Blood on the Watchman's Hands: A Meditation on Ezekiel 33

While our lectionary this week elects to read only verses 7-9 of this chapter, it is part of a whole discourse between God and the prophet Ezekiel that begins in verse one, and ends in verse twenty.  It begins with an analogy of civil watchmen, who in the ancient world were stationed to keep watch for the approach of enemy armies, and the culpability of either the people or the watchmen based upon the fulfilling of their duties.  If the people were wicked, and the Lord sent the sword to devour them, the watchmen still had the duty to warn the people at the approach of the Lord’s judgment.  If the watchmen warned the people, and the people didn’t listen to them, then the blood of the people was on their own heads.  But if the watchmen failed to warn the people, the people would still die in their sins… but their blood would be required of the watchmen who failed to warn them to repentance.

Beginning in verse seven, the analogy is brought forward to specific application.  God has set Ezekiel as a watchman over the house of Israel.  He has told Ezekiel that He will bring judgment and calamity upon the people for their wickedness, unbelief, and lack of repentance.  And yet, if the people repent, they will be saved.  The Watchman has been given his duty to proclaim the Word of the Lord, irrespective of whether or not the people will heed it—but the Watchman’s duty is still given to him by God, and to God will the Watchman be accountable.  If by the Word of the Lord delivered by Ezekiel the people believe, repent, and live; or if by the Word of the Lord the people entrench themselves in unbelief and unrepentance; in either case, the soul of the Watchman is spared.  But if the Watchman does not speak the Word of the Lord, the people will certainly perish, and the Watchman with them.

The people respond that this is not fair.  Why would the wicked live, if they repent?  And why should the righteous be condemned, if they sin?  God refuses to have this debate with the people, rather telling them that all who repent and believe will live—and all who reject Him and His Word will perish, regardless of how relatively wicked or righteous they think they are.  Even through the mouth of Ezekiel, the unchanging and everlasting Gospel rings:  grace comes by faith alone, and such saving faith is never found without repentance.  God tells the people that He has no delight in the destruction of the wicked, but rather He desires all to repent, believe, and live.  Whether the people protest and reject the Word of God, or receive it willingly, the task of the Watchman is ever the same.

It is worth noting, that the closest parallel between Ezekiel and the modern church, is that of the pastor.  Pastors are not established by their own word or will.  Rather it is the Lord who calls pastors according to His Word, and sets them as Watchmen in their respective house.  Their duty is to declare the Law of God in all its severity, and warn the people of the eternal calamity that God is sending against them for the sake of their wickedness.  But they also have the duty to proclaim the everlasting Gospel, that for the sake of Jesus Christ and His Vicarious Atonement, all who will repent and believe the Word of the Lord shall be saved.  These Watchmen have been set in place by God through the church, to proclaim the Word of God first to the church, and then to the whole the world.  And while these Watchmen function within the church, they are ultimately accountable to God for how they have handled His Word—councils, synods, and all other deliberations of the church, are small things before the God who holds court over them all.

Oh, the sadness of the pastoral office in our day!  We debate about orders of clergy, the rights of congregations and dioceses, and all the honors and duties men would heap upon them.  Pastors are cajoled into being businessmen, financiers, or peddlers of pop psychology.  They know their people enjoy wealth and prosperity, the honor of ever greater numbers in ever multiplying programs, and the ever increasing cash flow of tithes.  They wrangle with each other about who will be greatest, who will have more influence, and who will sell more books.  So many pastors have become so focused on watching the people, that they have forgotten to watch for the approaching army of the Lord.  They have forgotten the Word which bore them, and prefer their own words, or the words of the world, to the Law and Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Let there be no mistake:  the blood of the people who die in their sins, will be required of the Watchmen who fail to warn them.  O Watchman, do your people enjoy their sins of adultery and fornication comfortably, while you do not warn them of the destruction to come?  Do they rest easy in their pride and sloth, even as the reapers approach?  Do they nestle down in their covetousness and hatred of their neighbors, even as hell opens its mouth before them?  Do they caress their unbelief in creation, the value of human life, or any other cardinal doctrine of Holy Scripture, even as the devil silently chains them in their perdition?  Do they despise the blessed Sacraments as precious means of grace, preferring their own means and methods to solace themselves in the face of sin and death?

Hear the Word of the Lord.  Judgment is coming upon all the workers of unrighteousness, from the people who refuse to repent and believe, to the Watchmen who refuse to teach them.  There is no escape from the wrath of God which is to come, and the eternity of hell awaits all who will worship themselves and their own word, over the Word of the One True God.  Judgment is coming, and your blood will be upon your own head, for you have earned every ounce of it.

But to all who will hear the Word of the Lord, repent and believe, there is forgiveness and grace.  For Jesus Christ has suffered for your unbelief and evil, and taken it upon Himself through His Holy Cross.  If you will turn from your evil by the power of the Holy Spirit working through His Word, and believe once again, for you there is forgiveness, life, and salvation forever more.  Ye Watchmen and people both:  hear the Word of the Lord.  Believe.  Repent.  Live.  Amen.