Shake, Rattle, and Role

Ezekiel 37:1–14 NET

The hand of the Lord was on me, and he brought me out by the Spirit of the Lord and placed me in the midst of the valley, and it was full of bones. He made me walk all around among them. I realized there were a great many bones in the valley and they were very dry. He said to me, “Son of man, can these bones live?” I said to him, “Sovereign Lord, you know.” Then he said to me, “Prophesy over these bones, and tell them: ‘Dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. This is what the sovereign Lord says to these bones: Look, I am about to infuse breath into you and you will live. I will put tendons on you and muscles over you and will cover you with skin; I will put breath in you and you will live. Then you will know that I am the Lord.’ ” So I prophesied as I was commanded. There was a sound when I prophesied—I heard a rattling, and the bones came together, bone to bone. As I watched, I saw tendons on them, then muscles appeared, and skin covered over them from above, but there was no breath in them. He said to me, “Prophesy to the breath,—prophesy, son of man—and say to the breath: ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe on these corpses so that they may live.’ ” So I prophesied as I was commanded, and the breath came into them; they lived and stood on their feet, an extremely great army. Then he said to me, “Son of man, these bones are all the house of Israel. Look, they are saying, ‘Our bones are dry, our hope has perished; we are cut off.’ Therefore prophesy, and tell them, ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: Look, I am about to open your graves and will raise you from your graves, my people. I will bring you to the land of Israel. Then you will know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves and raise you from your graves, my people. I will place my breath in you and you will live; I will give you rest in your own land. Then you will know that I am the Lord—I have spoken and I will act, declares the Lord.’ ”

This scene is one of my favorites in all of Scripture. The story itself is great, but what I especially love about it is the way Ezekiel chooses to interact, and what he observes.

It begins with a disturbing vista: God places Ezekiel in a valley that’s full of dry bones. Doesn’t say how long they’ve been there, or how they got there, or even whose bones they are. Just valley. Bones. Ezekiel. God.

Then God asks “Son of man, can these bones yet live?” and Ezekiel… well, he gets a little cheeky. You ever have one of those moments? Where you feel like you’re being subjected to a pop quiz and you’re just having none of it? Ezekiel seems to know the feeling. “Sovereign Lord, you know,” he answers. Like a smart mouth kid answering a teacher’s question. Of course God knows. After all, God is Sovereign - that’s even what how Ezekiel addresses his reply. “You know,” God. You know the answer. I certainly don’t have to tell you. I mean, I might know, I might not, but you definitely do. Got any other questions?

It’s more than just cheekiness, though. Ezekiel and God go way back. God has shown Ezekiel some crazy things. And God has a habit of asking Ezekiel questions, only to show him the answer. So when Ezekiel is plopped down in a valley of bones, and God asks if they can live, Ezekiel’s got to be itching to see what God’s about to do. He doesn’t want to play 20 questions. He wants to know what he’s about to witness.

Except, it turns out, God’s not the one about to do it. Instead, God tells Ezekiel what to do. Tell the bones to come alive, Ezekiel. And he does it. And next thing he knows, the valley is filled with the sound of rattling. That’s what dry bones do. They rattle. And as countless dry bones come together, the rattling is deafening. Then, the rattling stops. Because the bones aren’t dry any more. And they aren’t bones any more. They’re bodies. They have muscle, and blood, and skin, and everything else bodies are supposed to have. Except for breath.

Now, surely, God is going to swoop in with the big finale! God’s going to breathe into these bodies like the body of Adam at creation. A new human race is going to be born!

Nope. Again, the instruction goes to Ezekiel. Call out to the wind, Ezekiel. Tell the wind to give these bodies breath.

And he does. And it does. And the bodies rise up. Only they’re not bodies any more. They’re people. Not just people, but an army, ready to respond to Ezekiel’s instructions.

And God speaks to Ezekiel one more time, explaining what he’s just seen. This army he’s just raised up from nothing but rattling bones? That’s the nation of Israel. A nation in exile. A nation so utterly annihilated, it’s little more than a skeleton of its former self. It’s resting, but it’s certainly not at peace. Never fear: just like that valley of bones, the skeleton is going to make a full recovery. But only if Ezekiel will do a little rattling.

Only if Ezekiel will rattle the bones of the despondent and call them to faithfulness and commitment.

Only if Ezekiel will rattle the bones of the complacent and call them to action.

Only if Ezekiel will rattle the bones of the guardians of tradition, and show them the new thing God is doing.

Only if Ezekiel is willing to rattle some bones.

There are those who would say the church is a skeleton of its former self. Once the most powerful force in Western civilization, membership has been gutted. Where growth and flourishing were once the norm, a congregation is now considered successful if it can just tread water. What was once the hub of activity in most American towns is now a bare bones collection of people desperately trying to make it just one more year.

The church’s dry bones are showing. And those bones need rattling.

They need rattling because there is still life to be had.

They need rattling because continuing to do what we’ve always done will just mean the bones keep drying out.

They need rattling because there is still life to be had, if only they can be rattled back into shape.

Most of all, they need rattling because this world needs these bones to be a living, breathing body once more. To be the body of Jesus on earth, doing the work to which we are called.

Too long have we been at rest, and that rest has definitely not been peaceful. If we want to see peace prevail on earth, we need to follow the call of Christ. And in order to do that, our bones are going to need to start rattling.