Sermon - The Rev. Leah D. Schade
Reformation Lutheran Church, Media, PA
7-15-07
Ezekiel and the Heavenly Creatures
“Ezekiel saw the wheel, way up in the middle of the air
Ezekiel saw the wheel, way in the middle of the air.”
“Ezekiel recreates the experience as it occurred rather than first summarizing or interpreting it. He thus forces the reader to repeat the prophetic experience and to share the prophet’s growing comprehension of the vision’s significance.” (HBC, 661)
Wheel as archetype
Wheel symbolism was ubiquitous in ancient religions. The whole universe was envisioned as a vast wheel whose rolling could be seen in the cycles of heavenly bodies and in the progression of seasons.
Culture
* Wheel of Fortune
* Carousel
* Roulette (little wheel)
* Ferris Wheel (Fairies Wheel - the karmic cycle)
* Spinning wheel (wheel of fates)
Science/Nature
Wheel of seasons
Wheel of solar system
Wheel of atomic particles
Wheel of earth’s rotation on its axis, and its rotation around the sun
Wheel of weather patterns (Al Gore’s movie - the interconnectedness of the whole earth)
Wheel of the moon’s rotation around the earth
Religion/Myth
* Zodiac wheel
* Kali’s wheel of karma, “dance of time” at the hub of the universe (Indian); The Wheel of Time, where all the life-breath of the world was fixed ‘even as the spokes of a wheel are held fast in the hub.’” (Women’s Dictionary of Symbols and Sacred Objects, Barbara Walker, p. 17).
* Hindu dharma prayer wheel
* Native American Medicine wheel
(quote from Eat, Pray, Love)
“eastern temples as gigantic world-chariots, complete with wheels, in which the god was enthroned. In his chariot the god participated in the Carnival of Existence, carrying the world along with all its teeming life forms: animals, plants, mountains, rivers. Upon identification with the god, the sages said, “He who has seen his true self looks down upon transmigrating existence as upon a rolling chariot wheel.” (Women’s Encyclopedia of Myths and Secrets, Barbara Walker, p. 1074).
Ezekiel’s vision of ‘a wheel in the middle of a wheel’, created by the traditional personifications of the elements - man, lion, ox and eagle - seen as winged angels, was nothing original with biblical thought but rather a labored reinterpretation of classical symbols. The biblical writer used such symbols because he knew his audience would recognize them as holy. This had been the meaning of the double wheel for as long as anyone could remember.” (Women’s Dictionary of Symbols and Sacred Objects, Barbara Walker, p. 6).
“In ancient Oriental tradition the double wheel meant infinity, showing the eternal circles of life on earth, enveloped in the larger circle of the cosmic existence. Therefore it was often used as the sign of a universal deity, or of elemental spirits.”
Re-read parts of text and explain
So what – well, here’s why it’s such a big deal for Ezekiel
Ezekiel was a priest who lived during the time of the Babylonian exile. This is when the Israelites were taken as prisoners from the Promised land into captivity in a hated foreign land. And worse - their temple in Jerusalem was destroyed. The Hebrew people believed that God’s presence for them could only be located in Jerusalem, in the temple. When the temple was destroyed and they were taken from their holy land, it was like the Babylonians had destroyed their faith and severed their connection with God.
So here’s Ezekiel “among the exiles by the river Chebar,” when he has this vision, this dream of God’s presence reigning above the elements and eternity. “He had seen God’s divine throne, normally located in Jerusalem, come to rest on Babylonian soil. For a Zadokite priest, who believed in God’s eternal presence in Jerusalem, this would have been a shocking idea. . . . ” (HBC 662).
God shows up even here! – cause for celebration, for hope (2nd verse of Joyful, joyful)
(Jacob – Joseph – Ezekiel – solar system – atomic level – the alpha and omega)
God shows up in you. – (quote from Eat, Pray, Love)
(Merton poem)
“Ezekiel saw the wheel . . .”