Hope Done Right: Ezekiel 37:1-14 - Second Sunday of Advent

Which subjects gave you the most grief in school?

For me, it was chemistry, and gym.

My chemistry teacher was a tall, bearded with an imposing presence who taught my class as if we were all first-year medical students. As for the gym teacher, I never heard her speak in a normal tone of voice. She just yelled, and since I have no athletic talents whatsoever, I got yelled at a lot. In time, I interpreted my struggles as signs that I was incapable of understanding chemistry and physical exercise.  that I should avoid insurmountable. Years later, I had a revelation when an exercise instructor said, “if you’re struggling but you keep going, then you’re doing it right.” 

That’s something we need to keep in mind in all of life’s struggles, including your struggles with God. 

Photo by Josh Harrison on Unsplash. 

In today’s reading, the prophet Ezekiel confronts the single-most devastating event in all Old Testament history: the destruction of Jerusalem and the exile in Babylon. 

He and his fellow prophets had warned God’s people of the horrors they about to face for having abandoned God. And now, God’s Spirit has brought Ezekiel to a valley full of human bones. 

The Lord asks him, “Mortal, can these bones live?” Ezekiel answers, “Lord, you know.” 

God commands Ezekiel to speak God’s word to the bones, and suddenly, they come together as the breath of life returns to them. Still, they cry out, “Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost; we are cut off completely!” “We have no life left within us,” they say, as though speaking for every child of God who’s ever been in the throes of such pain and despair. 

You get to that point where your willpower and strength give out, and there’s nothing left inside of you to continue the struggle. There’s no life left within you. 

While often, we think of this on an individual level, for Ezekiel, it is a communal level—a national level. God’s people are a broken people: broken by their sin; and, I would also add, broken by God, because the only way God could save them from their wickedness was to break them. When you suffer, it’s only natural to ask, “what did I do that God is punishing me so?” But unless your suffering can be attributed to something you’ve done, like committing a crime and going to jail, don’t assume you know the mind of God. God does not want to be known for his wrath. God wants to be known for his mercy and love, as well as his power to make dry bones live again. 

What is impossible for mortals is not impossible with God. Ezekiel speaks the Word of God to the bones, and when he does, life returns to them. In this place of overwhelming death, Ezekiel is given a vision of God’s future where life prevails over death. A vision is just that: a vision. It’s not reality. Not yet. But that doesn’t make it any less real…

Living as people of hope means focusing the totality of our lives on God’s promise of a future where life and love prevails over evil and death. And God will regularly inspire dreams and visions, similar to that of Ezekiel’s, which allow us to taste and see the promised future amid the devastating present. The best part of being church together is that we share these visions and dream these dreams, and get to see the Spirit bringing some of them to life. God’s resurrection power lives in our perseverance in prayer, faithfulness, and love. And I say perseverance because hope is not a given. Hope is a struggle. It is not the path of least resistance, but the path of most resistance. 

Despair is the path of least resistance, because it demands nothing of you: no effort, no risking failure or rejection or disappointment, no works of faith or labors of love. You’re merely going with the flow of death. 

Hope, on the other hand, demands great effort. You will suffer failure and rejection and disappointment. Your works of faith and labors of love will not always yield the outcome you desired. You’re moving forward with doubt and death taunting you every step of the way. 

But the truth spoken by the fitness instructor holds true: if you’re struggling, you’re doing it right. If you make mistakes and learn from your failures, you’re doing it right. If you feel like giving up but you keep going, then you’re definitely doing it right. 

Ultimately, it’s not you who’s doing it. It’s God who makes the dry bones live. It’s God who breaks hard hearts. It’s God who heals broken hearts. It’s God who creates new life out of death. And it’s God who will win the future. Trust God. Believe in hope. Taste and see the victory today.

Ezekiel 37:1-14 (NRSVue)

The hand of the Lord came upon me, and he brought me out by the spirit of the Lord and set me down in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones. ² He led me all around them; there were very many lying in the valley, and they were very dry. ³ He said to me, “Mortal, can these bones live?” I answered, “O Lord God, you know.” ⁴ Then he said to me, “Prophesy to these bones and say to them: O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. ⁵ Thus says the Lord God to these bones: I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live. ⁶ I will lay sinews on you and will cause flesh to come upon you and cover you with skin and put breath in you, and you shall live, and you shall know that I am the Lord.”

⁷ 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. ⁸ 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. ⁹ Then he said to me, “Prophesy to the breath, prophesy, mortal, and say to the breath: Thus says the Lord God: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live.” ¹⁰ I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived and stood on their feet, a vast multitude.

¹¹ Then he said to me, “Mortal, these bones are the whole house of Israel. They say, ‘Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost; we are cut off completely.’ ¹² Therefore prophesy and say to them: Thus says the Lord God: I am going to open your graves and bring you up from your graves, O my people, and I will bring you back to the land of Israel. ¹³ And you shall know that I am the Lord when I open your graves and bring you up from your graves, O my people. ¹⁴ I will put my spirit within you, and you shall live, and I will place you on your own soil; then you shall know that I, the Lord, have spoken and will act, says the Lord.”