Can these bones live?
What a question!
Surely not.
It would be different if whatever battle had happened here
was just finished. Then you could go
through and look for survivors. You’d
maybe hear a faint groaning here or there, and be able to give someone aid,
nurse them back to health. Maybe find
some wounded and help them get on their feet, and off to the hospital. Maybe it
would be like that line from the Princess Bride, “He’s only mostly dead!”
But not here. Not in
this valley of dry bones. It’s been a
while. The bodies have decayed. There’s not even any flesh left, just dry,
dry bones, bleached in the sun. The life
is long gone. It’s more like the line
from the Wizard of Oz, “Not only merely dead, but really, most sincerely dead.”
Can these bones live?
Surely not.
For one thing, they were dead. And the thing about death is that it’s
permanent. Even a child knows that once
a creature is dead, that is the end. It’s
what death is, what it means. There’s no
life and the life isn’t coming back.
That’s what death is, by definition.
And so death becomes the great cloud that covers all of
us. It’s the sword hanging over our
heads. It’s the constant threat to life
that at any moment we could die, and then the story is done, that’s all she
wrote. Game over.
The world around us tries many things to manage death: denial is a common strategy. Shuffle death off to a hospital room and
sanitize it. Speak about death in words
that take some of the edge away from it, “oh, she passed. He’s with us no more. Heaven just got another angel.” and so
on.
Darwin tried to give death credit for making life better –
survival of the fittest. New Age gurus paint death as natural, part of the
circle of life. Pop culture doesn’t do
much better when it makes death the center of so much entertainment.
And secular philosophers have even tried their stab at
it. Take this increasingly common
idea: “Without death we cannot know
how to truly live. Our mortality is what creates meaning in our lives.” Hmph. Nice try.
But as Ezekiel waded through that valley with its piles of
bones, I doubt he was thinking any of that.
The prophet knew what we Christians know, that death is the invader, the
enemy, and it does not belong in this world.
But Adam’s sin opened the door to death, and it’s been an unwelcome
squatter in our living room ever since. So
much death, because so much sin.
This valley of bones wasn’t there to give life meaning, or
show Ezekiel how to get the most out of life.
Standing knee deep in femurs and tibias and skulls, denial wasn’t really
an option for him either. No philosophy
of man could re-cast the sad truth staring Ezekiel in the face. Those bones told the story that couldn’t be
sugar-coated. The reality of death.
But the bones were not the whole story. Yahweh was there, and so also the
Spirit. And the Lord was showing Ezekiel
this vision to make and impress upon him a certain point. Can these bones live? Yes!
They can, and they will!
These bones are the house of Israel. See, at the time of Ezekiel, the people of
God were in a crisis. They were in
exile. The Babylonians had destroyed
Jerusalem, destroyed the temple, and destroyed all hope for them as a
people. They were as good as dead, as
dead as a pile of dry bones. If anyone
looked on them and said, “can they live?”
The answer would surely be no.
But Yahweh had other plans.
He sent his prophets, and along with them his word. And in his word, the working of his Spirit.
Just as the bones in Ezekiel’s vision came back to life at
the preaching of the prophet – so does God revive and restore his people. He did it then, and he does it still
today. By the Spirit, through the word. The exile ended, the people returned, the
temple was rebuilt, and God’s plan and purpose resumed, the promise of a
Messiah soon fulfilled. The bones of
Israel would live again.
You and I are in a crisis.
Oh, we haven’t been conquered by an evil empire (at least not yet). We haven’t died in battle. We’re not pining away in exile. But death still breathes down our neck. We can’t escape it no matter how many doctors
we visit, how many fruits and vegetables we eat, or how many steps we get on
our fit-bit. The wages of sin is
death. There’s no getting around
it. In the end, these sinful, unclean
bones can’t live.
But for Christ. Christ,
who destroys death by his death. Christ,
who takes all sin upon himself. Christ, who
answers the question, “Can these bones live?” with his own glorious
resurrection.
The Spirit, the Holy Spirit, is the Spirit of Christ. Jesus breathed his Spirit on his apostles on
that first Easter Sunday evening. Now,
on Pentecost, he breathes the Spirit again upon his church. The Spirit who gives life to dead bones does
so for the sake of Christ, the life of all the living. The Spirit who is sent by Christ accomplishes
Christ’s purposes – bringing forgiveness, life and salvation to his
people.
The Spirit, who comes from the four winds, the four corners
of the earth, is sent out to make disciples of all nations through the baptism
of Christ and the teaching of Christ. The
Spirit, the Lord and Giver of Life, is sent by Christ, the Way, the Truth and
the Life. They are distinct, but united,
one God, and with the Father, three persons.
On the last day, when Christ who has ascended in glory
returns in the same glory, with angelic shout and trumpet call of God… then the
Spirit will resurrect all who are in Christ to glorious bodies fit for eternal
life. And what a site that will be. Not just a vision, like Ezekiel’s valley of
dry bones, but a reality. Not just an
army – but all the dead in Christ will rise, for our Lord Jesus has gone before
us and where he goes there we will follow.
On this day of Pentecost, we give thanks for the Holy
Spirit, and for the life that he brings, the life that is in Christ. Through the preaching of the Gospel, he restores
us now, and by his mighty power will restore us fully on the last day – body
and soul – to live forever. The
resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting.
Can these bones live?
In Christ, by his Spirit, yes!
They will!
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