New Life: Ezekiel 37:1-14
Some history: in 598 BC, the Babylonian army sacked Jerusalem and took the king and about 8,000 Israelites into exile, leaving behind a puppet king and a devastated country. In 586, responding to Jewish rebellion, the Babylonians came back to finish the job, destroying the Jerusalem Temple and ending the Jewish monarchy and any sign of Israel as a nation. Ezekiel’s ministry spans this timeframe. The son of a priest among the first exiles in Babylon,Ezekiel receives his prophetic call there, exhorting the exiles to keep their faith alive in the foreign land, while warning that the judgment was not over. Ezekiel predicted the destruction of Jerusalem as punishment for sins. While he never actually goes to Jerusalem, he is a prophetic witness to the violence and destruction. In prophetic vision he “sees” the final siege and destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple. The Jerusalem survivors then joined the first exiles in Babylon. It became Ezekiel’s task to make the Jewish faith relevant in this new context, if that was possible.
In a vision, the prophet sees a valley full of skeletons. If these bones are those of the defeated armies of Israel, they have not been given burial, because there is no one left to bury them and their enemies don’t respect them enough to give this honor.. The bones symbolize complete destruction. They are also a sign of prophetic failure, since Ezekiel’s words were not enough to prevent Israel’s (self-) destruction. It’s too late to repent—is it too late to regroup? Now that all his devastating predictions have come to pass, Ezekiel’s words are not to the dead but to the discouraged survivors.
The first part of Ezekiel’s book pronounces bitter judgment on Israel. Like his contemporary, Jeremiah back in Israel, Ezekiel predicts destruction as punishment for unfaithfulness. He scorns any political or military attempt to forestall the inevitable. But after the destruction of the Temple, Ezekiel’s message changes . Judgment now falls on those nations that gloat over Israel’s destruction, while he envisions restoration for a newly faithful and united Israel.
Things to consider:
Ezekiel’s world, social, political, and religious, has been destroyed. It appears that the gods of Babylon are stronger than the God of Israel, so what is the point of believing? Now, when there is no hope left, Ezekiel offers good news. Where does he find the faith to do that? How have you responded to disappointment in God?
Ezekiel’s vision of the dry bones coming to life is not the resurrection of individuals, but of a community. How might Ezekiel’s vision speak to God’s people today? Where would we see a community of dry bones without hope? How might hope be restored?
Hebrew has only one word for breath, spirit, and wind: ruah, Ezekiel commands the wind to become breath for the dry bones. But notice that the wind becomes God’s spirit as it enters the bodies. How did this happen to exiled Israel? Where might we say God’s spirit is enlivening people today?
New Life: John 11:1-45
While all four Gospels have stories of Jesus raising the dead, only John tells the story of Lazarus. The details makes it very clear that Lazarus is really, really dead! Mary and Martha (but not Lazarus) are also mentioned in the Gospel of Luke. They are proof that not all those who considered themselves disciples of Jesus traveled with him, but some continued living ordinary lives. Along with the Beloved Disciple, they are described as people that Jesus loves. This story tells us what that love entails, a relationship that includes both life and death.
As in his encounter with the blind man, Jesus sees an opportunity to offer a sign of God’s glory in Lazarus, so he delays going to him. Both Mary and Martha recognize that Jesus could have saved Lazarus, but they still both maintain their faith in him, with Martha offering the definitive expression of a disciple’s faith: You are the Christ. While this death may be an opportunity for glory, it is still a very emotional scene—even Jesus gets caught up in it.
According to John, this sign of life leads directly to the cross. Raising Lazarus is the reason many believe and acclaim Jesus as king, and it is also the reason why his enemies go from hating him to planning to kill him (and Lazarus). While John’s rationale is probably not historically accurate, the Gospel makes the important theological point that Jesus offers life to the world, but the world rejects him. Here we have the whole message of Good Friday: We reject life, even violently, but God gives us grace anyway, out of love.
Thoughts to consider:
Jesus loves this family, but that love does not protect them from grief, even death. But his love transforms both of those experiences. Does this change any of our understanding of what it means to be follow Jesus?
Martha’s understanding of the resurrection is absolutely the right statement of faith, but somehow she misses the immediacy of what Jesus is offering—I am the Resurrection, and the Life. If we think of salvation as a gift for the future, we miss the immediacy of what Jesus offers. How does the Gospel make a real difference in your life now—in relationships, priorities, work, worries—what? What difference do you wish it made?
Jesus demonstrates glory, that is, God’s truth, in raising Lazarus. This will lead to the glory of the cross, the ultimate revelation of God’s truth. What would you say that these two truths—life and death—say about who God is and what salvation means?
Jesus raises Lazarus, but the bystanders have to untie him before he can return to life in the community, so witnesses are also participants. This is a good metaphor for the church’s same mission to help people live out the life given by Jesus. How do you see this happening in the church as you know it?