A prayer for hope

Lent 5: Sunday 22 March, 2026

Gavin Koh, ALM

Ezekiel 37:1–14 (The Valley of Bones)

John 11:1–45 (The Raising of Lazarus)

I have a American friend,  who is proud to be American; but her pride has been challenged these past few years.

A couple of weeks ago, I got a message at 3 am her time, which I thought was very strange.

"I'm in New Zealand," she declared. This was an exercise in "How not to live in the country that started WWIII" was her message.

I think there are a lot of us in a similarly black mood.

Today’s scripture passages are about despair, about death. The end of the story, the end of the road, the end of hope.

 I want to tell you the story of the prophet Ezekiel, and the story of Israel.

 Ezekiel was born in the southern kingdom. in the kingdom of Judah in 622 BC. He was born during the reign of King Josiah and being of priestly heritage, was taken into exile in Babylon.

He was called by God to be a prophet at the age of 30; his visions and prophecies take place over a span of 22 years. He died in Babylon in 570 BC and his tomb in Southern Iraq is a site of pilgrimage for both Muslims and Jews alike.

In the year 605, King Jehoiachim of Judah was defeated by King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon.

The city of Jerusalem was destroyed and the people of Judah were taken into captivity. Israel.

God's Chosen people. God's promise to Abraham, that through Abraham and his descendants, God would bless all the people of the World. And Israel behaved like spoiled children.

We are God's favoured people. And look what happened.

The exile to Babylon was a period of despair. The end of history. The Babylonian army ravaged the land of Judah, the city of Jerusalem was destroyed, the holy temple of God lay in ruins.

All was lost. There was nothing left. There was no hope. Ezekiel sees a valley of bones. Judah, Jerusalem, his home is gone. All he sees is death. All that there is is despair.

In today's Gospel reading, we read of the death of Lazarus. Jesus arrives in Bethany to find he is not just ill, in fact, Lazarus is dead.

 The Gospel writer, John, deliberately points out  that the body had already been in the tomb for four days. In fact he mentions this twice, once in verse 17 and again in verse 39. here is no hope.

Lazarus was not just dead, he was very very dead. Four days' dead.

Ezekiel did not live to see The Return. Ezekiel did not live to see the rebuilding of The Temple,

Those events are recorded in the books of Ezra and Nehemiah. The visions recorded by Ezekiel are messages of Hope for those living in darkness and despair. This is the meaning of Ezekiel's vision:

Even in the blackest despair, when the bodies of Israel's dead have been dead for so long there is no flesh left on the bones and even the bones themselves are dry.

Even in that despair, God will clothe the bones in flesh and skin and breathe life into them.

St John's Gospel tells us a similar lesson. There is no place so black and so hopeless to which God cannot bring Hope.

 In the Gospel reading, contrast the reaction of the disciples and the reaction of Martha.

Martha says "...even now I know that God will give you whatever you ask of him." [and] Jesus said to her,  ‘Your brother will rise again.’

Jesus gives her permission to hope against hope, to believe the unbelievable.

 Remember the context, Jesus and the disciples have escaped Judea, left Bethany, they are in hiding. They fear being killed.

News comes to Jesus, saying Lazarus is ill and near death. When Jesus says he is going to Judea, the disciples try to dissuade him, because they fear he will be killed.

When they fail to dissuade him and they realise that he is going anyway, the disciple Thomas says, ‘Let us also go, that we may die with him.’

To the disciples, this is a fool's errand, they will achieve nothing and are simply going there to die.

 If you grew up with a Christian education, you will know another story of Martha and Mary.

However, in this story, Martha is the hero, because she alone holds onto Hope. She believes in Jesus, and Jesus responds to her Hope.

This is Hope:– When all is lost, when everyone tells you that you are crazy, you are deluded, to hope against hope.

Hope is to roll back the stone of the tomb, to let Jesus shout into the darkness, and to see Lazarus stumble out into the sunshine, his hands and feet still wrapped in strips of cloth.

Let us pray for sacred Hope: God of resurrection , we turn from the cross of death towards the tree of life and dare to imagine another possible world where violent conflict becomes peaceful reconciliation; where pain and tears are healed and tenderly wiped away. 

In a time of inequality and division we are united by hope,  anticipating the flourishing of creation and fullness of life for everyone.

To the glory and praise of your Almighty name. 

Amen

(based on Christian Aid https://www.christianaid.org.uk/pray/prayer/prayer-hope)