Ezekiel recorded being shown a vision of a valley full of bones. “…Behold, they say, Our bones are dried, and our hope is lost:” I’m not sure how long a body must be dead for its bones to be dry, but it seems that it would be a very long time, so long, their “hope [was] lost.” Mary and Martha wept at the death of their brother, Lazarus, and stated, “Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died,” and others questioned, “Could not this man…have caused that even this man should not have died?” (John 11:21,37)
In this world we all experience the pain of separation, spiritual and physical, from those that we love. We feel pain and sorrow from too many sources to be listed and yet, as Lazarus rose from the tomb, so did Christ.
Long before He was born, He promised Ezekiel “…And ye shall know that I am the Lord, when I have opened your graves, O my people, and brought you up out of your graves, And shall put my spirit in you, and ye shall live…then shall ye know that I the Lord have spoken it, and performed it,“ (Ezekiel 37:11-14)
Easter morning Stephen and I spent some time among the graves of our ancestors who settled Windsor and Hartford, Connecticut in the early 1600’s. As we explored the graves of the Ancient Burying Ground in Hartford, Connecticut, I smiled at the plastic Easter eggs “hidden” among the tombstones, evidence of faith in the Lord, Jesus Christ to bring resurrection, hope, healing and new life. We celebrate the hope of that resurrection morning when bodies and spirits will be reunited, healed and made whole. Likewise, this outward healing is a shadow of what He is doing and can do for our hearts and minds, changing, renewing and reuniting our desires and will with His. And as He changes us individually, He will also fulfill the “promises made to the fathers” that the hearts of the children will turn to their fathers and the hearts of the fathers will turn to their children and families will be united in a never ending chain of love and priesthood power. He is risen with healing in His wings, healing for us, healing for our family, healing for the world.