The Refugee

Someone should make a movie about Ezekiel 33:21-22. In that passage, a refugee from Jerusalem comes to Ezekiel and tells him that the city has fallen. When Ezekiel hears the refugee's message, he is suddenly able to speak. Before that, Ezekiel was mute, due to divine influence.

There are a lot of questions that I have about this refugee. Who was he? How did he know Ezekiel? Was he acquainted with Ezekiel when the prophet lived in Judah? Did he know him by reputation? Or did God tell him to go to the prophet?

What happened on the refugee's journey? Did he have to go through deserts? Did he encounter villains who hindered his mission? How long did he travel? What did he eat or drink? How did he feel about his own city being destroyed? Did he have family? Did he know what happened to his friends and loved ones?

What is strange is that this guy escaped when the Babylonians invaded Jerusalem, and yet he was going to the very country that was taking Jerusalem captive: Babylon, the place of Ezekiel's exile. Was he putting his liberty at risk when he went to Babylon? I mean, he had escaped. He wasn't like King Zedekiah, who thought he was home free right before the Babylonians captured him (how disappointing!). This guy was actually a free man. He was able to start anew, whatever his previous life was like in Jerusalem. He could have gone someplace and set up a fairly comfortable existence. He wasn't an exile, and he didn't have to remain in Jerusalem to eat children. But, despite his freedom, something inside (or outside) of himself compelled him to go to Babylon. Either he went out of his own volition, or God told him to go. Whatever his motivation, he played a role in the divine drama that was unfolding.

I think about Paul's statements about freedom in his epistles. Paul says in Romans 14 and I Corinthians 8 that people are free to eat certain meats, but that they should try not to be a stumbling block to their Christian brothers. He asserts in I Corinthians 7:22 that Christian slaves are God's freemen, whereas Christian freemen are God's slaves. And he tells Gentiles in Galatians 5 that God has set them free, right before he enumerates the characteristics of a righteous believer.

There is something about freedom that makes me feel good. It's like a breath of fresh air. I think about Zedekiah's unsuccessful escape, and what goes through my mind is "Bummer!" Maybe that's because I have dreams in which I fly away from danger. When I think of freedom or escape, I remember Tim Robbins getting out of that dull, dreary prison in the Shawshank Redemption and going to Mexico. Remember how he looked when he finally broke out? I was afraid that the cops would catch him again, but they didn't. He was home free.

Yet, there is more to life than freedom. There is righteousness. There is having a purpose beyond oneself. One can have a lot of free time and be miserable. Paul reminds us that our purpose in the Christian story is more important than our freedom, as much as we should celebrate our liberty in Christ.

As I said, Ezekiel 33:21-22 would make a good movie. But I would want it to be made by competent movie-makers, meaning I probably wouldn't hire the people who make those corny Revelation movies on TBN (though, I will admit, even those movies have a certain charm). My idea sounds like The Nativity Story, in which Joseph and Mary were refugees on a journey, but I wouldn't want my movie to be that boring.

Any movie-makers out there?