Reclaimed and Proclaimed Hope (Ezekiel 37:1-6)

What came across our minds yesterday morning, when we were watching the video which was presented at the start of the worship? Let me speak for myself. I thought, O yes, seen from a youth perspective the church is boring and dead. I completely agreed with what the narrator was saying. When the video paused for a while I thought the preacher was going to dwell on how the church has failed to the youth. I did not see the reversal that was coming. Did you? I thought it was amazing how the reversal of the order just did away with all the negativities and sought to affirm instead. What was supposed to be dead was suddenly brought into life. Where there was no hope, hope was rekindled.

Something of such reversal from death to life took place in the read passage. What emerges from the text is the enduring message of hope. But the hope expressed here is not a wishful thinking or a feeling. Hope can be defined as a desire, expectations or goals that seem difficult to achieve but may somewhat be realized, something that will happen in the future but is not sure, nevertheless attainable and possible. The meaning of hope undergoes a shift in this vision of Ezekiel. Hope is given a whole new meaning and significance as it now comes to mean source of life. This drastic change in the meaning here can be better comprehended when we think about what do bones represent. Bones are usually associated with and represent and depict death and dangers.

The description of bones as “very dry bones” suggests a situation or condition of complete hopelessness. The bones were not just bone but disjointed bones, each bone separated from the other and spread everywhere that it implies an irreparable disunity. The text here depicts the beyond despair situation of Israel. Under the powerful Babylonians, Israel in exile was a dead nation, deprived of her land, her king and her temple. Regaining it was not only an almost impossible task but also an impossible dream. But mission impossible it was from a human point of view, for God it was mission possible.

Let us imagine ourselves in place of Ezekiel. Walking amidst the heap of bones, if we are asked the same surprising and ridiculous question of whether the bones can live, the natural answer will be, no doubt, a negative one. By bringing back the dry bones to life, God’s power as the creator, the Lord over life and death is revealed and displayed. But it was not to be a matter of mere display of God’s power. Human participation was required. Since God is the creator, the act of re-creation here could also have been carried out by God alone. But we see that human in the form of Ezekiel became the agent of re-creation. The task of bringing the dry bones back to life was fulfilled through Ezekiel, the agent of God. Human task and responsibility in sustaining the life of God’s creation as an agent of God is emphasized here. And thus the question, Can these bones live?, no longer remains a question but an invitation to be obedient to God’s will and to be dependent on God.

The scene described in the text is much like a field which had witnessed combat or slaughter, a realistic depiction of our world today. These days there is never a day that passes by when we do not read or see pictures of people being slaughtered in numbers. Though not bones, they too represent a lifeless condition. As agents of God, we need to ask few questions to ourselves. The very purpose of our ministry is to give hope but the realities around us do not evoke much hope but constant fear. Have we failed to make any impact on the life of the people and instead became dry bones? Are we not challenged to do something about our world?  The text gives us direction to rise up from such discouraging scenario and bring about the reversal of the gruesome and hopeless reality around us. And we can do it by acknowledging God’s power and by obeying God. Without God any human effort is wasted effort. Ezekiel’s reply to the question of God was not an evasive act but an act of conceding human impotence before God’s power. To do such, requires of us to have an attitude of humility. Then and there we let go off all our human vanity. Like Ezekiel, we will begin to see not through our eyes but through God’s eye. We will begin to speak God’s word instead of our words. And when God’s word is spoken things are sure to happen. There will be reversal of death to life and hope will be reclaimed and proclaimed.

S. Ngatar  Ruivanao

MTh II