Life in the Valley of Dry Bones: A Tale of Resurrection
August 23, 2024 - Friday of the Twentieth Week in Ordinary Time
Ezekiel 37:1-14
Once upon a time, the Commonwealth of Poland and Lithuania extended from the Baltic Sea to the Black Sea. This vast commonwealth included citizens from various ethnic and religious groups, and it was one of the few places in Europe free from religious wars and persecution. Catholics, Lutherans, Orthodox Christians, Muslims, and Jews lived together and worshiped according to their religious traditions. But then things turned bad. Various factors contributed to the demise of the commonwealth, but the final blow came from three neighboring nations: Germany, Austria, and Russia. They partitioned the Commonwealth of Poland and Lithuania among themselves. Poland disappeared from the map of the world for 123 years and has never recovered its former glory.
Today, Ezekiel is in a cemetery symbolizing the death of Israel's nationhood and its most important institutions: Davidic kingship and the Jerusalem temple. Like Poland in 1795, in 586 BC, Israel disappeared from the map of the world. The people expressed this tragedy with a powerful saying: "Our bones are dried up, our hope is lost, and we are cut off" (Ezekiel 37:11). At this moment, Ezekiel's imagination reaches its highest with a vision of dry bones coming to life. Such imagination is God's gift, and only those who believe in God can envision the fullness of life in the realm of death.
Deep in the mountains of Poland, there supposed to be a cave where an army of knights sleeps, awaiting a call to wake up and come to the aid of the country. During the 123 years of foreign occupation, this legend sustained the hope of the Polish people. The hope of the Jewish people was sustained by the words of the prophets who assured them that one day they would return to their motherland. Both hopes materialized. The Jews could return home in 538 BC, while the Polish nation regained its independence in 1918.
But the fullness of life that Ezekiel envisioned in the cemetery has also been interpreted as a prophecy of resurrection. A few centuries before Christ's resurrection, Ezekiel foresaw that death would be defeated by God's Word and His Spirit. The Fathers of the Church taught us that the Father embraces us with the Word and the Holy Spirit. The biblical author testifies how the Lord, through His Word and the Spirit, brought creation into existence out of nothing (see Gen. 1:1-3). Ezekiel prophesies about the Lord bringing life where death reigns through His Word and the Spirit. The Holy Trinity is involved in the work of creation and salvation.
Christianity has a peculiar understanding of death. What others call death, we call sleep. What we call death, others either ignore or call mistakes. Sin causes death, and baptism in Christ's death brings us back to life. On the other hand, for those who are in Christ, biological death is a form of sleep, and one day Christ is going to wake us up from that sleep to a life that defies our imagination.
The Lord asked Ezekiel: Can the dead come to life? Ezekiel did not know the answer. Today, we know that they can. Christ broke the power of sin and death and opened to us the gates of everlasting life. This assurance fills our lives with hope and steadfast faith. May He be praised forever.