5TH WEEK OF LENT

I will make them one nation upon the land. . . . Never again shall they be divided into two kingdoms. 

Have you ever had a precious piece of pottery or a sculpture that got broken? Perhaps it was a family heirloom, and one day you came home and saw that it had been knocked to the floor. There it lay in pieces. You tried to glue it together, but it didn’t work. You could still see the cracks and the glue. At that point, you probably wished you knew a craftsman who could somehow make the repair look seamless.

You can think of Jesus as that kind of craftsman. The world’s foremost expert at fixing things that are broken, Jesus is the One who perfectly fulfills Ezekiel’s prophecy about reuniting the fractured people of God.

God wanted Israel to be united because his plan was for his people to be a light to draw all the nations to himself. Now we see Jesus making that wholeness possible as Jews and Gentiles alike are brought together through him into God’s family. People from every background and perspective, from every nation and ethnic group, from every age group and demographic, can find unity in him.

We know that Ezekiel’s prophecy has yet to be fulfilled completely; we still see division in the Church. But if we look at the Church spread throughout the world, we’ll also see a sign that many nations have indeed come together to worship the Lord. So let’s pray for unity in the Church. Let’s pray that Jesus, our Savior, will “fix” not just the broken parts of our individual lives but what is broken in the entire people of God. Let’s pray that the unity that God so longs to see in his people will become a light to all the nations.

As you prepare to begin Holy Week, remember that Jesus has the power to put an end to all divisions. He can heal everything that is broken!

“Lord, send your Spirit on your Church, that we may truly become one body.”

(Psalm) Jeremiah 31:10-13
John 11:45-56
Ezekiel 37:21-28