I Have Seen the Lord! (John 20)

[Sung Psalm: 16]

Ezekiel has been speaking of the redemption of Israel in the new covenant, when God will pour out his Spirit upon his people.

This is what God promised to do for Israel. He promised that he would raise his people from their graves, put his Spirit/breath within them, and restore them to their own land. And so all faithful Israel looked forward to the resurrection.

In John 11, we discover that Martha understood this well: She found comfort in the doctrine of the resurrection. Even though her brother, Lazarus, had died, she says: "I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day." (Jn 11:24)

But Ezekiel 37 speaks of the resurrection of Israel. There is no hint here of the resurrection of the Messiah. At least, not so long as you think of the Messiah and Israel as two separate things. And that was Martha’s problem - and the problem of the rest of the disciples as well!

They could imagine the Messiah doing the work of God in raising Israel from the dead. But they could not imagine the Messiah becoming Israel through death - especially the death of the cross – a cursed death that rendered Jesus unclean, isolating him from the covenant community.

Deuteronomy 21:23 declares that a man who is hanged on a tree is cursed by God.

This was why the Romans liked to crucify Jews – because the Jews would never think of a crucified man as a martyr! Because a crucified man is hanged on a tree – and thus is cursed by God!

A crucified Messiah is a contradiction in terms!

But of course, God has a long habit of confounding the wise!