Resurrection of Dried Bones

I will put my spirit within you, and you shall live...Ezekiel 47. 1 - 14

The great contemporary Hebrew scholar, Robert Alter, describes Ezekiel as "surely the strangest prophet of all" and his prophecy "a God intoxicated derangement." This story of the clinking and clanging of the rising of the dry bones is one of the oddest prophecies in scripture...And also one of the most poignant Old Testament stories of resurrection.

So I prophesied as I had been commanded; and as I prophesied, suddenly there was a noise, a rattling, and the bones came together, bone to its bone. I looked, and there were sinews on them, and flesh had come upon them, and skin had covered them; but there was no breath in them.

This prophecy is intended to show the people that nation of Israel will rise again, freed from the Babylonian captivity, but it is filled with metaphorical meaning especially when God says to the prophet, "I will put my spirit within you, and you shall live." This line echoes God in the Garden of Eden with Adam and Eve as well as Jesus with dead Lazarus in the tomb..."Unbind him and let him go," let him be filled with the Spirit and brought back to life.

Taking the metaphor even further, what are the dry bones strewn in the valley of the world around you? What would it take/cost for these bones to come to life again? What is the breath that the world needs in order to be alive again? As the lesson from Romans appointed for today says, "you are in the Spirit, since the Spirit of God dwells in you." and that Spirit/Breath is Love. Where in the history of the world has the Spirit of God in Love been breathed into dry bones? Where in our lives have our dry bones been loved back to life?

It is the Spirit of Love that gives life, and God in whom we live and move and have our being is the Source of that Spirit of Love. In the midst of this dry season of Lent in our church and the dry season of war and conflict in our world, let us look intently for places we can be channels of that breath that instills Spirit and life givers for those dry bones, those of ourselves and others, which need resurrecting. Unbind them and let them go.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9-0oNccrqDY

It is the Spirit of love who gives

life,

who even at night guides my

heart;

I say to this Spirit of love,

true joy lies in you alone.

You will show me the path of life,

the fullness of joy in your

presence,

at your right hand your peace

forever,

when we come to your life

eternal.

You are the Spirit who gives life;

true joy lies in you alone