5th Sunday in Lent

This text from Ezekiel is a favorite of mine for a number of reasons. On one level I like this text because it brings out the little boy in me. A valley of dry bone that is miraculously brought back to life! That gets a young boy's mind working. I can imagine the special effects of this scene or even a comic book like quality to it. It is an image that awakens the curious little boy and hangs on in the mind. So I am captivated by the graphicness of this passage.

But it also works on another level for me as well. It is a metaphor for life, especially the life of a believer. In fact this text gives us insight into what it means to be an evangelist for God.

First we encounter in this text the dry bones. Ezekiel is lead by the Spirit to a valley filled with dry bones - a symbol of utter death and destruction. Ezekiel sees this vision of dry bones as representing the nation of Israel as it was in exile. It was a nation destroyed and as the text says, a nation without hope. The death image is one that is also used in the New Testament, especially by Paul in Romans, to talk about our spiritual condition before God. We are utterly dead because of our sin. We are cut off and like dry bones when it comes to our own soul with out God. We can no easier come to God than a dead person can get up out of his grave. We are like the dry bones.

In the season of Lent we focus on the seriousness of our sin and brokenness in the sight of God. But we also focus on the sacrifice that Jesus paid for us to give us new life. In our Ezekiel text God restores like to the dry bone. He has Ezekiel speak His words over the bones and they come together and their flesh is restored. Then God breathes new life into the bodies and they come alive as a vast army of people. Wow! The power of God in His Word!

God’s Word is powerful, living and active. We are reminded of the Word of God spoken at creation. God spoke and he created all that is. God created the heavens and the earth and everything in them by His mere speaking. God’s word is powerful! And in this text we see the raising of those who are dead. They are reanimated and given life through the Word of God spoken to them. This Word is also characterized as breath – the very breath of God creates life. How can we not be in awe!

We who are like dry bones because of our sin; we who were utterly cut off from God and hostile to His ways; now can receive new life by God’s very Word. He comes to us and reanimates us by His Word. And God’s Word was made flesh as well in the man Jesus Christ. That is God’s Word in action for us! We can be made alive again in the power of the Word of God – the Word of Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior.

There is a difference here in the Ezekiel text from the Creation story that I think is important. In creation we see God doing the speaking and immediately there is life. But here it is Ezekiel speaking God’s Word that creates the life in the dry bones. This is the evangelism or outreach part I was talking about earlier. God uses His people to convey His life-giving Word. It is Ezekiel speaking God’s Word that reanimates the dry bones and brings them back to life. In this we have a model for the Christian life. We who have been made alive in Christ are now God’s spokesmen. We are to be vehicles for the life-giving Word. We are to proclaim Jesus!

In this story we are reminded that God calls us to proclaim His message of Salvation. We are to allow God to use us, to give us the Words to say, which will bring life to those who are spiritually dry bones. There is responsibility for us here – we are to speak of Jesus. But there is also comfort to know that it is not our words but God’s. We are the messengers, not the converters. God is the one, by His Spirit, that will change a life. We are to carry the Words of life to the dry bones and allow the Spirit to work His miracle. In Stephen Ministry, as we care for those who are hurting, we are always reminded that we are the care givers not the cure givers. Only God can provide the cure. This lifts a load off our backs to realize that the change in a person’s life is not a result of our own works but is the evidence of God working in them. We are there to point people to God, to convey the life-giving message of Jesus. In Him we can have hope, healing and new life.

We see the work of God’s life-giving Word in the Gospel lesson for today – the story of the raising of Lazarus. Jesus was a good friend with Lazarus and his sisters Mary and Martha. When Lazarus dies Jesus comes to be with his friends. In his conversation with Martha Jesus proclaims that He is the resurrection and the life. He provides hope that not even death can separate us from His love. And to show this further He raises Lazarus from the dead before their very eyes. In John’s Gospel this is the last great miracle before Jesus enters into the final week of His life and heads to the cross. On that cross Jesus dies in our place taking on the wrath of God for us. We who are the dry bones because of our sin now have one who becomes sin for us. In our place Jesus dies but He also rises to new life to grant us forgiveness, life and salvation.

Jesus raising of Lazarus is a foretaste of our resurrection to come. And in this we find joy and comfort. In our valley of dry bones God comes to give us new life in Jesus. And He calls us to proclaim this message to a world filled with dry bones. The world needs to hear the life-giving message of Jesus. We have a responsibility to proclaim Jesus Christ and His salvation. And we can stand back and watch the Spirit work to make dry bones into living people. That is our calling. That is the story behind this story. We were dead in our trespasses and sin but made alive in Christ. We are called to carry these life-giving words to the world of dry bones and allow God to us to reanimate the dead. May we proclaim Jesus and see the dry bones be made alive.

Amen.