Interconnected
“The word of the Lord came to me: “Now you, son of man, raise a lamentation over Tyre, and say to Tyre, who dwells at the entrances to the sea, merchant of the peoples to many coastlands, thus says the Lord God: “O Tyre, you have said, ‘I am perfect in beauty.’ Your borders are in the heart of the seas; your builders made perfect your beauty. They made all your planks of fir trees from Senir; they took a cedar from Lebanon to make a mast for you. Of oaks of Bashan they made your oars; they made your deck of pines from the coasts of Cyprus, inlaid with ivory. Of fine embroidered linen from Egypt was your sail, serving as your banner; blue and purple from the coasts of Elishah was your awning. The inhabitants of Sidon and Arvad were your rowers; your skilled men, O Tyre, were in you; they were your pilots. The elders of Gebal and her skilled men were in you, caulking your seams; all the ships of the sea with their mariners were in you to barter for your wares.” - Ezekiel 27:1-9 ESV
When it comes to reading the Old Testament prophets, I’ve mentioned that while several people love the book of Job, I like the beginning and the end and not much in the middle. You see, I get distracted from the big picture with the flowery language, as I refer to it. But my daily reading right now includes the Book of Ezekiel And this chapter from Ezekiel (and ones before and after) are great examples of God giving a message that could have been stated in one sentence to a profit, Ezekiel, but is elaborated on in image based language. Why wasn’t the message “You messed up and broke my commandments so bad that I’m going to destroy you as a country and scatter the few surviving people”?
But today, I saw this chapter from a different perspective - the interconnectivity of people (whether we want it or not). This passage (and it goes on after the selection) clearly details that a people known for shipping commerce are dependent on many other people to make the components and provide services that they depend on to support that ability to ship stuff.
One of my guilty pleasures is looking at this stupid, time wasting videos on social media. The software records which ones you pay attention to and soon that is most of what you get offered. I might have already mentioned “Fridays with Frank” detailing traffic stops in AZ. To this I’ll add survival camping.
I’m sure you’ve seen a video. A guy in the woods has to craft (or rehabilitate) a camp site to survive the night. He would gather wood to frame a shelter, cut logs to frame the cabin, thatch the roof, etc. What bothers me about these videos is that he has to carry in supplies to even to make that happen such as a saw, hammer, a tarp (for the roof and windows) and nails. I’ve never seen a video where nails weren’t an integral part of the shelter building. I have never made a nail before, have you? Conceptually, I think I know how to make one but finding the raw material and having a container to melt the iron to pour it into a mold reminds me of the difficulty the Professor had when he tried in Gilligan’s Island.
In fact, I am having a hard time thinking of one activity I’ve ever done that didn’t require the contribution by many people that I’ve never met and never will. I think that is why taking care of each other is so important in our faith walk.
“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left. Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’ Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’” - Matthew 25:31-40 ESV
