Let's Rise

Thus says the Lord GOD: O my people, I will open your graves and have you rise from them, and bring you back to the land of Israel. Then you shall know that I am the LORD, when I open your graves and have you rise from them, O my people! I will put my spirit in you that you may live, and I will settle you upon your land; thus you shall know that I am the LORD. I have promised, and I will do it, says the LORD. (Ezekiel 37:12-14)

The first part of Ezekiel’s story about the dry bones come alive reads (37:1-11): 

The hand of the LORD came upon me, and he led me out in the spirit of the LORD and set me in the center of the broad valley. It was filled with bones. He made me walk among them in every direction. So many lay on the surface of the valley! How dry they were!

He asked me: Son of man, can these bones come back to life? “Lord GOD,” I answered, “you alone know that.” Then he said to me: Prophesy over these bones, and say to them: Dry bones, hear the word of the LORD! Thus says the Lord GOD to these bones: Listen! I will make breath enter you so you may come to life, will put sinews on you, make flesh grow over you, cover you with skin, and put breath into you so you may come to life. Then you shall know that I am the LORD.

I prophesied as I had been commanded. A sound started up, as I was prophesying, rattling like thunder. The bones came together, bone joining to bone. As I watched, sinews appeared on them, flesh grew over them, skin covered them on top, but there was no breath in them. Then he said to me: Prophesy to the breath, prophesy, son of man! Say to the breath: Thus says the Lord GOD: From the four winds come, O breath, and breathe into these slain that they may come to life. 

I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath entered them; they came to life and stood on their feet, a vast army. He said to me: Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel! They are saying, “Our bones are dried up, our hope is lost, and we are cut off.” 

How many of us feel we are nothing but dry bones.  We may feel as if we are in graves.  Sorrow can do that.  A feeling of hopelessness can be a coffin into which we place ourselves.  

Rising from our graves – an Easter rising – is possible this Lent, and every day, when we listen to God.  Bones attach, flesh appears, we breathe again, and we come to life.  What is said for us with ears to hear?  “Forgive, love, have hope, and do not fear,” are just some of the levers we use to pry us from our graves.  Otherwise, our bones are still scattered; our graves remain tight crypts.

Let's rise.

Deacon David Pierce