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Ezekiel 44:15. "But the Levitical priests ... who kept the charge of my sanctuary when the people of Israel went astray from me, shall come near to me to minister to me; and they shall attend on me ... says the Lord God."

 

God is telling Ezekiel that after His people have returned to Him, the priests who stayed true to Him while the rest of the people, and the other priests, went astray, are the only ones who may serve Him and offer sacrifice in His sanctuary. In prior verses (Ezekiel 44:9-14), God says that the priests "who went far from me, going astray from me after their idols when Israel went astray" may not enter the sanctuary, "They shall not come near to me to serve me as priest, nor come near to any of my sacred things ... but they shall bear their shame because of the abominations they have committed." Those priests' only duties will be to care for the temple, "to do all its service and all that is to be done in it." Thus, the priests who went astray along with the people will be punished for their waywardness by not being allowed to perform their most important role as priests - they shall not be allowed to enter the sanctuary and offer sacrifice, the priests who stayed true to God will be the only ones permitted to do that.

 

The wayward priests were guilty of many of their own personal sins stemming from their own temptations and weaknesses, but God also makes clear that He is punishing them for "admitting foreigners, uncircumcised in heart and flesh, to be in my sanctuary." (Ezekiel 44:7) God says "no foreigner, uncircumcised in heart and flesh ... among the people of Israel, shall enter my sanctuary" and the Levites who went astray from God "shall bear their punishment" (that is, the punishment of the foreigners who were allowed into the sanctuary will be borne by the priests who let them in). (Ezekiel 44:10)

 

We may be tempted to think this passage from Ezekiel is one of those things that went away with the New Testament, after all, Jesus made it clear that He came for all people, not just the Jews. The Holy Spirit confirmed to Peter and Paul that Gentiles and foreigners were to be welcomed and accepted into the Church. So now there are no "foreigners" with God - the whole human race is His family. But who did Jesus say are His brothers and sisters? Those who do His Father's will. (Matthew 12:50)

 

Yes, we are all family, but some of our brothers and sisters either have not heard the Good News or choose not to fully accept it, so they are not doing our Father's will. They are "uncircumcised" in heart and flesh. Even if (especially if!) they have been baptized and taught the faith, they are the foreigners of today. This does not mean they are lost, we all, and especially our priests, have a duty to teach them and lead them back, but we have to stay true to God while we do so, lest we become foreigners as well. But if they refuse to listen, if they will not accept God's law and will, Jesus did say "Not every one who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you evildoers.’" (Matthew 7:21-23). It is the people to whom Jesus would say "I never knew you" who are foreigners to God.

 

All priests, those of the Old Testament and our priests today, have a unique duty to keep God's children from going astray. They have taken on the duty of teaching us, guiding us, leading us, and sacrificing for us. They are modeling Christ, our perfect High Priest, who took on the punishment for our sins, but also unwaveringly taught us to avoid sin - to stay true to God's laws in the best way we can. When our priests fail to do this, and instead go along with the people as the people go astray or, even worse, lead God's people astray, then they are no longer being priests. They have forfeited their special relationship with God and have abandoned their duties to His people, and can no longer serve God by offering His sacrifice. Eventually they will not only be punished for their own sinfulness, but they will also bear the punishment of the people who have gone astray, just like Jesus bore our punishment for us.

 

So this is very much relevant to us in our times. There are still "foreigners" who have either never learned of God or have turned away from Him, and are engaging in all sorts of sinful behavior, behavior which is often perfectly acceptable in, and even praised, by our secular society. If our priests try to find ways to excuse or have the Church go along with this behavior, and invite those "foreigners" into the sanctuary in the process, they are just like the wayward Levites here. 

 

God loves all "foreigners" and all His priests, but we all have to be in right relationship with Him before we can participate fully in the sacrifice. We are simply not in full communion with the Church and with Christ when we are living in sin. God wants to bring us back to that full communion, by having us repent and atone, and our priests are meant to help us do that. When our priests instead invite our sinfulness to the sacrifice, and we bring it, expecting our sin to be ignored or condoned, we are insulting God in a most grievous way. Priests who have led us to this point, or allowed us to lead them to it, are among those who are foreigners to God, He does not know them.