What does God want for us?

http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/081816.cfm

Ezekiel 36:23-28
Matthew 22:1-14

Within the book of Ezekiel lies the great desire of God for his people, the people of Israel who have wandered away from their God. We know now that these Jewish people exemplify the behavior and dismissive nature of all people. In fact, this reading now speaks to us Gentiles too, because of Jesus. All of creation that makes up the vast numbers of us Gentile folks are now able to be grafted to the root of Jesse, the living God. Whether Jew or Gentile, we have the same God.

If we agree. Or, even if we don't agree.

Jesus the Christ is the living king of the Jewish people, and the Lord of the Gentiles. We Jews and Christians now look to the same leader, Jesus. And, this Jesus is one of us, a man sitting at the right hand of the Father, the Messiah. He is also our God, equal with the father. His Spirit lives within those of us who claim him as our God.

If we will allow it.

(I know this is presumptuous to the ear of Jewish persons to say that Jesus is their king. But if so, then it is so, even as foolish as I sound. If it is not so, then I am a self-described fool to say this. And, the fool continues …)

A whole lot of theology goes into those first few paragraphs, but the question about what God desires for us, whether Jew or Gentile, can be mined from the pages of Ezekiel.

“I will prove the holiness of my great name,
profaned among the nations,
in whose midst you have profaned it.”

      Ezekiel 36:23

Even though his name has been profaned by Jew and Gentile, God will reverse the damage and prove the holiness of his great name — He is who He is. He will prove his holiness through those who have profaned him, which I conclude to be either Jew or Christ-follower, in the midst of all the nations on earth.

How will God prove his holiness as the great I Am, in us? 

I will sprinkle clean water upon you
to cleanse you from all your impurities,
and from all your idols I will cleanse you.

      Ezekiel 36:25

God will both remove our impurities and wipe away our idols. Regardless of our history of, habitual exercise of, and insistence upon profanity, he will do this.

For today’s Jew and Christian, who allow God to do it, the images of violence, porn, greed, and every other evil that are burned into our brains will be erased. Gone will be the viruses and cancers clinging to our organs, and the nefarious travelers in our blood. Goodbye rueful memories and the video and photos of shock and terror visited to us daily.

The idols that drive our motives (money, attention, and fearful angers) and hold steely grips on our energy (reputation, achievement, and accolades) will slide off like dust washed away in the shower of God’s sprinkled holiness. Idols will no longer touch us or claim any attraction.

Some number of us will agree, with trepidation and hesitation, but eventually with ultimate acquiescence, to this cleansing. We will lean into his arms, shaking at the loss of our idols and the painful purification, and agree in various degrees of verbalization, “Take them all away, God.”

Next, God will excise the granite block that pretends to be our heart. He will place a shining light, a dove, a whispering beating organ formed by his breath into our chests. It will be a natural heart, an organic holy blossoming fist of flesh, supplied from the same place of the cleansing water that washed away the impurities and idols.

And then, inside the core of our person, where armor previously wrapped around, needing to protect us, but only invaded and turned our hearts into mounds of inorganic armor, God will place his living Spirit, the source element that directs the order of the universe.

I will put my spirit within you and make you live by my statutes,
careful to observe my decrees.

      Ezekiel 36:27

From this living Spirit, our wills will be overwhelmed by the holiness of God. Written upon our new hearts, and flowing through our bodies will be the proper order of the universe.

If we will it.

Why should we take this submissive, progressively painful washing, filtering, flushing, and excising of our bodies and infilling of his Spirit? 

Like everything about God, the message of purpose always follows the process of preparation. He never leaves out the details of how he gets us to where he wants to go. But we seldom hear his story of the end of the road, because the journey sounds drastic. We bend under the burden of the journey and forget the point of why we travel.

Nonetheless, again, in Ezekiel, God tells us what happens after the cleansing and regeneration. He gives us the picture of where we will be.

Thus says the Lord GOD: When I cleanse you of all your guilt, I will resettle the cities and the ruins will be rebuilt.

The desolate land will be tilled—once a wasteland in the eyes of every passerby.

They will say, “This once-desolate land has become like the garden of Eden. The cities once ruined, laid waste and destroyed, are now resettled and fortified.”

Then the surrounding nations that remain shall know that I, the LORD, have rebuilt what was destroyed and replanted what was desolate. I, the LORD, have spoken: I will do it.

      Ezekiel 36:33-36

“Oh, John,” you may be saying. “Ezekiel is not talking about our future, but a past story of a renewal of Israel that has come and gone.” Or, “It’s a story of just the Israelites, which ended up taking place in 1946.” Or, “That’s just a prophecy about land and rights.”

What if I’m right? What if the story is about all of us, and God's desire to make us holy? What if the story is about to be fulfilled, because if it hasn’t yet happened, it will?

“I will do it,” says the Lord. 

We can wonder if he will. We can presume, or worry, that he might not be talking about us. We can claim he came and went already. We can limit what he desires to a moment in time, and a handful of lucky folks from a tiny nation, that never fully embraced him.

“I will prove the holiness of my great name,
profaned among the nations,
in whose midst you have profaned it.”

This verse appears to include me, because I have done this myself. I recognize my profanity and my midst among a nation. If he needs a profaned person with a willing body and a heart that both needs changing and is eager for the cleansing, I could well meet the requirements. 

Can I will it to be so, and God will then do it?

I am wrapped up in my motives and contracts, so I may have to whisper it among the profanities, and mention it as an addendum to all my idols. Just to hear how it sounds, and see how it looks. Take it for a dry run.

Writing it down, though, sounds like a proper, purpose-filled thing to do. 

Your will, will be done, Lord. Is this really your will? Will your awesome and fantastic plan be done in me, and with me, oh God?