Profaning that which is Holy

From Ezekiel chapter 23

²³ Again the word of the LORD came to me: ²⁴ “Son of man, say to the land, ‘You are a land that has not been cleansed or rained on in the day of wrath.’ ²⁵ There is a conspiracy of her princes^[b] within her like a roaring lion tearing its prey; they devour people, take treasures and precious things and make many widows within her. ²⁶ Her priests do violence to my law and profane my holy things; they do not distinguish between the holy and the common; they teach that there is no difference between the unclean and the clean; and they shut their eyes to the keeping of my Sabbaths, so that I am profaned among them. ²⁷ Her officials within her are like wolves tearing their prey; they shed blood and kill people to make unjust gain. ²⁸ Her prophets whitewash these deeds for them by false visions and lying divinations. They say, ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says’—when the LORD has not spoken. ²⁹ The people of the land practice extortion and commit robbery; they oppress the poor and needy and mistreat the foreigner, denying them justice.

In the midst of God’s condemnation of Jerusalem and the Israelite leaders we find these words. They are condemned for injustice. They are condemned for robbery. They are condemned for not bearing the fruit of God. And they are charged by God with profaning his holy things. This is a really powerful idea, the profaning of holy things, because it gets straight to the heart of holiness. To be holy is to be set apart, to be dedicated to something special. The opposite of that which is holy is that which is profane. In Old Testament language that which is profane is that which is common or ordinary. Holiness is a setting above that which is common or profane.

God charges his people with a grievous sin because they have taken those things which he has set apart and made them common. Specifically in this passage the law and worship are being treated as profane. In our daily lives, however, we face this same accusation by God. As the children of God we are set apart as holy. We carry the Spirit of God within us. There is nothing common about that. Our bodies, our work, our marriages, our families, truly each part of our lives is to be holy or set apart for God’s purposes. When we treat them as common, however, we profane or desecrate that which God has made holy.

We often think of sin in our lives as evil. It is doing that which is destructive. It is taking normal things and using them for evil purposes. But here sin is more than that, it is the failure to maintain as holy that which is set apart. It is treating that which God has declared sacred and making it normal and common. The ramifications for that in our lives is enough to chew on for the rest of our lives. How are we profaning that which God has made holy? What am I treating as common that God has redeemed as anything other than common?

That is a question that should haunt and challenge each of us for the rest of our lives. What an amazing idea that God can take that which the world would see as common and make it holy. And what a sobering thought that we have the power to take that which God has made holy and to treat it as common.