Pentecost at Epiphany on May 31, 2009

Ezekiel 37:1-14 The hand of the LORD was upon me, and he brought me out by the Spirit of the LORD and set me in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones. ² He led me back and forth among them, and I saw a great many bones on the floor of the valley, bones that were very dry. ³ He asked me, "Son of man, can these bones live?" I said, "O Sovereign LORD, you alone know." ⁴ Then he said to me, "Prophesy to these bones and say to them, 'Dry bones, hear the word of the LORD! ⁵ This is what the Sovereign LORD says to these bones: I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life. ⁶ I will attach tendons to you and make flesh come upon you and cover you with skin; I will put breath in you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the LORD.'" ⁷ So I prophesied as I was commanded. And as I was prophesying, there was a noise, a rattling sound, and the bones came together, bone to bone. ⁸ I looked, and tendons and flesh appeared on them and skin covered them, but there was no breath in them. ⁹ Then he said to me, "Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man, and say to it, 'This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe into these slain, that they may live.'" ¹⁰ So I prophesied as he commanded me, and breath entered them; they came to life and stood up on their feet-- a vast army. ¹¹ Then he said to me: "Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. They say, 'Our bones are dried up and our hope is gone; we are cut off.' ¹² Therefore prophesy and say to them: 'This is what the Sovereign LORD says: O my people, I am going to open your graves and bring you up from them; I will bring you back to the land of Israel. ¹³ Then you, my people, will know that I am the LORD, when I open your graves and bring you up from them. ¹⁴ I will put my Spirit in you and you will live, and I will settle you in your own land. Then you will know that I the LORD have spoken, and I have done it, declares the LORD.'"

These dry bones will live

“Boo Boo brought back to life.” That was the headline in the newspaper. The news article told of how Marian Morris, a retired Arkansas nurse, had made a normal family visit to her brother’s home. But she didn’t find things normal. Observing unusual activity at the small pond behind the house, Marian went down to investigate. There, at the foot of some agonized relatives she saw the dead, drowned body of Boo Boo. Although it had been years since Marian had practiced CPR, she dropped to her knees, tilted Boo Boo’s head back and began mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. She didn’t give up and her efforts paid off. Boo Boo’s eyes fluttered and then opened. As the newspaper told the story, Boo Boo had been brought back to life.

A wonderful human interest story? Not exactly. You see, Boo Boo is not a human; Boo Boo is a chicken. That’s right, a cluck-cluck feathered chicken. True, Boo Boo was a special chicken, an exotic chicken, a precious pet; but Boo Boo was still a chicken. I’ve raised chickens so it’s hard for me to think of a chicken as a pet; it’s even harder to grasp the mental picture of a trained nurse bending down to blow air past the beak of a chicken, pet or not. When I see a dead chicken, I think, “Shake and Bake,” and not artificial resuscitation.

Today we discuss bringing the dead back to life – dead people, not dead chickens. Can dead people be brought back to life? That was the question God asked Ezekiel. God placed Ezekiel in a valley filled with the bones of dead people. Ezekiel didn’t need any CSI agents to tell him these people were dead. Marian Morris wasn’t going to bring them back to life, no matter how long she performed CPR. Those bones were “dry.” Just like in the song: “‘dem bones, ‘dem bones, ‘dem dry bones.” Which is another way of saying that these people were really, really dead – decayed, decomposed, stark and stripped.

Who were these people that had been reduced to nothing more than piles of bleached bones? What happened to them? What brought them to this? A little history for you. Ezekiel was a prophet who lived in the dark days of Judah’s Babylonian Captivity, about 600 years before Jesus was born. As had happened many times before, Judah turned away from God, and as also had happened many times before, God disciplined them. This time the discipline came in the person of the Babylonian king, Nebuchadnezzar.

In a great battle, Nebuchadnezzar, with his Babylonian armies, took out the forces of Egypt, and became masters of most of the mid-east, including the kingdom of Judah. Many of the people of promise, the prophet Ezekiel included, were dragged away from their homes and transplanted to Babylon. There they faced the cold, hard facts that they were going to end their days in exile and slavery. Insult was added to injury when they received word from home that their capital city of Jerusalem had been destroyed and the great temple, the center of all their spiritual activities, had been leveled.

The news was crushing. There was no hope of going home – there was no home to go back to. Their personal lives and their spiritual lives were over. No wonder the people said “Our bones are dried up and our hope is gone; we are cut off.” These dry bones were people who should have been happy, but were not; who should have had a future, but did not; who should have had hope, but could only see a future filled with doubt, despair, depression, and dejection.

Perhaps you also feel doubt, despair, depression, dejection. Doubt that anyone loves you or is concerned about you. Despair that your future looks bleak and scary. Depression that no matter what you do, it will not be enough; no matter how hard you try, you will fail; no matter how long you struggle you will not succeed. Dejection as your body is breaking down, pills lining your countertop, and your bones feeling dead and dried up. Doubt, despair, depression, and dejection can do that, can’t they? A wicked world with all of its sins, sadness, and sorrow, its hurts, hatreds, and horrors can do that. Terrible things which come from within us; tragic things thrust upon us from outside – these all take their toll. Pleasure never satisfies; contentment never comes; tomorrow remains unwelcomed. You silently, wonder, “Will things ever change? Will they ever get better?” God asked the same question of the prophet, albeit in a little bit different way. The Lord asked: “Can these dead bones live?” It was His way of saying: “Can hope ever come to the hopeless?”

The logical, sensible, human answer is “no.” There are pains pouring from the hearts of those whose hearts are hurting, whose marriages are ending, whose children are wandering, whose health is eroding, whose jobs are ending, whose cancer is terminal, whose hospital beds most certainly are leading to the cemetery grave. The thought that pervades these situations is: “Barring a miracle, there is no hope.” It is impossible, humanly impossible for these dry bones to live.  

When God asked, “Can these bones live?” Ezekiel didn’t give a logical, sensible, reasonable answer. Instead, knowing that with God all things are possible, Ezekiel gave another answer, a better answer, the answer of faith: “O Lord God, You know.” And God did know. And God showed the prophet. He said, “Ezekiel, speak to these bones. Tell them the words which I give you. My words will bring hope, change, life and salvation.”

Ezekiel did as he was instructed. From 2500 years ago, Ezekiel tells you what happened: “As I was prophesying, there was a noise, a rattling sound, and the bones came together, bone to bone. I looked, and tendons and flesh appeared on them and skin covered them, but there was no breath in them. Then [God] said to me, “Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man, and say to it, ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe into these slain, that they may live.’” So I prophesied as he commanded me, and breath entered them; they came to life and stood up on their feet – a vast army.”

Can dry bones live? They can ... but not by their own power. Dry bones can live, when a miracle takes place. God wants to give you this miracle. Through His Son's sacrifice, and by the Spirit's power, your dry bones can live. God can, and will, bring life to the driest of bones. See Adam and Eve after their disobedience. Earthly and eternal death was their unavoidable, unenviable future. But God gave this condemned couple a redemption reprieve. God guaranteed that His perfect Son would take their place. God promised to substitute His Son’s perfect life for their sinful ones. This was God’s promise, and at the Savior’s empty tomb He fulfilled that promise. As a result of that promise, our first ancestors found tomorrows’ terrors had been taken away and hell had lost its horrors.

Dry bones can live when God’s miracle takes place. Abraham was dried up by old age, but God granted a miracle and an heir was provided. Moses was exiled from Egypt, but God granted a miracle and the shepherd led God’s people out of slavery. When God's people were being persecuted by the Philistines, God granted a miracle with the sling and stone of a shepherd boy, and gave a victory to His forces. Read Scripture. Take a look. See God grant His miracles and provide hope where there is none. Daniel lived through a night in the lion’s den. Three men found God’s company and were delivered from a fiery furnace.

God’s miracles defeat the devil’s tools of doubt, despair, depression and dejection. Through God’s miracle, through His Son’s care, dry bones come alive. The blind see, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised. Jesus brought forgiveness and a new life to a Samaritan adulteress at the well. Jesus brought salvation and self-respect to the home of Jericho’s despised tax collector, Zacchaeus. If ever there was a man without the possibility of hope or happiness it had to be the thief who hung next to Jesus on the cross. Agony was all that was left to him and death was certain. Still, even as He died, Jesus granted a miracle of forgiveness, and the Holy Spirit breathed life into that dying man’s bones. To the malefactor, Jesus said, “Today you will be with Me in paradise.”

Can dry bones live? They can when God provides a miracle. And a miracle for the entire world is exactly what God provided in the community of Jerusalem almost 2,000 years ago. The city which had seen the miracles of the Savior’s suffering, sacrifice, death and resurrection, was privileged to see another, life-giving, eternity-bestowing miracle. Fifty days after Jesus had risen from the dead, the Holy Spirit came upon God’s gathered people.  His presence was announced by the sound of a rushing, mighty wind, and evidenced by living, non-burning flames on the disciples’ heads. On that day, in a multitude of languages, for the very first time, Jesus’ spokesmen proclaimed the miraculous message that the world had, literally, been dying to hear. They said: Jesus has been born to be your substitute; Jesus has died to take away your sins; Jesus lives so that all who believe on Him with repentant hearts, can live forever. They told the world that dry bones can live!

It was a transforming day, and the world has never been the same since. Let me explain. Before Pentecost, Jesus’ disciples had been self-centered, arguing about who would be first in Jesus’ kingdom. Before Pentecost they had tried to keep little children from seeing the Savior. Before Pentecost they had doubted Jesus’ power, misunderstood His message and tried to talk Him out of fulfilling His mission. Before Pentecost they made promises they didn’t keep and boasts they couldn’t fulfill. Before Pentecost, they slept rather than prayed, they ran when they should have stood and were cowards when they should have been courageous. Before Pentecost, they complained and criticized, nagged and nitpicked.

But with the coming of the Spirit, the disciples were transformed. They became bold witnesses, proud proclaimers of the Gospel. Sure of their forgiveness, positive that heaven awaited them, they went out and shared with all the world, even as I am sharing with you today: When Jesus Christ is your Savior, your dry bones will live. There is no future so bad, so bleak, that the Christ cannot make it better. There is no sadness so profound, no sorrow so potent that it can defeat the Holy Spirit. Through Jesus’ story of salvation, the Holy Spirit leads you to your Savior. The Holy Spirit puts muscle and sinew and flesh on our dry bones by assuring us that when we deserved hell, Christ gave us heaven; that when we are trapped in hopelessness, the Savior is hardly helpless.

Back in the 1800s people were afraid of being declared dead while they were still living. They were terrified that a coma, a stroke or a fever might leave them catatonic, and some well-intentioned but ignorant individual might end up burying them alive. Sideshows played on those fears by displaying caskets whose lids bore evidence – real or manufactured – of the struggles of an individual who had been interred while still living. To prevent such a terrible thing from happening, caskets were equipped with a cord that rang a bell located above ground. From this invention, we get the expression, “being saved by the bell.” I don’t know if that contraption ever brought somebody back from the dead, if anybody was actually “saved by the bell;” but I can tell you of those who have been saved by the blood – Jesus’ blood. I can tell you that the Holy Spirit has made dry bones live in those whom He has brought back from doubt, despair, depression, dejection, and death. In Jesus, the Spirit forms these dry, old bones into a vast army for the Lord! Amen.