Ezekiel 37:1-14
May
23, 2021
I didn’t think too much about bones
until I broke one. Back in the winter of 2008, I took my dogs out for a quick
walk. It was Iowa. It was January. There was ice. My one dog pulled at the lead
and I started to fall and instinctively put my right hand out to catch myself.
When my hand hit the concrete my wrist broke. That quick walk turned into an ER
visit, surgery, a cast for eight weeks, temporary pins and a rod that stuck out
of my cast to help keep the bone in place. Like I said, I didn’t think too much
about bones until I broke one.
But
bones are at the center of these probably best-known verses from the prophet
Ezekiel. To be honest, this vision of Ezekiel’s seems more like the stuff of
nightmares than visions. The hand of the Lord came upon Ezekiel, and through
the Spirit, he was taken to a valley. And in that valley, there was nothing but
bones. Old bones. Dry bones. And the Lord not only took Ezekiel to this valley,
but the Lord also led Ezekiel around and around the valley. The Lord wanted
Ezekiel to see, really see, that there was no life left. The Lord and Ezekiel navigated
every inch of that space, they walked around every bone so that Ezekiel could
see, without a doubt, that these were old bones, dry bones, no life left in
them at all bones. Then God asked Ezekiel a question,
“Mortal, can these bones live?”
Wouldn’t you think that Ezekiel
would be asking this question?
“O
Lord, can these bones live?”
There
have been plenty of time that I have asked this question of God. Even when I’ve
been faced with certain death, with nothing left but the bones of loved ones,
of hopes, of dreams, of illusions, I have pleaded with God,
“O
Lord, can these bones live? Can’t you knit these bones back together once more?
Can’t you bring back life? Can’t you erase death? Can’t these dry bones, these
old bones live?”
But God is doing the questioning
here. God is the one asking Ezekiel,
“Mortal, can these bones live?”
Was this a test on God’s part? Was
God just waiting for Ezekiel to give God the correct answer? Was God interested
in hearing Ezekiel’s thoughts, but secretly already knew that these bones,
these old bones, these dry bones could live? What was God getting at? Why did
God ask this question?
But Ezekiel didn’t pretend to have
the answers. Ezekiel didn’t try to bluff his way through. He put the question
right back on God.
“O Lord God, you know.”
As if to say, only you can see the
outcome of this. God. God, only You has the power to make these old bones,
these dry bones live. But maybe God needed to know if Ezekiel believed it was
possible, not because God could not do it on God’s own, but because Ezekiel and
all the people Ezekiel prophesied to needed to believe it too.
“Mortal, can these bones live?”
“O Lord God, you know.”
And God did know. And Ezekiel knew
too. Because God told Ezekiel to prophesy to the bones. Speak to the bones.
Tell those dry bones, those old bones to hear the word of the Lord. Tell those
old bones, those dry bones that God will cause breath to enter you and you
shall live. God will lay sinews on you and you shall live. God will cover those
sinews and those old, dry bones, with flesh and skin and you shall live. God
will put breath in you and you shall live.
So Ezekiel did what God told him to
do. Ezekiel prophesied to those old bones, those dead bones, those dry bones.
Ezekiel prophesied to the bones. Ezekiel spoke the word of the Lord to the
bones.
And then … then there came a sound.
Can you imagine the sound?! Can you imagine the sound of all those bones? It
would have been a raucous rattling, a shaking and a shimmying. Can you imagine
the noise? Can you imagine the cacophony of those dry bones rattling like
strange, supernatural instruments in that valley? Can you imagine the sound of
that ossified symphony? I suspect it might have come close to the sound of a
rushing wind breathing new life into waiting disciples, breathing new
languages, new voices, new hope into followers who were beaten but not yet
destroyed.
Can you imagine the sound? The
noise? The dissonance, the resonance, the overwhelming clatter, commotion, and
din of those bones, those old bones, those dry bones coming together, knitting
together – elbow to arm, arm to wrist, knee to leg, femur to ankle – O the
sound of those bones.
And then the silence.
But there was still no life.
So, God told Ezekiel,
“Prophesy to the breath, prophesy,
mortal, and say to the breath: Thus says the Lord God: Come from the four
winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live.”
Ezekiel prophesied as he was told. He
prophesied to the breath, then the ruach of God, the breath of God, the
wind of God, the Spirit of God, all three, came into those bones and into that
skin and into that flesh, and what was dead was alive.
Was this vision a forerunner of the
resurrection? Was it a hint from the Lord to Ezekiel about was to come? But
these words, this vision was not given to those who were dead but to those who
were still alive. It was given to Ezekiel, who like his family and neighbors
and community, had been deported into exile. To Israel bones were not just
skeletons or relics of a person long gone, they were the essence of a person,
of a people. When the Israelites moaned that their were bones were dried up, they
were lamenting that the very soul of themselves was dead and lost and
forgotten.
This vision was spoken to those who
were still alive but did not know it, did not feel it. They were told and they
were shown that even if the very heart of who they were as a people seemed
nothing but dead bones, dry bones, old bones, bones without life, without
heartbeat, without breath, that God could still bring them back. Those old, dry
bones could still yet live.
And they would live. They would be
restored. They would return from exile. They would be alive once more. But
would they be as they once were? Would they be filled with the breath, the
Spirit of God, only to live and do and be as they once were? Or would they be
new? Would they be changed? Would they be filled with the breath of God for a
new future, a new way of life, a new way of being and doing and living?
Yes, mortal, these old dry bones can
live. They can be knit together and be covered in flesh and skin and be filled
with the breath of God so they would be completely alive again. But surely,
they would not be raised for the old but for the new, not for the past, but for
the future. They would be re-created for new life. The Spirit of God blew
across the dry valley of their exile and breathed life into them just as God’s
Spirit blew across the chaos and brought forth creation, just as God’s Spirit
blew like a mighty, rushing wind across an upper room and gave courage to those
who were afraid, new language to those who feared they had no voice, new hearts
to those who could hear, new understanding to those who thought there was
nothing else to know.
And if God can do all of that, if
God can bring old bones into new life, and make fearful people brave, can’t God
re-create us, this church, the Church, this community, this country, this
world? Can’t the Spirit of God, the breath of God, blow into us once more and
bring forth new life?! Prophesy to the breath!
This day of Pentecost is not just
the birthday of the Church, a day to remember, it is the re-birth of the
Church, a day for moving forward. It is a day for trusting that the Spirit of
God can give us new languages to speak, revive our old bones, and put new
hearts within each of us. God can re-create us. God is re-creating us, now, in
this moment. Can you feel it? Can you hear it? Prophesy to the breath! May the ruach
of God, the breath, the wind, the Spirit of God fill us, re-create us, revive
these old bones, and give us new, new life.
Let all of God’s children say,
“Alleluia!”
Amen.
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