"I will make known the holiness of MY great name, profaned among the nations because of you; and they will know that I AM YAHWEH, when I show them my holiness among you.
For I will gather you from all the nations and bring you back to your own land. Then I shall pour pure water over you and you shall be made clean--cleansed from the defilement of all your idols. I shall give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you. I shall remove your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. I shall put MY spirit within you and move you to follow MY decrees and keep MY laws. You will live in the land I gave your ancestors; you shall be MY people and I will be your GOD." - Ezekiel 36:23-28
(I shall give you a new heart. Many think it impossible to change the human heart. Because some have no hope of changing human beings, they accept people as they are, preferring to overlook mediocrity and sinfulness. Others become bitter about everything and everyone.
The new heart is precisely what GOD offers in this text, quite similar to Jeremiah 31:31 and Ezekiel 11:19. The experience of the Jewish people showed that human beings are weak and unable to follow the commandments. Yet if an individual knows GOD personally, to the point of sharing intimately in GOD's life, is there no possibility of change and renewal?
This is the meaning of the word conversion. To be converted means to come back to GOD after having been away from HIM. First, there is a change that takes place in the heart, that is to say, in the innermost part of the human being. Then, there is a change of mentality and attitude. In fact, it is GOD who converts people, by loving them, attracting them and giving them HIS Spirit, which transforms them into new beings. I will take away your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. This will be the new Covenant.
Here may be seen the difference between Jeremiah and Ezekiel. Ezekiel has been given a pastoral task from GOD: he had to form over long years those who were to rebuild Israel. Ezekiel is preparing the near future. I will bring you back to your land: how often Ezekiel will repeat this. He is in the line of Moses; after him, Ezekiel is one who had to lead the people of Israel. His duties as a pastor prevented him from seeing that a new heart would mean a radical change in the history of Israel: even if the Jews reentered their country, the time of their kingdom had passed and their national hopes would no longer matter. Jeremiah, on the contrary, who did not bear the same responsibility, lived the tragedy to the full, and in such moments could see that the history of Israel--GOD's people on GOD's earth--was nearing its end: the Gospel had to come.)
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