Ezekiel 37:1-14
1The hand of the Lord came upon me, and he brought me out by the spirit of the Lord and set me down in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones. 2He led me all round them; there were very many lying in the valley, and they were very dry. 3He said to me, “Mortal, can these bones live?” I answered, “O Lord God, you know.” 4Then he said to me, “Prophesy to these bones, and say to them: O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. 5Thus says the Lord God to these bones: I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live. 6I will lay sinews on you, and will cause flesh to come upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and you shall live; and you shall know that I am the Lord. 7So I prophesied as I had been commanded; and as I prophesied, suddenly there was a noise, a rattling, and the bones came together, bone to its bone. 8I looked, and there were sinews on them, and flesh had come upon them, and skin had covered them; but there was no breath in them. 9Then he said to me, “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.” 10I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood on their feet, a vast multitude. 11Then he said to me, “Mortal, these bones are the whole house of Israel. They say, ‘Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost; we are cut off completely.’ 12Therefore prophesy, and say to them, thus says the Lord God: I am going to open your graves, and bring you up from your graves, O my people; and I will bring you back to the land of Israel. 13And you shall know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves, and bring you up from your graves, O my people. 14I will put my spirit within you, and you shall live, and I will place you on your own soil; then you shall know that I, the Lord, have spoken and will act, says the Lord.”
My grass is starting to turn brown. We are at that point, perhaps a little early in the season, where drought starts to happen and things that depend on the rain start to turn brown and dried up. This is good news for having to mow grass, but perhaps not so good news for our water bills as we must daily water our gardens and fill our swimming pools.
This idea of being dried up and brown can also happen to us. We can easily become dehydrated of our life and light, and even our fluids if the temperature is warm enough, through the difficulties and circumstances of our situations in life. We can lose the passion for a full life. We can lose the ambition to seize the day instead sitting in our easy chairs watching television. We can lose our light and zest for the resurrected life by the increasing chaos of our society. We can lose our faith for discipleship by the overwhelming changes to our life together. The changes in our worship, the adjustments in our community, and the transitions in our families can easily dry us out and leave us without life, light, and love.
When this happens, we are exactly like Ezekiel’s vision of the valley of dried bones, mortal, these bones are the whole house of Israel. They say, ‘Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost; we are cut off completely. Our minds need no stretch of the imagination, to see ourselves like Israel as a people dried up from life, to perceive ourselves as a society where hope is lost, to identify ourselves as a people cut off completely from God and each other. Perhaps the factor that consumes our motivations and energies is the pandemic, or perhaps the social upheaval, or even the poor economy, but we can relate to the valley of dry bones, because like them we are dried up and brown, hopeless, and despairing and isolated and insulated from those we love. We are the dry bones.
Just as God spoke to them through Ezekiel so too it is with us. Ezekiel spoke hope and life into their death, we could use some too. I will put my spirit within you, and you shall live. When our Spirits are at their driest and life is scarce and light and hope nonexistent, this is when the God who creates out of nothing breathes life in again. When we are and have nothing, God is at God’s greatest, by filling us with the Spirit of Christ and the dead come to life. Bones to Bones with tendons connecting, tissue surrounding organs, skin covering muscles and ultimately breath indwelling us, the dried up and brown, is renewed and restored to life. A valley of bones through God’s Spirit became a valley of living people; a church of tired and lifeless walking dead, through the same Spirit of God become a community of living and loving people.
Like Israel we also are not left in the valley of defeat. The purpose of resurrecting God’s people. was so that they might have the place God has chosen for them, and I will place you on your own soil. For Israel that soil was the promised land of Canaan, which Babylon had conquered. For us it might not be literal soil, perhaps it will be, but the soil to which God has chosen for us is the Kingdom of God. The entire creation is now God’s soil and all of ground and water and sky is once again returned into and under the Power and Reign of God; to give each of us a place and a purpose in this world. As God’s stewards, we have been given life to be responsible and care for that life before God, to bring God glory.
That Glory to which we are destined for is a knowledge that Yahweh is God, and we are merely his creatures, then you shall know that I, the Lord, have spoken and will act, says the Lord. We are not self-created, self-determined, or self-ruled, we are creatures in the hands of a Loving and Almighty Creator. When we are brought back to life by the Breath of the Creator, the only conclusion we may have is that God alone creates; we did not bring ourselves back to life. When we are given purpose and hope by the Election of the Creator, the only knowledge we may have is that God alone determines and chooses; we did not determine and choose our places. When we are given discipleship and community by the Love of the Creator, the only attitude we may have is that God alone rules and sustains; we do not rule or sustain God. God is Creator and we are created.
My friends, we can all experience and relate to the valley of bones and perhaps that metaphor best describes us right now. But the Gospel of Jesus Christ is that God will put Jesus’ Spirit within us, and we will live and we will be given a place and position in God’s Kingdom. Through Grace and Power God can turn us from a corpse pile to a living, and loving community. God did it for Israel, God is doing and will continue to do it for his Church. All for purpose that all might know that Yahweh is God and God is for us. Let us begin our resurrection from dried up and hopeless bones, to living, and joyous disciples on their way to God’s Glory. Amen.
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