NOTES for Eze 36:1-38

Once again the prophecy gives the people of Israel hope of restoration after the humiliations inflicted by the surrounding pagans; and once again, behind the images of abundant life there opens not only the prospect of earthly well-being, but also the opportunity the Lord provides to live in holiness and communion with Him. Once again God promises people abundant gifts that will outweigh the consequences of their transgressions. This is not what people call “turning anger into mercy”: He is merciful to us even when, in justice, He allows us to deal with the consequences of our own lawlessness; it is precisely by His mercy that we have not yet drowned in them.

But does the prophecy speak only of the days of deliverance from captivity that Ezekiel's hearers dreamed of and that the generations after them were to see? Is there not here, as on many other Old Testament pages, a prefiguration of more distant events? The words about sprinkling with clean water that purifies from every defilement remind us of the sacrament of Baptism. The words “I will summon the grain and make it abundant” remind us not only that the Lord provides our daily bread, but also of Christ's multiplication of the loaves, and then of Christ calling Himself the bread that came down from heaven and the bread broken at the Last Supper His Body. Here we are given another opportunity to trace the connection between the Old and New Testaments.

The Lord's mercy will also be revealed in the multiplication of the people, but their comparison to a flock may cause perplexity. More than that, they are likened to sacrificial sheep destined for slaughter, and a flock being led to slaughter hardly seems attractive. Yet if we set aside modern associations, another meaning emerges from the image: like sacrificial sheep, we are called to belong wholly to God.