How to Keep On #2

During Jesus’ lifetime here on earth, the people around Him wanted Him to lead a revolution against the oppressive government of their day. Instead He gave them His death and resurrection. Different “re-” word. God gives us not what we want, but what we need. This death of the God-man took place at Golgotha, “the place of the skull”.

When I was a teenager, I asked my art teacher why he drew skulls and skeletons constantly. He told me it was a symbol of persistence, of determination so enduring that it carried a person to the point of death and even beyond it.

We all have skulls and skeletons inside of us, and it’s the only physical thing we usually have left after death and decay. It is perhaps the most democratic iconography; in its stylized symbolic form impossible to judge by any external or internal identity or attribute.

So if we keep on, we come to a place of the skull, of persistence even beyond death, and Christ gives us not a revolution, but a resurrection and an entirely different life.

“The hand of the Lord came upon me and brought me out in the Spirit of the Lord, and set me down in the midst of the valley; and it was full of bones. Then He caused me to pass by them all around, and behold, there were very many in the open valley; and indeed they were very dry. And He said to me, “Son of man, can these bones live?” So I answered, “O Lord God, You know.”  Again He said to me, “Prophesy to these bones, and say to them, ‘O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord! Thus says the Lord God to these bones: “Surely I will cause breath to enter into you, and you shall live. I will put sinews on you and bring flesh upon you, cover you with skin and put breath in you; and you shall live. Then you shall know that I am the Lord.” ’ ” So I prophesied as I was commanded; and as I prophesied, there was a noise, and suddenly a rattling; and the bones came together, bone to bone. Indeed, as I looked, the sinews and the flesh came upon them, and the skin covered them over; but there was no breath in them.  Also He said to me, “Prophesy to the breath, prophesy, son of man, and say to the breath, ‘Thus says the Lord God: “Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe on these slain, that they may live.” ’ ” So I prophesied as He commanded me, and breath came into them, and they lived, and stood upon their feet, an exceedingly great army. Then He said to me, “Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. They indeed say, ‘Our bones are dry, our hope is lost, and we ourselves are cut off!’ Therefore prophesy and say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord God: “Behold, O My people, I will open your graves and cause you to come up from your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel. Then you shall know that I am the Lord, when I have opened your graves, O My people, and brought you up from your graves. I will put My Spirit in you, and you shall live, and I will place you in your own land. Then you shall know that I, the Lord, have spoken it and performed it,” says the Lord.’ ” Ezekiel 37: 1-14 NKJV

“A Crown of Life” by Keren Iversen, mixed media fiber art, September 2024