Ezekiel was a good man

By John Pearring

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/102420.cfm
Ephesians 4:7-16
Psalms 122:1-2, 3-4AB, 4CD-5
(Alleluia) Ezekiel 33:11
Luke 13:1-9

For two angels, with a history of sword wielding combat and eons of death’s consequence, the question before them still came as quite a surprise.

“You two, are you for or against the death penalty?” asked a man Frank and Ralph had just met.

Stan was taller than the embodied pair. Much taller. Easily seven foot. He rose above Frank and Ralph even in a seated position. Both of his lanky arms, in fact, draped across the bulk of the table the angels shared with Stan and his wife Melinda. She was a tiny person, and pulled her chair right up next to Stan, and almost disappeared into the space beneath his left shoulder and his elbow.

Stan's question confused the angels, because death penalty is the basic result of sin. They didn't connect the context with a juridical penalty handed down to a convicted criminal. Stan and Melinda didn't know Frank and Ralph were two retired angels, of course. No one envisions to men sitting in a coffee shop would be angels retired to Woodland Park. The angels' would not make the connection of death to any organization of government entities and laws either. The oddity of folks wondering about people dying at the end of their lives as a thing to approve of wasn't logical either. In fact, Frank and Ralph have had no involvement in the taking of a person's life. Death never comes at the bidding of any decision by angels. All killing is abhorrent to an angel. The question makes no sense to them.

Melinda started the death penalty conversation. After hearing the reason that Ralph wore a 17th Century collar around the top of his sweater was because "I thought it might be coming back in style," she changed the subject. She had a bible verse from Ezekiel, chapter 33, verse 11, in front of her. It was on a brochure handed to her by a street preacher. She decided to talk about that, which somehow led to the death penalty.

“I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked man, says the Lord, but rather in his conversion that he may live.”

First of all, both Frank and Ralph knew Ezekiel. They had traveled as guardian angels with the Israelites to Babylon. The captive folks, marched at the end of a spear to a foreign land, were not a happy bunch. Angels were charged with protecting Ezekiel, so most of them knew who he was. God allowed many Israelite people to be killed, and angels were often restrained by God's hands in their protection. The angels complied without objection, but felt God's grief at every death like anyone tethered to the almighty. Angels do not question God's ways. They do, however, suffer God's misery. Ezekiel had expressed to God many times, in ardent pleas, not to allow for the death of anyone, even the most egregious sinners. Not even their foreign aggressors.

To all angels, but two, Ezekiel was a mad man. How could anyone, especially a meager man, attempt to stay the hand of God? And why would they? God knows what he's doing. Most angels thought Ezekiel a fool. Frank and Ralph found him intriguing. Due to their fractured connection within the angelic network, a broken link since their creation, they would often see humans differently than the angelic hosts. Frank and Ralph's curiosity with Ezekiel didn't decrease the lack of respect all the other angels had for Ezekiel. Just the opposite. They could not see him as a righteous human.

“Ezekiel was a good man, though.” Frank said out loud, reflecting on his memory of Ezekiel. He remembered clearly when God explained to Ezekiel the creator's motives. "After the predicament of Ezekiel in God's plan to save Israel through a forced repentance, which resulted in the deaths of so many super sinful Hebrew people, Ezekiel was apoplectic. God assured Ezekiel. He took no delight in death. An example, though, needed to be made."

“You should have seen Ezekiel running around telling people to repent,” Ralph added. “The sinning folks had no idea how worried he was about them. Sure, he was told he'd be personally responsible for every non-repentant Israelite, but Ezekiel truly cared about their souls. You could see it in his eyes.”

Stan and Melinda stared at Frank and Ralph, waiting for more information. The story told by the angels was very interesting to them.

“You guys take a bible class, or something?” Stan asked.

“Yeah, you seem pretty knowledgeable. You're making this so real.” added Melinda.

Startled, Frank stiffened at Melina's remark. He quickly glanced at Ralph, realizing they were perilously close to showing way too much familiarity with Ezekiel. No one is supposed to know who they are. What had they done? Ralph was looking upwards, stuck in an ancient replay down memory lane. Frank held up one hand, looked closely at Stan and Melinda, and said as flatly as he could, “Uh, Most of the stuff written about, uh, Ezekiel is pure conjecture,” Frank said. He tried to smile, putting the angel's reminiscence into a library book frame of mind.

“Yeah," Ralph said, still staring off 2,700 years into the past. "He had real hairy arms, but nobody seems to know much about that,” Ralph said, taking his own arms off his spot on the table. He looked over at Frank, and saw him glaring, eyes wide open too. 

“That’s the kind of conjecture I’m talking about,” Frank said, eyes agog, trying to stare into his friend's brain. 

Ralph's face shifted into quizzical confusion. Frank continued, still glaring at Ralph, “Only somebody who knew him “personally” would have that kind of information.” Frank lifted his eyebrows up and down as a hint to be quiet, not sure if eyebrows sent that kind of a message. “You know, was THERE,” he said with inflection.

“Oh,” Ralph weakly said, and nodded without any conviction. He was still trying to figure out what was the problem. He rephrased what Frank said. “You had to be there to know that.” Something important was going on. Ralph was not sure quite what it was. Stan and Melinda struggled, quietly, to grasp what the two men, nice fellas they'd just met, were going on about. The restaurant was packed, and the only seats left were these two opposite a couple of friendly looking local types. They stared at the angels, whom of course, they didn't know were angels.

Everyone sat quietly for a minute or two. Stan reached for his cup, sipping some coffee.

“Ah,” Ralph said out loud, big smile on his face. He'd figured out what Frank was trying to communicate. He slapped the table a little bit too hard, then looking off to his left for a few more seconds, reviewed the comments they'd made about Ezekiel. It wasn’t that much detail, Ralph figured. Then turned back to Frank. "I think we're all right." Out loud. He said that out loud.

“Sure,” Stan said, taking the brochure from Melinda. He'd had enough of the weird stuff going on with the two men. “So, Ezekiel's an interesting fella, and all. I wonder. Is this brochure about the death penalty?” He kept reading, as his wife looked over his shoulder. The angel's watched them. Then Stan said, “Nah, seems this guy is pushing a repentance message. Wants folks to get back to church.”

“No, that Ezekiel verse is all about death's finality,” Ralph said, then quickly took another sip of coffee and looked for a message on Frank’s face. Had he messed up? The two of them stayed quiet.

“You know, our pope just said there’s no good reason for the death penalty anymore. He’s called it totally unnecessary,” said Melinda.

Frank, Ralph and Stan all sat quietly for another moment, looking at their cups.

Melinda looked directly at Ralph, then asked.“What do you think?” 

Stan touched her arm, thinking she shouldn’t ask these new fellas. She smirked at Stan. He smirked back, and then thought what the heck. “Yeah. You, the two of you, are you for or against the death penalty?”

That’s the first time either angel had ever broached this subject. Or, anything like it.

Frank no longer really worried about a familiarity with Ezekiel compromising their "just a couple of local guys" cover. He didn't know what the subject was really about, but it wasn't about them. “I’m not sure what you mean,” Frank said, carefully.

“You know,” Stan replied. “If a feller or a gal has been prosecuted for a crime that’s pretty darn bad, should the state have the right to choose death as the penalty for that crime?”

Frank Leaned back in his chair, just as Ralph leaned in to Stan across the table, and slowly asked, “Just who is this ‘state’ person we’re talking about here?”

Melinda slapped her husband’s left hand in agreement. “See Stan? That’s the whole point, isn’t it, Ralph,” she said pointing at him. Ralph's mouth was open. “Just why does the government have the right to kill somebody?”

Ralph wanted to pipe right in with another request on this weird subject, but he glanced at Frank instead. They switched leaning in and leaning out positions.

“Ezekiel, you know,” Frank said. “If you study all that’s been said about him,” he added for context to clear up either Frank or Ralph having known him, “Ezekiel wasn’t thinking about whether those Israelites ‘should’ be killed. They deserved it, as a just death penalty. My goodness, they were a sinful bunch. He, though, was hoping God would just give them all another chance. You see?”

Ralph nodded, and patted Frank on the back for that.

“Yeah,” Ralph said. “It was God who made the point, after all. He wanted even those knuckleheads to be converted. To repent. That was the whole idea, there.”

“Um hmm,” Frank added, still a bit skeptical that Ralph had caught up to hiding that they personally knew Ezekiel.

“Well, I heard angels are supposed to help us in our salvation,” Melinda said.

Frank and Ralph’s eyes went wide open. What just happened?

“Well, I know the book of Ezekiel pretty well, too," Melinda said. "Not the hair on the arms stuff, for sure. But, wasn’t there a handful of angels involved in the deaths of the Hebrew people? They were in Ezekiels vision, right? They were told to wipe out a bunch of non-repentent Israelites. Angels are supposed to be helping us in our salvation, not knocking us off.”

Ralph stared at her. "You got that from the scriptures, you mean?" She nodded yes.

“They aren't angels like us!” he shouted. 

Frank moved in, almost putting his arm over Ralph's face as he said it. “Those were the cherubim, Melinda,” he said, over-smiling. “They’re on a whole different angel scale than the regular angel types. Uh, the one's we'd all call our angels. Cherubim are, uh, special mission type angels.”

Ralph calmed down.

“Hmmm,” Stan said, looking closely at Frank and Ralph. “So, are you saying you’re for or against capital punishment?”

Frank looked at Stan. He wanted to clarify. “Are you equating death penalty with those two words, capital punishment?” 

Stan looked confused for a second. “Are they different?”

“I was asking you,” Frank said.

"Yes, he sure was," Ralph said, not certain why he felt the need to clarify.

“Geez, Marie,” Melinda said. “Yes, they’re the same thing!”

“Oh, uh, OK, then,” Frank said, nodding along. "OK. So, death penalty means the same thing as capital punishment. Like in a capital offense, or a capital sin."

"Don't you mean mortal sin?" said Stan.

"Uh, yeah, sure. Sure. That's also the same thing, then, isn't it. Capital sin is mortal sin."

"Killing isn't a capital, or mortal sin. The killing of the Israelites by God wasn't murder," chimed in Ralph. "It's murder that's capital, er .. mortal sin. Right?" Frank winced. Ralph wished he han'dt said anything. “Just so we’re on the same page,” Ralph finished off, trying to smile. 

Frank looked over at him. "Same page?" Another one of Ralph’s euphemisms. He'd been saying it all day.

"Oh well," said Melinda. "I guess it's kinda what the pope said, after all, as she re-read the Ezekiel scripture. "We shouldn't execute someone too soon, or they don't have a chance to convert, to repent. You know? That's good enough for me."

"Unless the Cherubim come calling," Stan added, chuckling, and thinking he'd made a pretty good joke. Ralph and Frank were horrified at the idea of the Cherubim wiping out thousands of people.

"God told Ezekiel he'd never do that Cherubim thing again," Ralph said. 

"In the scripture of Ezekiel," Frank added quickly.

A few moment went by. Stan drained the last of the coffee from his cup and set it down. "We oughta get going." Immediately Melinda stood up, and the stark difference in their height visually struck the angels as one of the oddest things they'd ever seen.

Melinda saw the shock on their faces as reference to their leaving, somewhat abruptly. She wanted to say something to assure the two rather strange men, but just smiled and left with her husband.

"How do we get ourselves into these situations?" Frank asked after they left.

"Quite a pickle," said Ralph.

"What?" asked Frank.

"Oh, nothing. Just trying out a new phrase I heard."