow in repenting. So I ask for your prayers. Help me repent to the core of my heart,

not just on the surface, not just in my actions, but even the depths of my thought, the depths of my heart. And I'm praying for you too, that you can also have that grace to repent on the surface actions, but also down to the core, to the depths of your heart and to the depths of your mind, that all of us can say, Lord, I've heard your word and I do not rebel. I do not turn back, but thy will be done. We need prayers for that. We need grace for that. And so that's why, as I said, I'm praying for you. Please pray for me that I also can say

that I will be done to our heavenly father. My name is Father Mike. I cannot wait to see you tomorrow. God bless.