5TH SUNDAY OF LENT (YEAR A)

1st Reading           Ezekiel 37:12-14

Psalm                      130:1-2, 3-4, 5-7a, 7b-8 (R. 7b)

R:// "With the Lord there is mercy, in him is plentiful redemption"

2nd Reading        Romans 8:8-11

Gospel                    John 11:1-45

THE VALLEY CANNOT HOLD US; GOD GIVES LIFE

Friends, Pax et Bonum! Today is the 5th Sunday of Lent (Year A). This is the last full week of Lent. It means that next week is Holy Week. We are actually getting closer to the end of Lent and nearer to Easter than before. I wish to suggest that when the end is closer, the journey becomes tougher, if not toughest. At this point, we need reassurance. Do not give up! We are almost there. 

The Gospel is from John 11:1-45. It is the narrative of the raising of Lazarus to life. However, I prefer we pay attention to the first reading from Ezekiel 37: 12-14. This looks relatively short but dense. Let us attempt to unpack it. 

To fully appreciate the text of the first reading, I suggest we look at it within the wider scope of Ezekiel 37. The prophet Ezekiel receives a vision. The setting of the vision was a VALLEY (Ezek. 37:1). Why that choice? Among many things that valleys signify, I want to suggest strongly that valleys are places of battle. Remember the infamous battle of David and Goliath. It took place in a valley (1 Sam. 17:2). David, on two occasions, battled the Philistines in a valley (2 Sam. 5: 18, 22). In fact, Genesis 14:3, described a certain Valley of Siddim as the site of a major battle among kings. Psalm 23:4 adds to the list to inform us about the nature of a valley as the "shadow of death". A Valley is a place of fierce battle. 

The second preliminary detail is that Ezekiel, while in the valley, saw bones. What adds a layer to the vision is that the bones were dry. To see bones in a valley, a place of battle, is nothing but a sign of a people who have been defeated at war. The layer of dryness of the bones adds to the fact that the war may have occurred long ago and shows that there is no possibility for life, even if there is any.

Let us put this vision within a specific historical context. I wish that we situate vision within the Babylonian exile of 587 BC. Ezekiel, the prophet, was part of those taken to exile (Ezek. 1:1). The event described in Ezekiel 37 may point to Israel taken into exile as the dry bones and the rising of the dry bones as Ezekiel’s way of reporting that there would be restoration and a return from exile. In fact, the author of Ezekiel emphatically stated that "the bones are the whole house of Israel" (Ezek. 37:11a). The problem is not a national crisis. 

Let us look at three very important details, having laid the background to the first reading. 

The first detail is the action of opening graves (Ezek. 37: 12). The Hebrew word for Grave is "qĕbārôt". The action is done by God. The use of graves to describe Israel's condition is not to say that Israel was literally buried. Within this context and the background laid, graves are a metaphor for exile because exile is death. To be cut off from one's source is exile. Babylon is a kind of collective tomb. This exile is a state of living death. The choice of "graves" is fascinating. A grave is a place of finalised death. You are actually sealed, closed, and things look irreversible. It is a place where no human intervention is possible. The situation is that they are not only dead, but they are buried. They are beyond hope and sealed from hope. 

A grave is meant to be closed. However, God declares that He will OPEN them. The Hebrew for OPEN is pōtēaḥ. The root is p-t-ḥ. It is important to see what is happening here. In Genesis 29:31, God OPENED the womb of Leah. The same Hebrew word for OPEN as used in Ezekiel 37 is used there. The womb was opened (p-t-ḥ). God enabled life where there was barrenness (impossibility of bearing life). For the exile and for us, our conditions may look permanently sealed and declared incapable of bearing life. The future may look or seem locked. Your identity may be buried. God will open it for life to flow. 

The second detail is the giving of Spirit (Ezek 37:14a). The Hebrew word translated as Spirit is "ruach". I think we should see detail vis-à-vis the creation of man in Genesis 2:7. Thus, "The Lord God formed the man out of the dust of the ground and blew into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being". "Ruach" can be translated as Breath. Just as Adam receives life through divine breath, Israel is now recreated as a people. It is interesting to know that the "ruach" is what sustains life (Psalm 104: 29-30). God does not only open your grave to give you life. He actually gives you what will sustain that life. It is "ruach". This is his breath, his very life. He gives Himself to you. 

The third detail is the Returning to the Land. Thus, "I will settle you in your LAND" (Ezek. 37: 14b). We should find this text very interesting. Why? The author uses the word ’ădāmâ and was translated as land. The author avoids the word ’erets (אֶרֶץ) (earth), which can also mean land. This suggests that the author wants to communicate something beautiful here. However, notice that the granting of a land makes us think of Abraham (Genesis 12:1). But, I think what Ezekiel is talking about goes beyond merely giving a land. We should then go to Genesis and the account of creation. In creating man, God created man (adam) from the dust of the ground (’ădāmâ). If, while in exile, Israelites are promised a return to their land, rendered in Hebrew as ’ădāmâ, and the author of Genesis says man was created out of ’ădāmâ, then it makes us think that the return to the land is a return to man's source or original state. This is restoration to dignity. A return to your source means no exile. 

These are very few, but non-exhaustive, thoughts from the first reading to help our appreciation of the text and our reflection. 

Pax et Bonum