Ezekiel 37:1–14

Fifth Sunday in Lent

¹The hand of the LORD was upon me, and he brought me out in the Spirit of the LORD and set me down in the middle of the valley; it was full of bones. ²And he led me around among them, and behold, there were very many on the surface of the valley, and behold, they were very dry. ³And he said to me, "Son of man, can these bones live?" And I answered, "O Lord GOD, you know." ⁴Then he said to me, "Prophesy over these bones, and say to them, O dry bones, hear the word of the LORD. ⁵Thus says the Lord GOD to these bones: Behold, I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live. ⁶And I will lay sinews upon 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." ⁷So I prophesied as I was commanded. And as I prophesied, there was a sound, and behold, a rattling, and the bones came together, bone to its bone. ⁸And I looked, and behold, there were sinews on them, and flesh had come upon them, and skin had covered them. But there was no breath in them. ⁹Then he said to me, "Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man, and say to the breath, Thus says the Lord GOD: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe on these slain, that they may live." ¹⁰So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived and stood on their feet, an exceedingly great army. ¹¹Then he said to me, "Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. Behold, they say, 'Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost; we are clean cut off.' ¹²Therefore prophesy, and say to them, Thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I will open your graves and raise you from your graves, O my people. And I will bring you into the land of Israel. ¹³And you shall know that I am the LORD, when I open your graves, and raise you from your graves, O my people. ¹⁴And I will put my Spirit within you, and you shall live, and I will place you in your own land. Then you shall know that I am the LORD; I have spoken, and I will do it, declares the LORD."

When one tours the great cathedrals and churches in Europe he can't help being overwhelmed by the grandiose architecture. Here the architecture and theology come together to give a unified witness to Christ and his work to redeem sinful mankind, giving them life through his death and resurrection.

In many of the magnificent cathedrals you will also find large crypts. First you will see the formal crypts with the burial vaults of kings and queens, bishops and famous saints and dignitaries. But beyond them you will find endless mazes of tunnels where lie the bones of thousands and thousands of ordinary people. Skulls stacked from the floor to the ceiling as far as the eye can see. Here the dead rest waiting for the resurrection of the dead.

Every Sunday we confess in the creed that we believe in the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting. But how can these dead bones live? The prophet Ezekiel was given a vision in which he saw a pile of dry, lifeless bones, not unlike those in a crypt in an ancient cathedral. And in this vision he saw how God can give them life.

Piles of bones lying scattered around in desert areas was not an unusual sight in the captivity in Babylon. Israel was living in captivity. They were not much more than slaves, so as many people died from disease of being killed by the Babylonians when they Jerusalem was destroyed or dyed off as they were herded like cattle to Babylon, open fields were often littered with dried up bones.

But Israel's bones were also dried of God's spirit because of their sinfulness. "For thus says the Lord God: when I make you a city laid waste, like the cities that are not inhabited,...then I will go make you go down with those who go down to the pit, to the people of old, and I will make you to dwell in the world below, among ruins from of old, with those who go down to the pit, so that you will not be inhabited..." These words were spoken as punishment for the sin and rebellion of his people Israel. "I will bring you to a dreadful end, and you shall be no more...declares the Lord God."

Israel's disobedience had brought both physical and spiritual death upon them. Not only had they been carried captive to Babylon as a punishment for their sin, they had cut themselves off from God's by their lack of faith. These dry bones showed the spiritual condition of their hearts. These, the people of God, to whom he had given his Law and the Ten Commandments through Moses, had rebelled and turned from him into disobedience and unbelief. They had followed the gods of the nations around them. They became proud and arrogant and lived lives of luxury by squeezing the little guy and taking advantage of the poor and helpless. Their judges were dishonest and easily bribed. They formed groups of clicks who looked down on others and despised those who they thought were not as good as they. Their rulers were crooked and dishonest. They oppressed the needy. They were spiritually dried up dead bones on account of their disobedience and sin.

Still, in all of this God remained faithful to them. Even after God sent them into exile as punishment, he loved them. He said to them that he does not desire the death of the wicked. For he is a compassionate God, a loving God, who desires the salvation of his people.

So God himself restored his people Israel both physically and spiritually. He delivered them from captivity and brought them back to Judea to rebuild Jerusalem. We read that "the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus King of Persia, so that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom and also put it in writing: Thus says Cyrus king of Persia. The Lord, the God of heaven,...has charged me to build him a house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah....whoever is among you of all his people, may his God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem...and rebuild the house of the Lord." Thus God restored Israel to the promised land and rebuilt the city of Jerusalem and the temple.

But God not only restored Israel physically, he also restored them spiritually. He said, "Thus says the Lord God: on the day that I cleanse you from all your iniquities, I will cause the cities to be inhabited, and the waste places shall be rebuilt." "Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem and cry to her that her warfare is ended and that he iniquity is pardoned." It is God who restores people to life, yes even those dried up old bones of sinful people.

And this is exactly what Ezekiel saw in that vision. He witnessed how God breathes life into the lifeless bones of Israel and restores them. God asked him, "Son of man, can these bones live?" The answer was "Yes. God alone can breathe life into the lifeless." And then God instructed Ezekiel to prophesy and say, "Behold, I will open your graves and raise you from your graves, O my people. and I will bring you into the land of Israel. And you shall know that I am the Lord, when I open your braves and raise you from your graves, O my people. and I will put my Spirit within you, and you shall live, and I will place you in your own land. Then you shall know that I am the Lord; I have spoken and I will do it."

God told Ezekiel that these bones were Israel. "All of Israel," he said. Not just the physical descendents of Abraham, but the spiritual descendents who by faith have become the true people of God. The dry bones are the whole house of Israel, including the new Israel in the church. We too suffer death under God's law. The law of God declares us sinners as well. We, like Israel, have gone whoring after the gods of the nations around us. We have become idolaters seeking the gods of mammon, pleasure, fortune, pleasure, and instant gratification. We have become self-indulgent, only interested in our present material lives. This even is true of many churchgoers today, who often go to church merely to hear messages of self-help, messages to bolster their self-esteem, messages to help them find financial success or successful relationships. The gods of the world today a little more than cheerleaders to push us ahead to victory, or counselors who help us have a better life, or coaches who motivate us to try harder. All the gods of today are oriented toward having a better life here and now; in the material world. The gods of today are found in the malls and shopping centers, in the counselor's office, and on the corporate ladder. Few are those who look for their God on a cross; a God who takes our place under the law and pours out his blood for our redemption from sin.

We are a broken, sinful people, exiled from God's presence; dead to God by nature and by nature deserving of his wrath. Due to original sin, we are dead, dry bones from the day of our physical birth. And because we are spiritually dead, dry bones, our physical bodies will also one day turn into dead, dry bones. Our disobedience to God has brought both spiritual and physical death upon us.

But the Spirit of God breathes life into dead sinners. Just as the Spirit of God put flesh back on the bones in Ezekiel's valley and breathed life into them, so the Spirit of God today breathes life into us dead sinners by the power of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. By God's grace and undeserved love we are brought back to life by his Spirit. For even while we were still sinners and enemies of God, he showed his love for us by sending his Son to die for us in our place. By his suffering and death he paid for our sins and won complete and total forgiveness.

The Spirit of God breathes life into us dead sinners through the earthly means of Word, Baptism and the Lord's Supper. Here is where the Spirit is poured out upon us and where the benefits of Christ's work are delivered to us. Just as Jesus called forth to Lazarus and with his Word he command him to come forth out of the grave, by his word he calls us to life in Word and Sacrament. This is the first resurrection from the dead. We are first spiritually restored by the forgiveness of sins through Christ's death on the cross. Our sins are forgiven. God declares us forgiven in the Gospel. That Gospel which is the power of God unto salvation which raises us from spiritual dry bones and breathes spiritual life into us.

The second resurrection is on the Last Day when our physical bodies will also be restored to life and raised from the dead, just as Christ was raised from the dead. The Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in us, and he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to our mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in us.

The true Israel, now raised from the dead, has a new life and lives as the chosen people of God. Having died to sin in our baptism, we are joined to Christ in his resurrection to live unto God. We are united to one another as the people of God, his chosen race, a holy priesthood, where we live together as one body. One body which suffers together when one of its members suffers and which rejoices together when one of its members rejoices.

Having died to sin in baptism and been raised in righteousness, we are set free from the old life of dead works or sin and selfishness. We have left behind our selfishness and greed. We have been given new life which is turned away from the idols and false gods of mammon, and success and self-indulgence. The Spirit of God uses our bodies as instruments of righteousness to do good works of love and service to one another. These once dry and dead spiritual bones have been restored to life by the Spirit of God who puts new flesh on them, the flesh of good works and loving service of Christ for our neighbor. This life we have been given is a new life, with new love and new obedience to the glory of God. With this new life we are born into a new family, the family of God, the people of God who love and minister to one another. The Spirit of God has breathed new life into us in baptism and strengthens that new life in Holy Communion.

We became followers of Christ of the day we were baptized. Through water and the Word we were raised to new life which the Spirit breathed into us through the Gospel, forgiven our sins and making us new. our body is fed with his body and blood, and we hunger no more.

Like the bones of those who have gone before us, our bodies will come together in the end as the Church confesses in the reed. God's Spirit gives us new life now and will give life at the Last Day when our graves will be opened and our dry bones raised to be united with our redeemed and forgiven souls in heavenly splendor.

Amen.