Community United Methodist Church
“Dry Bones in the Valley”
Ezekiel 37:1-14
March 9, 2008
1-2 God grabbed me. God’s Spirit took me up and set me down in the middle of an open plain strewn with bones. He led me around and among them—a lot of bones! There were bones all over the plain—dry bones, bleached by the sun.
3 He said to me, “Son of man, can these bones live?”
I said, “Master God, only you know that.”
4 He said to me, “Prophesy over these bones: ‘Dry bones, listen to the Message of God!’”
5-6 God, the Master, told the dry bones, “Watch this: I’m bringing the breath of life to you and you’ll come to life. I’ll attach sinews to you, put meat on your bones, cover you with skin, and breathe life into you. You’ll come alive and you’ll realize that I am God!”
7-8 I prophesied just as I’d been commanded. As I prophesied, there was a sound and, oh, rustling! The bones moved and came together, bone to bone. I kept watching. Sinews formed, then muscles on the bones, then skin stretched over them. But they had no breath in them.
9 He said to me, “Prophesy to the breath. Prophesy, son of man. Tell the breath, ‘God, the Master, says, Come from the four winds. Come, breath. Breathe on these slain bodies. Breathe life!’”
10 So I prophesied, just as he commanded me. The breath entered them and they came alive! They stood up on their feet, a huge army.
11 Then God said to me, “Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. Listen to what they’re saying: ‘Our bones are dried up, our hope is gone, there’s nothing left of us.’
12-14 “Therefore, prophesy. Tell them, ‘God, the Master, says: I’ll dig up your graves and bring you out alive—O my people! Then I’ll take you straight to the land of Israel. When I dig up graves and bring you out as my people, you’ll realize that I am God. I’ll breathe my life into you and you’ll live. Then I’ll lead you straight back to your land and you’ll realize that I am God. I’ve said it and I’ll do it. God’s Decree.’”
Here we have another wonderful story, filled with mythical images and powerful symbolism—one of the great visions of a great prophet. The God of the Hebrew Scriptures teaches Ezekiel about resurrection! Too often we Chrstians dismiss what we call the Old Testament because of all the anger, punishment and gore. We prefer the sweeter picture of Jesus meek and mild in the New Testament. However, the Old Testament is the Bible of Jesus and the first Christians. The Hebrew Scriptures are filled with messages of hope and forgiveness. As we learned in our world religions class, the Jews were the first to understand God as all-loving and all-caring. God really did want the best for his children. The prophets were not always about doom and gloom. When the people were straying away from God, the prophets warned them of the consequences. When the people were defeated and nearly destroyed, the prophets then offered words of encouragement and hope. Despair not! God knows you and God loves you. God will rescue you!
Here God brings Ezekiel into a heavenly vision and shows him what God intends to do—bring back life!
This vision dates to the period of Israel’s history known as the Babylonian Exile. In 597 BCE, the armies of Babylon defeated the rebellious city Jerusalem and deported the Judean king and many Judean leaders to Babylon (2 Kings 24:10-16). Ten years later, in 587/6 BCE, after Jerusalem had rebelled again, the Babylonians razed Jerusalem and its temple and deported a second wave of Judean leaders. Among the first wave of the deported was the young Ezekiel, whom God later called in Babylon to the office of prophet. For those deportees forced to live in Babylon, the future seemed a black hole into which the people were destined to disappear. A century-and-a-half previously, many citizens of Judah’s sister kingdom Israel had been similarly deported, had lost their identity, and had faded into the mists of history—the so-called lost tribes of Israel. The exile was more than just a crisis of physical suffering and communal identity. It also brought a crisis of faith. The key symbols of Judean faith—Jerusalem, its temple, its people, and the Davidic monarchy—had been destroyed (cf Psalms 89 and 137). According to the belief system of the ancient world, many exiled Judeans assumed that their God had been defeated by a stronger god from Babylon (cf. Ps 42:3, 10; 79:10; 115:2). The people wondered if their God, our God, the God, was truly in charge and truly faithful.
The question God asks the prophet Ezekiel is, “Can these bones live?” As Ezekiel pondered his depressing vision, God went on to answer the question. In order to live, these bones needed not only flesh, sinew, and skin. . . but also breath: “I will. . . put breath (xwr) in you, and you shall live” (v. 6). Then, in the vision, sinew, flesh, and skin cover the bones, but there is still no breath (xwr) in them (v. 8). So, Ezekiel prophesies to the breath (xwr), “Come from the four winds (xwr), O Breath (xwr), and breathe upon these slain, that they may live” (v. 9). And “the breath (xwr) came into them, and they lived” (v. 10). God tells Ezekiel, “I will put my spirit (xwr) with you, and you shall live” v. 14).
God’s spirit is the key. In the Bible, the same word is used for spirit, wind, and breath. With God’s spirit, anything is possible. Without it, existence is just flesh and blood. But with God’s spirit, there is life—and what Jesus called fullness of life. And there is no place on earth, no when in time, and no what in sin or situation, that can keep God’s Spirit away from God’s people (see Romans 8:31-38). Some historical background: (Rolf Jacobson)
Can these bones live?
I don’t like to get political from the pulpit, but I can’t read this story without thinking of the current presidential race. We need hope to survive. We need words of inspiration to pull us forward. We need our souls stirred out of sleepy despair. It seems the last several years have left our nation broken like dried up bones in the valley. Certainly many areas of the world are left lifeless and hopeless because of famine and violence. And yes, it takes more than simple words to even begin to bring about some relief. But that’s all the biblical prophets had—words, the word of God; promises, the promise of God’s spirit to bring back life. I believe we have three good candidates for president this year, but the recent focus on two of them criticizing another for his speeches hits close to the bone for a preacher. Words are our vocation. Like the prophets, all we can do sometimes is share with you in words the deep messages God has place in our hearts and on our lips—words of love and forgiveness and encouragement—words of hope. Without hope the people die!
Can our bones live? What skeletons are in your life right now? Is death stalking you, putting fear in your heart? Is despair and depression just around the corner waiting to whack you on the head? Are you almost ready to give up, lie down in the valley and dry up? Can these bones live? Yes they can! God is always offering new life, always breathing new life into our tired souls. Even 600 years before Christ’s resurrection, God is offering new life to the people.
God’s work does not stop when humans have done our worst. Ask relief workers, ask the descendants of slaves and other survivors of genocide, get a reality check from those in prison ministries. “Can these bones live?” If you can’t wait for Easter, ask Ezekiel. If you can’t wait for Easter, ask Lazarus.
The famous African-American spiritual “Dry Bones” derives from Ezekiel’s valley full of bones vision.
Ezekiel cried them dry bones.
Now hear the word of the Lord
Ezekiel connected them dry bones.
Now hear the word of the Lord.
Your toe bone connected to your foot bone.
Your foot bone connected to your ankle bone.
Your ankle bone connected to your leg bone.
Your leg bone connected to your thigh bone.
Your thigh bone connected to your hip bone.
Your hip bone connected to your back bone.
Your back bone connected to your shoulder bone.
Your shoulder bone connected to your neck bone.
Your neck bone connected to your head bone.
Now hear the word of the Lord.
Them bones gonna walk around.
Now hear the word of the Lord.
Novelist Anna Quindlen was speaking to the Graduating Class of 1999 at Villanova University. She told of a story she once did on how homeless persons survive in the winter. In the midst of her research, she said, she met a homeless man on the boardwalk at Coney Island. The two of them sat on the wooden supports of the boardwalk, says Quindlen, dangling their feet over the side. This homeless man told her about his schedule and what it was like panhandling the boulevard when the summer crowds were gone. He told of sleeping in a church when the temperature went below freezing and hiding from the police amidst the Tilt-a-Whirl and the Cyclone and some of the other seasonal rides.
But he told her that most of the time he stayed on the boardwalk, facing the water, just the way they were sitting then—even when it got cold and he had to wear his newspapers after he read them.
And Anna Quindlen asked him why. Why didn’t he go to one of the shelters? Why didn’t he check himself into the hospital for detox?
And he just stared out at the ocean and said, “Look at the view, young lady. Look at the view.”
Anna Quindlen ended her speech like this: “And every day, in some little way, I try to do what he said. I try to look at the view. And that’s the last thing I have to tell you today, words of wisdom from a man with not a dime in his pocket, no place to go, nowhere to be. Look at the view. You’ll never be disappointed.” Contributed by Dr. John Bardsley. Source: INTERNET, 5/13/2000.
For fifteen years, Zoe Koplowitz had let multiple sclerosis rule her life. The disease results in weakened muscles, blurred vision, loss of balance, slurring of speech. Depending on how far it progresses, MS can leave a person paralyzed, blind, and unable to speak. For those fifteen years after she was diagnosed, Zoe didn’t push herself much physically. She was afraid of the advance of the disease.
But then one day she got angry. She decided to fight this illness that had so controlled her life. So Zoe Koplowitz made up her mind to participate in the New York City Marathon, a 26.2 mile event that attracts some of the best runners in the world. Friends joked that Zoe, a full-figured, dark-haired woman who walks with two canes, might easily be mistaken for Grete Waitz, the thin, blond, Norwegian runner who had won eight of the New York City Marathons. Someone even gave Zoe a shawl with the words, “I’m not Grete” embroidered into it.
That year, 1988, Grete Waitz won her ninth New York City Marathon, with a time of 2 hours and 25 minutes. Zoe came struggling in that evening after almost 20 hours of walking. For the next five years, Zoe participated in the marathon.
In 1993, Grete and Zoe met at a dinner in Grete’s honor. The famed marathon runner was in awe of the woman who pushed herself to compete in spite of her disabilities. Trying to understand Zoe’s motivation, Grete asked, “Who is waiting for you at the finish line?” As a world-renowned runner, Grete was usually greeted by flocks of news reporters and crowds of cheering fans. Zoe replied that no one was waiting for her; by the time she finished the race, everyone else had gone home. That day, Grete Waitz promised that she would be at the finish line next year when Zoe competed in the marathon.
A number of health problems hit Zoe that year, and it took her 28 hours to finish the race. But Grete was waiting right there for her to cross the line. Sadly, someone had stolen a case of finishers’ medals, and Grete learned that Zoe would not get a medal for her efforts. So Grete ran across town to her apartment and asked her husband to give up his own medal that he had just won that day in the marathon. She returned in time to cheer Zoe across the finish line and drape the medal around her neck.
Every year since, Grete Waitz has waited at the finish line for Zoe Koplowitz. The two women also speak at various city schools, where they teach the children a valuable lesson about the winning spirit. “I Will Be There For You” by Zoe Koplowitz with Mike Celizic from “The Winning Spirit,” READER’S DIGEST, August 1998, pp.129-133.
Schindler’s List is a true story of World War II. It focuses on the heroism and self-sacrifice of Oskar Schindler, a Catholic from Krakow, Poland. Schindler goes from wanton war profiteer to a conspirator who tries to free condemned prisoners from concentration camps.
In one sequence, we see Jews being herded like cattle onto freight trains, hungry, hot, and thirsty. The train is taking them to the death camps. The German soldiers are lolling about the station docks and enjoying the suffering they see, when tall, clean, rested, and pampered Schindler arrives in a spotless white suit. The Colonel offers him a drink and Oskar glad-hands among the soldiers for a minute. He has a bright idea! “Let’s hose down the cars!” He convinces the Colonel to give him a soldier to man the hose, and they begin spraying the cars.
In this way the captives could drink and be cooled. And Schindler did not have to give away too much in the appearance of compassion. In fact, he and the soldier seemed to be having fun with the fire hose, even to getting the Colonel to order another length of hose, so they could reach the last car.
While Schindler was playing with the hose, and the prisoners were reaching for the water, the Colonel said, “Oh, Oskar, you are too cruel! You’re giving them hope!”
