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Ezekiel had an unsettling vision from God. He described it in this way:
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. He led me all around them; there were very many lying in the valley, and they were very dry. (Ezekiel 37:1, 2)
He saw a valley full of very dry bones. It is a strong image. An image of destruction, decay and death.
What Ezekiel saw represented what was happening at the time.
The Israelites were exiled in Babylon. They had been uprooted and taken from their homeland. Ezekiel was one of those people.
They were in a foreign land, with no guarantee of what the future held for them. Even if they were to go back, they had nothing to go back to. Their city was completely destroyed.
It was a hopeless situation. Just like the valley of bones Ezekiel saw.
It was in the midst of this that God asked Ezekiel a question:
He said to me, “Mortal, can these bones live?” (Ezekiel 37:3a)
Ezekiel was a prophet. He was the voice of God for his people. Yet, this was his answer:
I answered, “O Lord God, you know.” (Ezekiel 37:3b)
What does this sound like to you? Do you hear any confidence in his response?
I don’t. If anything, he sounds more reluctant. I want to say yes, but… I don’t know. Maybe it’s too late.
So, he doesn’t answer the question. He puts it on God instead.
I can see where Ezekiel is coming from. When what we see around us is darkness and hopelessness, it is hard to say otherwise with confidence.
We don’t know when this war in the Middle East will end. The whole world is experiencing its effects.
Gas prices have gone up dramatically. People are scattered. My sister and niece had to leave their home in Dubai. I heard all the children have left there now. They have no idea when they will be able to go back.
This week in Cuba, their entire electrical grid collapsed. Now, the entire country is in the dark. Even the little food that they have are spoiling. They are in a dire situation as we speak.
When we see no possibility of change, we can’t help but be discouraged. It is hard to keep our spirits up.
We often feel that way about our situations. With our health, our career and studies, our relationships. The longer it goes on, the more we wither inside. We get tired and exhausted.
That is when we dry up.
We begin to think, “It is too late.” We succumb to the idea that not much else can be done. Can these bones live? O Lord God, you know.
We may think that it is too late. But do not be discouraged.
For God, it’s never too late. That was the message hidden in God’s question to Ezekiel.
By asking him if these bones can live, God wasn’t expecting Ezekiel to consider its probability. God wanted Ezekiel to believe that they indeed can live.
Just when Ezekiel wondered whether it was too late, God broke through his thinking with these words:
Then he said to me, “Prophesy to these bones and say to them: O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. Thus says the Lord God to these bones: I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live. 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.” (Ezekiel 37:4-6)
God said the bones would not remain dry. God promised to raise them up by his breath.
The word for ‘breath’ is ruach. Ruach also means spirit. This same breath brought the first human beings to life at creation.
From here, Ezekiel begins to see the vision that seemed hopeless at first now becoming hopeful right before his eyes. It is a dramatic sequence.
Bones come together. Then sinews, flesh, and skin come upon them. And finally, the breath of God flows into them and brings them to their feet.
What was once dry and scattered come together to become whole.
It must have been quite the sight to witness. But it didn’t happen for no reason. That was what Ezekiel needed to see for himself.
To give his people hope, God had to first lift Ezekiel’s own dry spirit. God had to breathe life into Ezekiel.
In order to let the Israelites know that they still had a future ahead of them, God had to instill that same confidence in Ezekiel. By the power of his spirit, God prepared him to be a messenger of hope.
Before, Ezekiel said, “O Lord God, you know.” But God gave him the words to speak. Ezekiel’s words brought the dead bones to life. Now, he also knew that these bones could live.
May God also breathe his spirit within us. May God fill us with his breath. We need this spirit. May the spirit revive and strengthen our dry bones.
Even when our circumstances tell us otherwise, let us not give up. Let us not give in.
When we give in – that is when we truly die. We may function physically, but we will be dead in spirit.
Even when we feel like it’s too late, let us hold firmly onto our faith that nothing is impossible with God.
That is what our journey of faith is all about. It is seeing that it is never too late for God. It is seeing that God is greater than our thoughts. It is seeing that the Spirit always makes a way for us.
That was basically what the prophets did. Prophets saw what others could not see. Prophets proclaimed the possibility of new beginning in God.
It wasn’t only Ezekiel. While he was doing his ministry in Babylon, Jeremiah was proclaiming the message in Jerusalem:
For surely I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope. (Jeremiah 29:11)
We may feel like we have no strength left to go on. We may feel tired and dried up.
But God will breathe life into us and raise us up. God will set us on our feet again. In him, we will find our hope to carry on.
In his book, The Spirit of Hope, the Korean-German philosopher Byung-Chul Han wrote:
Hope opens itself up to the coming, for what-is-not-yet. It is a spiritual attitude, a spiritual mood, that elevates us above what is already there, above what is already present.
My friends, come alive in the Spirit. Let us find our strength and confidence in the Spirit. By the Spirit, we can overcome all our present challenges.
When we come alive, people around us will also come alive. Our friends will come alive. Our family will come alive. Our community will come alive. We will be messengers of hope to each other.
After all, we are the people of the resurrection. That is the foundation of our identity as believers.
We believe that what seems to be the end is never the end. We believe that light always shines in the darkness. We believe that life will never be extinguished by death.
So we live each day not by our own will, but by the spirit of the resurrection that dwells in us.
St. Paul said:
If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through his Spirit that dwells in you. (Romans 8:11)
So, can these bones live?
Yes, they can.
Have faith. It is never too late.
We will see the spirit at work – within us, and in our lives.
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