22 Therefore say to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord God: It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am about to act, but for the sake of my holy name, which you have profaned among the nations to which you came. 23 I will sanctify my great name, which has been profaned among the nations, and which you have profaned among them; and the nations shall know that I am the Lord, says the Lord God, when through you I display my holiness before their eyes. 24 I will take you from the nations, and gather you from all the countries, and bring you into your own land. 25 I will sprinkle clean water upon you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. 26 A new heart I will give you, and a new spirit I will put within you; and I will remove from your body the heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. 27 I will put my spirit within you, and make you follow my statutes and be careful to observe my ordinances. 28 Then you shall live in the land that I gave to your ancestors; and you shall be my people, and I will be your God. 29 I will save you from all your uncleannesses, and I will summon the grain and make it abundant and lay no famine upon you. 30 I will make the fruit of the tree and the produce of the field abundant, so that you may never again suffer the disgrace of famine among the nations. Ezekiel 36:22-30
In the movie Grumpy Old Men, the two main characters both of which are widowers, John Gustafson, and Max Goldman, spend most of the time pranking and fighting with each other in winter Minnesota. We see fish left in the car overnight creating a stench. We see snow drifts falling on heads. We see fighting over high school sweethearts and fighting over a newcomer to the town, Ariel Truax. Over the course of the movie, these two grumpy old men just pick and fight with each other, each trying to outdo the pranks done to them and neither really winning anything at all.
We just might have a “grumpy” part inside us all. Perhaps a better term for grumpy might be cynical. We have become skeptical in a post-covid age, uncertain about what is true and what is political propaganda. We have become doubtful in a time of conflicting ideas and theories about what is real and what bears integrity. We have become mistrusting of each other, seeing the “other person” not as neighbors but as rivals trying to get ahead of us or even harm us. We have become suspicious, seeing conspiracies about elections, vaccines, economics, cashless societies and much more behind every action, every news story, and every tweet on Twitter. We have become disbelieving in our present age, realizing that for all our desires to “progress” and improve our societies and the lives of everyone, we might really be regressing in respect, in empathy, and in basic human civility. To put it into words and perspective, we have become “grumpy” cynics.
But when our attitudes become cynical, our actions soon follow. When we become “grumpy,” we start using labels for people. When you load your social media applications, you can see the many labels that we use: Boomers, Millennials, Snowflakes, Woke, Sheep, -phobes, Fascists. All of which serve only to dehumanize the ones opposing us, reducing them to less than human objects which we can hate and destroy. But a cynical attitude not just reduces our opponents to pejorative phrases, but also allows us to enter rivalries with them, which must be one at all costs; enter the culture wars. And if we are in rivalries, winning the culture wars is all that matters. Then we dismiss the viewpoints of our enemies and belittle them in public with as much vitriol and panache as we can muster, to rally our supporters and to earn likes and advertisers for our webpages. Our “grumpy” cynicism becomes violence and oppression. Our cynical attitudes become hearts and deeds of stone.
While our world may have many forces encouraging and nurturing cynicism, the Gospel testifies to us of how as Jesus of Nazareth, God is working against “grumpiness,” a new heart I will give you, and a new spirit I will put within you; and I will remove from your body the heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. Quite simply put, God has given each of his children a heart transplant. The old cynical hearts of stone have been removed and a new heart of flesh has been sewn in. The soul which is skeptical, doubtful, mistrusting, suspicious and disbelieving has been removed and a new heart has been put in its place, a soft heart of flesh.
But what does that look like? The easy answer is that a heart of flesh looks like Jesus and his life lived for others. That life is a life of vulnerability before others. Jesus is not dominant nor selfish nor miserly nor “grumpy.” He empowers people at the cost of his own power. He is vulnerable to others as sheep before the wolves. He is willing to be authentic and to open himself up to others. But he is open to others even at the cost of being crucified by those other people. Jesus does not dehumanize and destroy, but Jesus humanizes the other people and creates, not a cynical heart, but a loving heart.
This new heart changes everything. This heart of flesh creates and generates instead of destroying and killing. This heart of flesh anticipates in hope the Kingdom of God instead of sinking in cynicism and despair. This heart of flesh remains present to all in love for God and our neighbor at the cost of vulnerability and self-sacrifice. This heart of flesh is the heart of the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ and this heart by Grace lives in us. This heart can become our heart. The grumpy old men by the end of the movie became not rivals but friends, caring and supporting each other. Through Christ, so too can we. The Gospel friends is that the cynical hearts of stone that live in us can become loving hearts of flesh. As disciples of Christ, we can learn and become those people, not cynics but saints. Now let it be so and let it begin with us. Amen.
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