Ezekiel 37:1-14 (click on the scripture to read it)
DRY BONES
Have you ever broken a bone? Broken bones come in different degrees, from hairline fractures to compound fractures. No matter what degree a bone is broken, you know instantly that something is wrong. Bones don’t lie, they scream the truth. All the bells and whistles go off as the nerves around the broken bone send a bolt of lighting to your brain. Our first reaction is that of a nurturing instinct as we reach for the brokenness in hope that our embrace will bring comfort. Quickly we realize that our embrace is not enough and we seek other things to promote healing. Ice… we need Ice. Ice is almost like a frozen light in our pain of fiery darkness. We must extinguish the fire and numb the pain.
Broken Bones… broken bones need to be put back in place…they need to be set and stabilized in order for the proper healing to begin.
Bones let us know instantly if they are broken, but what about Dry Bones? To me, Dry Bones seem to be more dangerous than a healthy bone-that has been broken; healthy bones can heal rather quickly.
Dry Bones get that way over time, it’s a subtle process. Dry Bones become thin when there is a decrease in density of bone mass. They become fragile and loose their ability to adequately support normal everyday stress; they become brittle and snap from the weight of a body. Dry Bones try to tell us something is wrong, but not with a bolt of lightning, it’s more like a moan… a faint cry that is often not heard through the noise of our busy lives.
The causes of Dry Bones can be from things in our control and things out of our control. The dryness can come from both things we have done… and things we have left undone.
The reasons that are out of our control are things like Gender, Genetics, and some illnesses and other health issues. The reasons for Dry Bones, that we bring upon ourselves, are things like poor nutrition and a sedentary lifestyle. When our bones become dry from things that are out of our control we need to simply offer those things up to God and stay focused on the goodness in our lives.
When our bones become dry and brittle from things that are in our control we need to not only stay focused on the goodness in our lives, but we need to respond to that goodness in such a way that restores our fragile foundation. We need to supply our bones with what they need to become healthy and we need to end our sedentary lifestyles. It is fascinating to me that weight bearing exercises stimulate bone production and increase bone density. Healthy bones create a strong foundation so that when fractures do happen they quickly heal and are restored to wholeness.
Today, on the last Sunday before we jump feet first into the stresses of Holy Week, the Prophet Ezekiel gives us a Bone Density Scan from the Divine… we get a scan for our spiritual lives.
God often uses the experiences and wisdom of others in order to bring about healing in the lives of those who have lost hope. Ezekiel understood about the depths and darkness of the valley and his bones too were dry like those that lay before him. Ezekiel was there when Israel was overthrown and the temple was destroyed. As a priest, he would have been taken captive and put into exile like other prominent leaders of the day. He would have experienced what it was like to have life fall apart around him and what it was like to feel lost, abandoned, and without hope.
God needed to know just how lost his chosen people had become; God needed to know if there was any life left in those dry bones. God says to Ezekiel. "Mortal, can these bones live?" Ezekiel didn’t know what to say, but he knew that if he turned it over to God, that God would have the answer. Ezekiel answered, "O Lord GOD, you know." Now Ezekiel offers himself up to God and does what God has called him to do.
God tells him to "Prophesy to the bones” Now Ezekiel could preach a mean sermon, but normally he was preaching to the living and not just a pile of bones. God gives Ezekiel the right words and tells him to say, “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 he preached as he had been commanded; and suddenly there was a noise, a rattling, and the bones came together, bone to its bone. Ezekiel 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 God said to him, "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."
He prophesied as he was commanded and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood on their feet, a vast multitude.
God brought a pile of dry bones to life. Israel listened through the noise and stress of despair. They listened beyond the faint cry into the goodness of the Lord. God took a situation that appeared to be hopelessly lost and transformed it into something that was healthy and full of life.
As Lent is coming to an end, we have to listen to the voice of Ezekiel and to the voices of goodness in our everyday lives. We must not allow ourselves to become victims of sedentary bones. We must find ways to respond to God’s breath-of life and exercise our Spiritual Bones.
As we enter into next week we must stand together and walk side by side through each day of Holy Week in order for us to be united as one as we breathe deeply into the celebration and resurrection of Christ.
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