Monday, April 7, 2014

Dry Bones


" Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus of  Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. Mary was the one who anointed The Lord with perfume and wiped his feet with her hair;  her brother Lazarus was ill. So the sisters sent a message to Jesus: ' Lord, he whom You love is ill.'  But when Jesus heard this, He said, ' This illness does not lead to death; rather, it is for God's glory so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.'  Jesus told the disciples, ' Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep but I am going to awaken him.'  When Jesus arrived, He found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days.  Martha said to Jesus, ' Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died.  But even now I know that God will give You whatever You ask of Him.  . . I know that Lazarus will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.' Jesus said to her, ' I am the Resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, even thought they die, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die.' When Jesus saw Mary weeping, He was perturbed and greatly moved. Then Jesus began to weep. Jesus, greatly disturbed, came to the tomb.  Jesus said to Martha, ' Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?'  And Jesus looked up and said,  'Father, I thank You for having heard me, but I have said this for the sake of the crowd standing here, that they may believe that You sent me.'  Jesus cried out with a loud voice, ' Lazarus, come out!' The dead man came out, his hands and feet bound with strips of cloth.  Jesus said to them, ' Unbind him and let him go.'  [John 11: 1-45].

In ancient Israel, the Israelites did not believe in the Resurrection. This was why Jesus' promise of a renewed life was so radical and shocking at the time.  According to Lawrence  Boadt, CSP, author of  Reading The Old Testament, the ancient Israelites' view of death was grim and final.  " The grave is a pit or swamp ( Ps. 40:3.) Death is destruction (ps. 16:10, Job 9:13) and has jaws wide open to swallow up a person (Ps. 41:3).

This is essentially what I was taught, too. I grew up in a house without faith. My parents knew no God. They worshipped human works and the power of the Almighty Dollar.

My father over the years grew increasingly angry over what he could not accomplish or garner with his own works. It seemed that whatever he did was not good enough. He took his anger out on me. My father had a gray, flat expression on his face. His soul was dry and lifeless.

My mother, having no faith in God, thought she had to control life all by herself. She became depressed and anxious. She had no joy. She was in perpetual despair. When she was elderly and frail, she told me, ' I want no funeral. No church ceremony, no prayers at the grave. Just stick me in the ground and forget it.'  I was horrified at that thought.

As a child, I tried to create some joy in the home. I tended my mother's garden. I brought flowers inside and arranged them in a vase. I tried telling humorous stories at the dinner table. Still, nothing worked.

Recently, I had a strange dream. I dreamed that I entered an ordinary house on a suburban street. I went down into the basement, and the floor descended a sloping ramp into a dark underworld. In a dusty, dim corner of the basement, I saw an alcove. In the alcove was a big pile of bones.  It was a deathly place. I woke up thoroughly rattled.

The house reminded me of the house where I grew up. I do remember a pile of old wooden planks in an alcove in the basement. The planks were covered with dust and spider webs. Every time I passed by that alcove, I always got a creepy feeling.  But, the planks were NOT bones. No, there were literally no bones in my childhood home.

So, I wondered what this dream could possibly mean? A Wise Advisor once asked me what my home was like growing up? I said, 'It was lifeless. A home with no soul, no Joy, no hope for Heaven. A place where you live and work hard and struggle, but then you die and go into the ground.'

This week, as I read the Old Testament passages in Ezekiel 37: 12-14, I suddenly realized the meaning of my dream. In Ezekiel, the passage entitled " The Valley of the Dry Bones" says, " The hand of The Lord came upon me, and He brought me out of the Spirit of The Lord, and set me down in the middle of the 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."

 This is a very desperate image, isn't it? It is not how I want to live!  If you ever to say to me, 'This Life is all there is, then you die and go into a pit' ---- my response to that is:  There has to be something more! Already, I have lost a best girlfriend to a young death, both of my parents, my dear mother-in-law, all four grandparents, a wonderful great aunt. What gives me a continued life of Joy today, is that someday, I will get to see all these dear ones again in the Next Life.

In Ezekiel 37, the verse goes on, "  ' Mortal, can these bones live? Prophesy to those bones. Thus says The Lord to these bones, ' I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live. I will cause flesh to come upon you and cover you with skin.' "

The story of The Valley of Dry Bones, and the story of Lazarus, prefigure the death and Resurrection of  Jesus. They give me Hope that there is another life after this one! I have to believe that! Or otherwise, even while I am still living in this life, my soul will shrivel like those old bones in The Valley of Dry Bones.

During our time on earth, a belief in the Resurrection  turns our soulless homes into a House of Hope and Life. I do not desire a House of Death. I long for  a life of Joy, and ultimately, a place among the Living in Heaven.


(c) Spiritual Devotional 2014. All Rights Reserved.



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