Catch the vision

Photograph by David Solheim

Photograph by David Solheim

Come with me to the hilltop and catch a vision.
Ezekiel was a prophet during the exile. He spoke to his own people who were in exile, who found themselves in a world that was out of joint and fresh out of inspiration. The people of faith had been taken from their land. The places of faith that once seemed to hold them together were far away. The temple and all of the beauty that once inspired them lay in ruins. The faith community, once strong and vital, was dispersed to the ends of the Babylonian empire. Even more painfully, the children of these exiles were attracted by the values of the Babylonian Empire and the approval and prosperity that came with it (or so it seemed to their parents). The project of being the people of faith looked, for all the world, to be at a dead end.
Come with me to the hilltop where the Lord speaks to Ezekiel. “LOOK AROUND MORTAL MAN, WHAT DO YOU SEE?” Ezekiel replies, “I see bones. A valley of bones. Dry bones.” “MORTAL MAN, CAN THESE BONES LIVE?” Ezekiel, being no fool before God says, “You know, Lord, I don’t.” “PREACH TO THE BONES, MORTAL MAN. PREACH TO THE BONES.” What was Ezekiel to do? He preaches to the bones. He preaches of a God who made human beings from the dust of the ground. He preaches of a God who delivered the people of Israel from slavery when they had no way forward. He preaches of a God who called Abraham and Sarah to go forward when they had no idea where it was all heading.
And do you know what Ezekiel heard that day? Snap. The foot bone connected to the ankle bone. Snap. The ankle bone connected to the shin bone. Snap. The shin bone connected to the knee bone. Snap. All around the valley there was a sound of clattering as the dry bones came together. Then flesh appeared over the bones, then skin covered the flesh. But the bodies lay very still in the valley. There was no Ruah in the bodies. Ruah is the Hebrew word for Breath; it is also the Hebrew word for Wind and the Hebrew word for Spirit. There was no Ruah in them. No breath. No wind. No spirit.
“PREACH TO THE RUAH, MORTAL MAN. CALL FOR THE RUAH TO COME ON THESE DEAD.” Ezekiel preaches to the Ruah, calls on the wind, on the breath, on the spirit, and the Ruah blows through the valley. And as Ezekiel looks on, the Ruah enters the prone bodies of the dead and they begin to stir. Called together by the Word, in-spired by the Spirit, the once dry bones stand on their feet– an immense throng. Ezekiel gazed at the scene from the hilltop.
Now, in hindsight, what the prophecy meant to the exiled people is quite clear. In the experience of the loss of so much that mattered to them; in the experience of being ‘dry bones’, Ezekiel’s vision from a hilltop rang out. God, in God’s own good time, in God’s own mysterious ways would bring new life to people, to a faith community. In spite of all the evidence to the contrary, there was hope in God’s word bringing people (literally!) together, in God’s spirit blowing through the valleys of their lives.
So, I wonder what Ezekiel’s hilltop vision means to us. What does the valley of your life or the life of your faith community look like to you? And I wonder what the hilltop vision of Ezekiel is saying to all of us? How do you experience the Word of God mysteriously bringing things together? How do you experience the Spirit of God blowing unexpectedly, mysteriously through your particular valley?
So, people of God, I invite you to pause for a moment at Ezekiel’s hilltop, and gaze at your world. Then, no matter how the valley may appear, let us remember this, O mortals, oh fellow human beings.
HOPE.

Print Friendly, PDF & Email