These texts are all about hope in the midst of hopeless situations. The hope is not whistling in the dark, it is not baseless hope because even false hope is better than despair. It is hope based on the power of God, who raises the dead, transforms the living, and enlists God’s people to exercise possible futures when others have given up.
Ezekiel 37:1-14 is a vision of a hopeless scene of death and destruction. Ezekiel sees a valley covered with bones and “there were very many lying in the valley, and they were very dry”. The number of bones suggests a massacre or even a genocide of people. The bones are very dry suggesting that it is a waste of time to hope for any revival for even the moisture has gone out of them. Then, the question comes to the visionary, “Mortal, can these bones live?” Any reasonable person would say, “No, these are too far gone to live”, but when in the presence of God, even through a dream, a person who bases hope on the power of God rather than on what is reasonable is moved to say, “O Lord GOD, you know.” Then the dreamer is called on to be a prophet and speak a word of hope into a hopeless situation. The prophet speaks a word that declares God will work life into this place of death, and, methodically, life is brought about. Bodies are renewed and breath “came into them, and they lived and stood on their feet, a vast multitude.”
Psalm 130 carries on this theme of hope in the midst of hopelessness. “Out of the depths I cry to you, O LORD.” The hope is in God’s forgiveness, and if it doesn’t seem real at once, we wait for it, waiting as long as it takes. The basis, of this hope is the steadfast love of God coupled with the power of God to redeem. Love with the power to make revival happen. The psalm ends with certainty, “It is [God] who will redeem Israel from all its iniquities.
Romans 8:6 starts off with naming the reality of what it is to set our minds on the flesh - death. That mind is hostile to God and cannot change. Then, hope flows in. “But you are not in the flesh, you are in the Spirit, since the Spirit of God dwells in you.” “Since” is a powerful word of hope. It is a word that starts a causal clause in which the cause, in this case the Spirit of God dwelling in us, is not in question. The same word translated “since” is a better translation in verses 10 and 11. “But [since] Christ is in you . . .” and “[Since] the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you”. While the word can be translated “if”, starting a causal clause in which the cause is up in the air, that is not certain or settled, given the context here Paul is saying that our hope for life is settled because, by God’s grace, Christ and the Spirit dwell in us.
The John text is the raising of Lazarus. This is another hopeless, lost cause into which Jesus brings life. It is clear, Lazarus is ill, Jesus holds off for two days, guaranteeing that Lazarus will die without him. It must take two more days to get to Bethany because Lazarus has been in the tomb for four days. On top of that people who have gone to the tomb have discovered that the body smells like rotten meat. Mary, Martha, and the crowd all challenge Jesus for not arriving sooner because then there would have been hope for Lazarus, but now all hope is gone. Except it is not. Jesus calls out Lazarus and he comes out; Jesus has him unbound and released. People believe that God sent Jesus.
Ezekiel’s vision is terrible. It reminds me of unreclaimed open pit mines that I have seen. Some of these are huge and the cost of restoring the land is so enormous that no one in their right mind would consider the cost “worth it”. The bones of the earth are laid bare, some scraggly vegetation is trying to get started, but it is clearly a losing battle. I have also seen the mine reclamation at Holden Village and other places in which the enormous cost has been laid at the feet of the mining company which had taken even more enormous amounts of money in copper out of the earth. Those restorations are full of life. Recently, a new federal administration has set a 20 year moratorium on a proposed copper and nickel mine in the region draining into the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. Previously, that mining project was advancing rapidly despite fierce opposition. It looked hopeless to many people, some gave up and some persevered no matter how hopeless it looked. An election changed everything and gave those opposing a restoration hope that a mine restoration would never be needed.
Many people have given up hope for slowing human contributions to climate change. It seems people do not have the will to make changes that are necessary and will not hold others accountable for greenhouse gas emissions. Species are dying and the fight has gone out of many. The tipping point has come or will come too soon, so efforts are now focusing on how to enable humans to adapt while polar bears will be relegated to zoos. God says to the visionaries, “Prophesy to these bones”. We do so because our hope is in God’s love for creation and God’s power to redeem the creation. Prophecy is not divine nagging, for God’s words for change empower the change. The reason prophets were killed are not because their words displease people, but because people are afraid that those empowered words will bring about change. Martin Luther King, Jr. was shot not because people didn’t like what was being said, but because they saw his words changing the country. We are a people of hope even when it would be reasonable to give up hope. We do it for the world. We do it to follow Jesus who raised Lazarus and was raised when it looked like he was hopelessly lost. We do it because God is the strong foundation for our hope.
Rev. Gary Hedding
Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin
Gary Hedding is a retired pastor who graduated from Luther Seminary in 1978. He served his internship in Brooklyn, NY. His first call was Prince of Peace Lutheran Church in Coloma, WI; then as associate pastor and later lead pastor at Faith Lutheran Church in Marshfield, WI; followed by serving six years as assistant to the bishop in the Northwest Synod of WI; then as pastor of Bethlehem Lutheran Church in Cedar Falls, IA. Gary has been retired since 2018.
Gary is married to Linda and they live in Chippewa Falls, WI with their dog, Strider
Their daughter, son-in-law and two grandsons live in the Fort Worth, TX and their son and daughter-in-law and one granddaughter live in Eau Claire, WI. Gary enjoys wilderness canoe tripping, sprint triathlons, fishing and hunting, reading science fiction and urban fantasy, and vegetable gardening.