Old Testament: Ezekiel 37:1-14
Gospel: John 11:1-45
Epistle: Romans 8:6-11
This Sunday is what I consider the last Sunday when we focus on the themes of Lent. There are still two weeks in Lent, but next Sunday is of course Palm Sunday where the focus shifts to Jesus' Triumphal Entry and the last week of his life. Perhaps Easter plans are now forming in your life and there are visible signs of Easter's coming. But hopefully also, as we wait for that day, this time of waiting and reflection will draw us closer to God.
This week a very clear theme emerges across our passages: God gives life. In Genesis, as the Creator of everything, he specifically breathes into humanity and gives them life. Throughout the story of Israel he is a life-giving God. The very existence of Israel, as a people chosen to be a light to the nations and through whom salvation would come, is giving life to creation.
Israel however, failed to live up to its potential and by the time of Ezekiel, was nothing more than a pile of dry bones. There was no life in the bones, and thus they definitely weren't a source of life to the rest of creation. But God brings Ezekiel down to the valley and he promises to restore life to the dry bones of Israel. He says that he will restore the breath, or spirit, into the bones and restore life. The word here ru'ach is the exam same word that Genesis uses to describe the God breathing life into humanity. Notice also, it is a two step process as in Genesis 2. First God "formed man of dust of the ground" and then he breathed life into them. In Ezekiel, the bones come together with sinew and skin, but life is still lacking. God then breaths his life into them and they are re-created from death. This point is reiterated in verse 14, when the Lord interprets the vision for Ezekiel. The bones are Israel, but God will breathe his spirit back into them. A future is coming when they will again be recreated, renewed, and brought back to life in and by the Spirit of God.
Moving into the Gospel reading, in John, Lazarus is brought back to life. The Pharisees know that it is indeed God's place to give life and Jesus is placing himself in that role. In fact, it is this moment which in the Gospel of John leads to Jesus' arrest and crucifixion. The section is 45 verses long and there is a lot to unpack here concerning Christology in particular, but for now I just want to say that Jesus continues the God given role of giving life.
Finally, turning towards Romans, we return to a theme from Ezekiel: the promise that God's Spirit will dwell in us. God's life giving Spirit not only gives us life now, but it also provides hope for the resurrection and the new life, or re-creation, God will accomplish through Jesus, in the Spirit. Paul takes the past acts of God, which reveal his character, and then extrapolates and projects that into the future behavior of God, viz. his life-giving nature. It is this hope of the resurrection that provides all meaning to Paul's gospel (1 Cor. 15:12-19).
I encourage you to read these 4 passages this week and think about where you need God's life-giving presence in our own life. Where does God need to provide hope in a hopeless situation? God is a life-giving, life-sustaining, loving God. And our hope rests in the power of Jesus' resurrection and that death doesn't have the final say.
Grace and peace.
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