Reflections on Ezekiel 37:21-28 / John 11:45-56
by Frank Savadera, SJ
To
begin with, I looked up the meaning of the name "Ezekiel," the name of the
prophet who wrote part of our first reading today. The original “Hazqiyal” means GOD STRENGTHENS
or GOD EMPOWERS. Ezekiel - he who
prophesied about the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem, the exile of God’s
people into Babylon and their eventual restoration – (the thryptic DESTRUCTION,
EXILE and RESTORATION) – impressed upon the Israelites and impresses much upon
us as well NOW about a God who STRENGTHENS and EMPOWERS. Isn’t this the very image of God that we
ourselves met in the daily grind of life?
Amidst
the initial and PAINFUL breaking and even the DEMOLITION of walls and false
appearances that we had set up for ourselves, we’ve encountered the God who
STRENGTHENS and EMPOWERS us to recognize OUR REAL SELVES.
Isn’t
it true that if we take time EXILE and remove ourselves slowly from our usual mundane
preoccupations, step back and quiet down, and LOOK DEEP into both our
beautiful and ugly selves … the experience remains: There is a God who STRENGTHENS and EMPOWERS
us to WORK for things we can change and ACCEPT realities that are beyond our
powers to transform.
Isn’t
it true that there is a God who promises to KEEP US WHOLE, to RESTORE us and much
BETTER, to help us recognize our NEWNESS.
Something NEW and DIFFERENT comes out of me each time. No experience is for naught. I tend to gain always something new. Isn’t this God’s way of STRENGTHENING and
EMPOWERING me to face the world with a new and better perspective?
Secondly, we also wish to encounter the GOD who continues to
MISSION us. God strengthens. God empowers for a purpose. He missions us. We find this mission in the prophesy made by
Caiaphas the high priest about Jesus:
Our gospel today tells us: Since
he was high priest for that year, he prophesied that Jesus was going to die for
the nation, and not only for the nation (so that the whole nation may not
perish) but also to gather into one the dispersed children of God.
I
don’t know if to die is something that you may readily welcome. But I think this is how God continues to call
us all. A certain death to oneself ...
so that all may have life. Isn’t it true
that certain life experiences indeed entails a dying to oneself. God has a
mission for all of us. It may not be
smooth sailing every time… it may even mean a degree of dying to oneself … but we CLING
to a PROMISE of GREATER CLARITY that God is MISSIONING us to go somewhere he will
make full use of us.
Lastly,
with all the death threats Jesus was getting in the Gospel, some people were
asking: “What do you think? Will he ever
come to the feast?” The feast was the
Passover, the commemoration of a people being SAVED, being FREED from their
Egyptian captors. In the case of Jesus,
he came to the feast and became the very LAMB sacrificed so that the ANGEL OF
DEATH may pass over and spare the lives of those who believe. I think, we are being asked as well: ARE WE COMING TO THE FEAST??? For us, I guess it will be about embracing
the reality that we are constantly being saved and we are constantly being
freed. Do we wish to go to that
celebration? I invite you to come. We had been made FREE!
There
is a God who STRENGTHENS and EMPOWERS us.
There
is a God who missions us and this calls a certain DYING to oneself so that
others might live.
Will
we ever come to the feast? We are called
to CELEBRATE!
