Today is Sunday, March 29, the 5th Sunday in Lent. The lectionary today presents two significant and well-known readings: one, from the book of Ezekiel, about the prophet’s vision of a valley of dry bones coming back to live. The other reading is about the raising of Lazarus.
I’ll be sharing with you my thoughts on the Ezekiel passage this morning, but I encourage you to read the story of Lazarus on your own - today, or in the coming week. It can be found in the gospel of John, chapter 11.
The Bible talks a lot about the “Kingdom of God.” (In the Gospel of Matthew, it’s called the “Kingdom of Heaven,” but that refers to the same thing.)
And when the Bible talks about the Kingdom of God, it’s making a deliberate contrast between the world as God envisions it, and the world as envisioned and ruled by kings and emperors.
In the Kingdom of God, the poor are taken care of. The weak. The vulnerable. All are provided for. All are protected.
And the image of God that is in every person is recognized and honored.
But kings and emperors were not very good at recognizing and honoring the image of God in every person. They treated some people much better than others. They gave favors to their fellow elites. They shaped economic policy to benefit the rich and powerful. They neglected the poor, the weak, the vulnerable.
This was especially true during the time of the prophet Ezekiel.
In Ezekiel’s time, the poor, the weak, and the vulnerable were neglected and forgotten. The kings in those days cared only for the rich and powerful, and all their policies benefited the rich and the powerful at the expense of the poor. Maybe they thought, mistakenly, that by focusing on those at the top, that wealth and happiness would eventually trickle down to the poor. That didn’t happen then, and it doesn’t happen today.
Of course, it’s also possible that they just didn’t care about the poor, that they were just selfish & greedy.
Either way, their policies were oppressive. Devastating. Deadly to many. And so God was against them.
Ezekiel says as much. For 32 chapters, that's pretty much all Ezekiel talks about: how God is against the kings because of their corruption, because they have acted against the poor; and Ezekiel predicts doom and catastrophe as a result of their unjust and immoral economic policies.
And eventually, catastrophe hits. Destruction reigns. Life comes to a halt. Everything falls apart.
And the future looks as bleak and hopeless as a valley filled with dry bones.
We read this in the 37th chapter of Ezekiel: “there were very many bones lying in the valley, and they were very dry.
Picture that: the bleak devastation. If you're wandering the land, searching for hope, and you come over a hill and see before bones stretching on for miles...no signs of life...no birds chirping ...no butterflies flapping about...no oases of fresh water as far as the eye could see.... Just bones slowly turning to dust…
This is what has become of the nation.
How can you possibly be hopeful?
A question is heard: "Can these bones live?"
The question is so outrageous, it's hard to give a straight answer. Can these bones live? Can they come back to life? Can tissue and organs come back? Can they rise again? Can they be filled once again with the breath of life?
No! It doesn’t seem possible.
The kingdom is ruined. The corrupt kingdom has become death, devastation, and despair.
But there is another kingdom present.
It is the kingdom where death turns into life.
It is the kingdom where despair becomes hope.
It is the kingdom where the impossible becomes possible.
Can these bones live?
Ezekiel tells it like this: “I answered, ‘O Lord God, only you know.’ Then God said to me, ‘Prophesy to these bones, and say to them: O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. Thus says the Lord God to these bones: I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live. I will lay sinews on you, and will cause flesh to come upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and you shall live; and you shall know that I am the Lord.’
“So I prophesied as I had been commanded; and as I prophesied, suddenly there was a noise, a rattling, and the bones came together, bone to its bone. I looked, and there were sinews on them, and flesh had come upon them, and skin had covered them; but there was no breath in them. Then he said to me, ‘Prophesy to the breath, prophesy, mortal, and say to the breath: Thus says the Lord God: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live.’ I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood on their feet, a vast multitude.”
It is the kingdom where death turns into life.
It is the kingdom where despair becomes hope.
It is the kingdom where the impossible becomes possible.
Does it feel to you that we are living in a valley of dry bones right now? Does it feel that all life has stopped, that even the breath is gone, and everything looks utterly bleak?
It does to me.
Perhaps this is where we’re at. Perhaps we have forgotten so long about the kingdom of God, that this is where we’re at.
Then again, the sun outside, and the birds chirping, and the rose bush outside my kitchen window that put forth a flower this week even though I hadn’t seen any flowers on that old, neglected rose bush in many months, all tell me otherwise.
And I am reminded that that other kingdom - the kingdom of God, the kingdom of miraculous life and rebirth, the kingdom where no person is ever forgotten or neglected - is still very much alive and present in our midst.
And we can live in the kingdom of God every day, including this day. Even when all we see is a valley of dry bones, we can prophesy to the wind, and watch as God’s spirit breathes into those bones and restores them to life.
More specifically, we can encourage and promote life by loving one another… by NOT forgetting about the poor, the weak, the vulnerable. We can look upon every person, and see and recognize the image of God that is present in every single person.
And as we continue to stay-at-home, we are doing what we need to do to love our neighbors, to slow down the virus spread, and make it possible for those who do need medical care to receive it.
The Bible says this is love, that a man would lay down his life for another. Right now, we’re not being asked to lay down our lives, but just put them on hold, so that others may live.
This is a sacred, noble task.
And if you will allow me to play a little with the Kingdom of God language and imagery, each of us becomes a noble knight in the kingdom of God, when we take actions that help save the lives of others.
Which, right now, means staying home as much as possible.
It does seem ironic that the most important thing we can do right now is nothing.
But is it any more surprising than seeing a valley of dry bones come back to life? Life in a valley of dry bones… Life in the act of staying at home, going nowhere.
It is a strange sort of knighthood, that requires knights to NOT go out on a quest or crusade. But the kingdom of God is always surprising.
And though all we can see is the bleakness and despair and stillness of the valley of dry bones, we know that those bones will come back to life, and all will be able to dwell in peace - live in peace - in God’s kingdom.
And it won’t matter if you are rich or poor. It won’t matter if you are strong or weak. The gifts of the kingdom will be shared equally, and all will dwell in the light and the life and the love that come from God.
This is the message the Bible has for us today. It is the message of Ezekiel’s vision. It is the message in the raising of Lazarus. Death and despair will give way to Life and love. Because God’s kingdom will ultimately prevail.
