Father, Into Your Hands I Commend My Spirit
Ezekiel 37:1-14
Romans 8:6-11
St. Luke 23:44-49
“The many preeminent gifts with which the human mind is endowed proclaim that something divine has been engraved upon it: all these are testimonies of an immortal essence…Relying on such clear testimonies, in dying let us not hesitate, after Christ’s example, to entrust our souls to God.” John Calvin, The Institutes of Christian Religion, 1.15.2 and 3.25.6.
Ezekiel, the first human that the Bible calls “Son of Man,” stands in an empty valley, strewn with the scattered bones of a battle lost long ago. “Son of Man, can these bones live?” asks the voice that Ezekiel knows belongs to God. “Lord, you know,” Ezekiel says, judiciously, thus avoiding giving the wrong answer.
Bones rattle and fly together. Flesh appears. Fully formed human beings stand, but they are silent, unmoving. Then, the wind blows. The wind of the Spirit. The breath of God.
And they live.Father, Into Your Hands I Commend My Spirit