Can These Bones Live? Do You Believe this?

Hear the Word of the LORD!

The scripture we read today are two of my favorite resurrection scenes in all of scripture. The valley of dry bones and the raising of Lazarus. Both scenes are written so vividly I can’t help but picture the scene.

Ezekiel finds himself taken by the hand and lead by the Spirit into a valley of scattered dry bones. A scene where, humanly speaking, all life was lost. Surrounded by dry scattered bones God dares to ask Ezekiel Can these bones live?

In the other resurrection scene we see Jesus at the tomb of his friend Lazarus, who had been dead 4 days. Lazarus had entered the point of death, where again humanly speaking, there was no return. Upon his arrival Jesus is greeted by Martha. In his encounter with Martha, Jesus tells her in John 11:26

John 11:26 NRSV

26 and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?”

Can these bones live? Do you believe this? These two questions are similar. God is asking Ezekiel about bones that have absolutely no signs of life or even hope of having life in them again. Jesus asks Martha this question about her brother who has been dead 4 days. What these two resurrection accounts tell us, is no matter how dead, how dry, how beyond hope we think our situation is, God can still breathe life into us.

As we approach the glorious resurrection of our LORD, may our dry bones hear the word of the LORD. May the spirit of God who called Lazarus from his grave, blew new life into dry bones, brought back from the dead our LORD Jesus, come from the four winds and breathe new life into our dry bones.

Dry Bones vs Lazarus

HEAR!

Last week we wrestled with what it means to hear and do at the end of the sermon on the mount.

Scripture calls us over and over again to hear. The most famous hear in scripture is what we know as the Shama, Hear! Oh Israel! The Lord our God, the LORD is one! You are to love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.

In Ezekiel the dry bones are called to hear the word of the LORD! When we see the word listen or hear in scripture, it is meant to get our attention.

At the point that all hope seems lost, God calls even dry scattered bones to Hear the word of the LORD! He tells them in the middle of their seemingly hopeless, dead, dry situation, that he will breathe new life into them. Can these bones live? Through the life giving Spirit, breath, wind of God the answer is yes. Do you believe this?

Ezekiel 37:9–10 NRSV

9 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.” 10 I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood on their feet, a vast multitude.

Lazarus

At the tomb of Lazarus there are similarities to the scene in Ezekiel. The dry bones were dead beyond hope from a human point of view. Lazarus has been dead 4 days. Why is this significant? After 4 days it is believed in Jewish tradition that the spirit of the one who has died has left the body. Humanly speaking resurrection is impossible at this point. In both situations the hope of life is gone.

This is the scene Jesus enters when he meets Martha outside the village. Martha clearly is upset that Jesus didn’t arrive when he first received word of Lazarus sickness, but proclaims faith that even now God will give Jesus what he asks. From her actions and responses physical resurrection that day was not on the list.

John 11:25–26 NRSV

25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, 26 and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?”

Can these bones live? Do you believe this? These questions are ways to wrestle with the same thing. When all hope is seemingly gone, and life has left, do you dare to believe that God can breathe new life even right then and there?

John throughout his Gospel has gone through great lengths to make sure we are fully aware that Jesus is fully God in human flesh. He is the word, that the dry bones are called to hear, and he is the breath that breathes new life into dry bones.

Jesus goes to the tomb of Lazarus and asks for the stone to be rolled away. No doubt fighting the very human emotions felt at the loss of a friend, but also dealing with the frustration and anger that even now those closest to him haven’t fully grasped just who he is exactly. We can see this in Jesus response to Martha when he asks for the stone to be rolled away.

John 11:40 NRSV

40 Jesus said to her, “Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?”

Jesus the word made flesh, the word through whom all things were made, the word that gives life to everything, calls Lazarus out of his grave.

Jesus shouted with a loud voice, Lazarus, come out! Lazarus heard the word of the LORD and came out of his tomb.

Can these bones live? Do you Believe this? Yes despite what we see around us in dry bones, and in rotting corpses, these bones can live through the Spirit of God.

Feasting on the Word: Preaching the Revised Common Lectionary: Year A, Volume 2 Homiletical Perspective

“Thus says the Lord GOD: I will cause breath to enter you and you shall live” (v. 5). God promises not only sinews and flesh and skin, but, most importantly, God calls the breath to come from the four winds and breathe upon the slain. So it happens. This breath is the spirit of God, the life-giving ruach God breathed into the first human creature in the garden.

This breath moves forth in the Lazarus story. This same breath was breathed into Jesus crucified, lifting him up to resurrection life, and touched us when the Spirit came upon us in baptism. This breath moves through the world, raising people into new life when all the odds are against it. We need to hear the vision of Ezekiel in the valley of dry bones. It is a scene meant to live in the imagination and the heart, when we find ourselves gasping for breath, struggling to stay alive. Preachers can ask themselves, where are the dry bones today, where is the valley of death that needs to hear the promise of the living God?

Hear the Word of the LORD!

How can these two resurrection scenes breathe new life into our dry bones?

1) By giving us hope, when humanly speaking all hope is lost. No matter how dead our situation looks, or feels, God can breathe life into it.

2) By hearing and doing the word of the LORD.

3)Can these bones live? Do you believe this? By continuing to believe God’s got this even when the situation looks hopeless.

God wants to breathe new life into our dry bones, and into our church. As we continue our journey to my favorite resurrection scene in all scripture, may we allow the breath of God to blow new life into us, our church, and our community.