Please read the passage before reading the commentary
Ezekiel’s wife had died quite unexpectedly, and he was totally devasted so that he could not perform the normal rites for mourning, which included going bareheaded and barefooted. He still wore his turban and sandals. He came to understand that a time was coming when the entire nation would be so stung by catastrophic disaster that the nation could not mourn in the accustomed way. Such would be the disaster of the destruction of the temple and the complete fall of the city of Jerusalem into the hands of the Assyrians at the time of the Exile.
Perhaps those who can relate to the attack of the Twin Towers in New York on 9-11 can relate to what happened to the Jewish people with the collapse of Jerusalem at the time of the Exile. The same may be true for the Japanese people after the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in World War II. The same may be true for individuals whose significant other has died suddenly with no opportunity of saying goodbye.
Catastrophic grieving obliterates the usual rules for mourning. Others have to pitch in to help. Ezekiel experienced this. The Jewish people did also at the time of the Exodus. Other nations and other people have experienced this in their history These are the times that try people’s souls.
At these times it is easy for others to say that God cares or that God would provide, but it is hard to live this attempt at consolation. Where is God when we need God the most? Perhaps God is more in the tears and desolation that we experience than in comfort offered. Perhaps God is present more in working through grief than in any other way.
Ezekiel’s wife died; Jerusalem was captured, and the temple was destroyed. Ezekiel became a sign to his people; as he worked through grief to rebuild his life, so did his people would return from Exile eventually and rebuild the temple. We can look back to see that God had never left Ezekiel or deserted God’s people.
When catastrophic grief strikes us, I hope we can discover God’s presence in the process of experiencing the loss and the recovery from it.