The death of Ezekiel the prophet's wife becomes a vivid symbol of how the Israelites are to respond to the loss of their Temple, which is the pride of their strength, the delight of their eyes, and the passion of their souls. Ezekiel is called by the Lord not to display any of the customary practices of mourning, but to suffer his loss privately. Not surprisingly, the people want to know the meaning of this rather unusual and unfeeling behaviour. Ezekiel then passes on the message that God has given him - the people are to do what Ezekiel does after the death of his wife. When their beloved Temple is desecrated, there will simply be no time for mourning; the catastrophe will be too sudden and cataclysmic. It will be the punishment for their immorality and idolatry. However, it is not the Temple they are to mourn for, but for themselves and their failure to recognise the Lord.

The lesson for us is that we can become so focused on these losses or our attachments that we fail to see how much should be mourned in our own lives because of our repeated failures in our relationships with God and our neighbours. Like the rich young man in the Gospel, our focus can be taken up by good deeds to be carried out in order to attain eternal life. But only two things are needed, that is, to let go of our attachments and to follow Jesus closely.