DRY BONES, NO MORE

A Sermon for the 5th Sunday of Lent
March 9, 2008
Pastor Laura Gentry

Ezekiel 37:1-14
The 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. He led me all around them; there were very many lying in the valley, and they were very dry. He said to me, “Mortal, can these bones live?” I answered, “O Lord God, you know.” Then 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: I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live. I 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.” So 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. I 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. Then 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.” I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood on their feet, a vast multitude. Then 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.’ Therefore 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. And you shall know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves, and bring you up from your graves, O my people. I 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. (NRSV)


Grace and peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

The prophet Ezekiel is famous for his poetic flare and graphic visions and today’s lesson from the Hebrew Scripture, we heard his grand vision of the valley of the dry bones. It is a bizarre and shocking passage and yet it brings an amazing message of resurrection, a message we desperately need to hear. So let’s give it a closer look.

In this vision, the Spirit of the Lord comes upon Ezekiel. It leads him out into a valley that is carpeted with dry bones—long-forgotten bones who’s flesh has disintegrated in the hot desert sun, bones that have been scattered from flash flooding and wind or erosion, bones that are crumbling, worthless bones. It is an eerie landscape to be sure. And yet, this is where the Lord has brought Ezekiel. According to the Law, anyone who touched a bone was considered unclean and priests like Ezekiel were not allowed to come in contact with the dead. And here stands Ezekiel who doesn’t just view it from a distance, he gets the grand tour of the valley: back and forth God leads him through the awful debris—perhaps he can hear the cracking of bones with each step.

And then comes the big question: God asks, “Son of man, can these bones live?”

It kind of seems like Ezekiel is avoiding the question in the way that he answers. He sighs: “O Lord God, you know.” Knowing what we do about Ezekiel’s circumstance, it must have taken all the faith in the world for him to respond this way. God’s people are living in exile in Babylon, far from where they believe God to be. They are lost, forlorn and afraid. Their tears flow into the river until their hope is dried up like these dry, dry bones. They have absolutely no idea how they can go forward or even if they can keep believing in God. Ezekiel knows that God alone knows if these dry bones can live.

We, too, know what it is to be in the valley of the dry bones. Sometimes, I look down at my desk and I see bills and credit card slips and notes to myself and papers to file and junk mail and unread magazines and shoes (sometimes it gets out of hand) and I can’t even see the surface of my desk anymore. And it becomes a metaphor for my life—so full of the clutter of daily life, that I can no longer see the presence of God. I used to have a hamster named Eunice, and she would sit in the corner and chew on the bars of her cage so vigorously that when I’d open the door, she wouldn’t even notice. Sometimes we have hamster vision and can’t find the open door even though it’s right before us. Oh, we can put on a front and make it look like we’re so together that no troubles could ever stick to us. But sometimes at night, those things we can’t reconcile or accept or forgive or overcome—they snuggle up with us and all we can do is cry “Help me, help me, help me, help me.” Usually, it’s not even that dramatic. Sometimes, we can’t feel the stuff that’s going on in our inner lives because we’re just too busy or too numb to process it. Life can be such an effort! Oh, we have our good days and our bad days and we trudge along for the most part—but in those times of immense struggle and heartache, we realize how helpless and how spiritually bankrupt we really are—and deep inside, we know that we know what is is to be in the valley of the dry bones.

“How Long, Oh God, the exiles cry, a cry we make our own
For we are lost, alone, afraid and far away from home.”

But that’s not where the vision ends. “O Lord God, you know,” says Ezekiel. God’s knows, yes God knows. And the Lord says to Ezekiel: “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.”

And Ezekiel prophesies as he was commanded. What is that noise? The rattling, the rattling grows louder and louder—tired bones suddenly assemble, coming together from all realms of the valley, bones everywhere, moving, swirling, dancing whisking past his face and coming together, end to end in perfect order and tendons grow upon them and muscles and blood vessels and internal viscera and vital organs form and flesh covers them. Can you imagine it?

The Lord speaks again, ““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.” And when Ezekiel does as he as been commanded, the wind arises and with a loud roar, it blows the mighty breath of God into every single dead body and they not only come to life, but they stand up on their feet!

The Hebrew word “Ru’ach” is translated here as “breath” but it also means wind and spirit. The Spirit of God brings new life. The Spirit resurrect us, not just when we die but now when we need revitalization. That’s the miracle of this vision.

We are not forgotten by God. Not even our driest valley of hopelessness can prevent the Spirit’s revitalizing touch, with all its richness. In those nights when we cry, “Help me, help me!” we may not feel the drama of rattling bones but we will find a shoulder upon which we can lean. For God’s power is made perfect in our weakness. God knows that our dry bones will rise again. Even if it makes no sense to believe that revival will come to us, we can believe it.

Then the Lord says to the exiles in Babylonia, those chosen ones who have been cut off, whose hope is gone: “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. And you shall know that I am the Lord. I 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.

No stronger word of encouragement could have been spoken to these sorrowful people. And God delivers on this promise. Just 50 years later the great Babylonian empire falls and they are allowed to return home from exile. They are given a new temple in which to worship God.

Where is it that you want the Spirit God to lead you? What do you need to know the resurrection power of God in your life? This vision reminds us that God does not want us dwelling in the valley of the dry bones. God wants to deliver us, to breathe life back into our weary souls, to open the door and lead us back into the heart of God where there is peace—peace that passes all understanding for you in me in the here and now. We do not need to wait until we die to taste of resurrection. It is now for those of us who live in God’s Spirit. It is now. Saint Paul declares: “...If the Spirit of God who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, the one who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through the Spirit who lives in You.”

“How Long, oh God, the exiles cry, a cry we make our own
Though we are lost, alone, afraid, our God will lead us home.”

Now may the peace of God which passes all understanding, keep our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Amen.

© 2008 Laura Gentry