1st Reading for the 5th Sunday of Lent

From: Ezekiel 37:12-14

The dry bones

[12] [“]Therefore prophesy, and say to them, Thus says the Lord God: Behold, I will open their graves, and raise you from your graves, O my people; and I will bring you home into the land of Israel. [13] And you shall know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves, and raise you from your graves, O my people. [14] And I will put my Spirit within you, and you shall live, and I will place you in your own land; then you shall know that I, the Lord, have spoken, and I have done it, says the Lord.”
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Commentary:

This remarkable vision of the bones being brought back to life sets the scene for the climax of the resurgence of Israel, the unification of the two kingdoms (cf. 37: 15-28). The dramatic contrast drawn here between death and life, bones and spirit, shows that the revitalization that God will bring about goes much further than material reconstruction or simply a return to the promised land; it implies, rather, a new beginning, both personal and social.

The vision itself (vv. 2-10) takes place on an immense plain (cf. 3:22-23) and it addresses the exiles’ profound concern about their future: “Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost” (v. 11). It is one of Ezekiel’s most famous and most commented-on visions because it is very vivid and easy to understand. The prophet himself explains it as having to do with the destruction-restoration of Israel (vv. 11-14), though the Fathers of the Church see in it veiled references to the resurrection of the dead: “The Creator will revive our mortal bodies here on earth; he promises resurrection, the opening of sepulchers and tombs, and the gift of immortality […]. And in all this, we see that he alone is God, who can do all things, the good Father who from his endless bounty will give life to the lifeless” (St Irenaeus, Adversus haereses, 5, 15, 1). St Jerome writes in similar terms: “The image of the resurrection would not have been used to describe the restoration of the people of Israel if the future resurrection of the dead had not been foreseen, because no one can be led to draw a conclusion from an idea that has no basis is reality” (Commentarii in Ezechielem, 27, 1ff.

“I will put my Spirit within you” (v. 14). The spirit of the Lord is, at least, the power of God (cf. Gen 2:7) performing an act of creation. It is also the principle of life causing man to “become a living being” (Gen 2:7); and, certainly, it is the prin- ciple of supernatural life. The same God that created all things can revitalize his demoralized people in Babylon and can allow humankind to partake of his own life. This promise, like others found in the prophets (cf. 11:19; Jer 31:31-34; Joel 3:1-5) will find its complete fulfillment at Pentecost, when the Spirit descends on the apostles: “According to these promises, at the ‘end time’ the Lord’s Spirit will renew the hearts of men, engraving a new law in them. He will gather and reconcile the scattered and divided peoples; he will transform the first creation, and God will dwell there with men in peace” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 715).
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Source: "The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries". Biblical text taken from the Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries made by members of the Faculty of Theology of the University of Navarre, Spain. Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland. Reprinted with permission from Four Courts Press and Scepter Publishers, the U.S. publisher.