Lev Basar

I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.
-Ezekiel 36:26

Country music singer Billy Ray Cyrus, who is now the second most famous singer in the Cyrus family, reached fame 31 years ago with his hit song Achy Breaky Heart.Honestly, this song still holds up. How could you not love it? When the singer's girlfriend breaks up with him, he says that she can go ahead and tell everyone. Everyone except his heart...

You can tell the world you never was my girl
You can burn my clothes when I'm gone
Or you can tell your friends just what a fool I've been
And laugh and joke about me on the phone.
But don't tell my heart, my achy breaky heart
I just don't think he'd understand. 
And if you tell my heart, my achy breaky heart, 
He might blow up and kill this man

The poor guy has a heart that's at risk of being broken. He really wishes it wasn't so breakable. 

But there are worse types of hearts...

Hearts that can never be broken. Hearts that can't ache or break. Hearts that have turned to stone. 

Ezekiel is a wild and crazy book in the Old Testament with some seriously NOT PG-rated imagery and harsh judgments. God's people had kind of gone off the deep end and given in to a world of violence, idolatry, and neglect of those in need. But the book is not without promises of restoration. 

In chapter 36, Ezekiel shares one of God's hopeful promises with his people. He says that God is going to move in them one day to change their hearts. He will take their heart of stone away, and in its place he will give them a heart of flesh. The rabbis of old knew this phrase well. In Hebrew, it is lev basar. A heart of flesh is one that is soft and attentive, able to be moved, and able to feel. 

Centuries ago, the Hasidic teacher Rabbe Nachman of Breslov founded a movement based on cultivating Ezekiel's lev basar. He taught, "there's nothing so whole as a broken heart." The tradition held that a broken heart is different than a sad or depressed one. It is open to one's own suffering and the suffering of others. It is a heart that feels, that has vulnerability and openness. It's a heart that is available for true connection. This is the work of God in us-- to create a heart of flesh that can feel, that can connect with others, and that can even be broken. 

I find it profound that God promises to transform stony hearts enough that they can be broken once again. It's so easy for us to guard ourselves from discomfort or pain by putting walls around our hearts. If we don't feel, we can't hurt. 
We can also allow our hearts to be stony toward others. This is especially true for those we don't get along with. We may be moved with compassion for those we feel are suffering unjustly. But for those who have made poor decisions or who we deem to be in the wrong? Our hearts are rarely able to break for them. So we are soft toward one person, stony toward the next one. 

But Jesus doesn't offer us the choice of deciding who is deserving of softheartedness. A heart of flesh, if God is the one making it, will always be open to the Spirit's moving. It will always have compassion for those who are hurting, regardless of which "side" we might be tempted to think that they are on. 

I love so much that this heart of flesh is something that God gives us as a gift. The gift of being able to feel and share emotions is a sacred thing. The gift of being able to hurt with those who hurt is a high calling. The gift of embracing vulnerability is the gateway to knowing God and knowing others. Undergoing open heart surgery with Jesus may be terrifying and painful, but it is the way to a full and healthy life. 

Where do you find your heart stony today? Toward whom? Today is a wonderful day to invite Jesus to soften your own heart-- even to make it breakable-- so that you can be fully human, and fully open to God's movement, once again. 

Jesus, take whatever has hardened in me, and bring it to life. 

Peace,
Keith

---