Lent 5 Ezekiel 37 April 10, 2011
In my driveway this week as I was heading into the basement of church, I noticed something black and shrively
looking. Upon closer inspection I noticed it was a dead toad. A large dead toad. One of my boys was with me at the
time and they asked, “is it dead?” Oh yes , I said, it dead this thing is not going anywhere. As with anything that it is
dead, it cannot live again. It cannot, move, it cannot breath, it cannot make a sound. Dead is dead.
In God’s Word this morning God through the pen of the prophet Ezekiel paints us an interesting picture of a valley of
dead and dry bones. It a battlefield of dead soldiers killed in battle who lost in the fight. This picture is a vision given
to Ezekiel by God. Upon seeing the dead and dry bones in the battlefield, Ezekiel is asked the question, can these
bones live? Today as we look at God work in the book of Ezekiel we will see a picture of what sin does to us. And we
will see a picture of what the Holy Spirit does for us.
The prophet Ezekiel was called by God to bring two separate messages to God’s people. One message came in the
first half of his ministry, and he was called to bring a new message in the second half of his ministry. Early on Ezekiel
pronounced a message of judgment on the children of Israel. He told the of God’s impending chastiment for their
sins. How they would be taken captive in a foreign land and the beloved city of Jerusalem would be destroyed. This
would was the message of the first half of Ezekiel’s ministry. And they came the second half. Go did bring his
judgment and The children of Israel were captive in the country of Babylon. The city of Jerusalem was destroyed and
God’s people were in despair. The were left to think things were hopeless. They needed comfort from God and from
his messenger. So God through Ezekiel would bring them a message of hope. A message of a new life to come. That’s
the picture that we today.
Again the picture painted for us to view this morning is that of battlefield full of bones. And the bones are lying and
drying up under the hot sun. In his vision given by God Ezekiel sees the bones and God asks him in the vision, Son of
Man, Can these bones live?” This picture of the dead bones was a picture of the Children of Israel. They were dead
in their sins and dead in despair. The felt things were hopeless. Lost in a foreign land, cut of from home they felt as
good as dead. They were the dry bones. And the question concerning the people of Israel was could they live again.
Their sin and rebellion against God had brought them to this point. There sin had made them the living dead. Now
the question was could they live again. Could they be brought of their state of hopelessness and despair.
What’s dead is dead and it cannot live again. That toad in my driveway will never hop another hop. The black walnut
tree in my yard that I doused in gasoline with never spout another sprout or grow another inch. What’s dead is dead.
Because of sin the people of Israel found themselves as good as dead and cut off from their home. And this is our
story as well. Because of our sin, because of our rebellion against God we find ourselves dead in our sins and
separated from God. We are like those dry bones in the valley. Drying in our sins and left to ourselves we have no
hope of being brought back to life. Our sins of unjust anger, our lack of forgiveness towards others, our unwillingness
to help when help is needed, the greed of our pocketbooks, the selfishness of our hearts and the pride of our minds
has brought us nothing but death.
Every human is dead in sin as the Apostle Paul reminds us in Ephesians: “You were dead in your transgressions and
sins.” So whats dead is dead. So dead in our sins we cant breath a breath, or lift a finger or wiggle a toe to save
ourselves. Were dead in our transgressions and sins. Having rebelled against God and taken him and his word for
granted our sins dried up our bones and made us as good as dead. So dead as those bones on the battlefield in the
valley the question we must ask the question, “Can these bones live?”
Ezekiel answered that question by saying to God, “O Sovereign Lord, you alone know.” God said to Ezekiel –
Prophesy to these bones and say to them, Dry bones, hear the word of the Lord! This is what the Sovereign Lord
says to these bones: I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life. I will attach tendons to you and make
flesh come upon you and cover you with skin; I will put breath into you and you will come to life. Then you will
know that I am the Lord.” To a people in despair, God through his prophet speaks a word of comfort. To those who
thought all was hopeless and thought they were as good as dead God tells them he will bring them back to life. God
promised them he would bring them back home to their own country. He would restore the city of Jerusalem. God
would do what no one else could that is bring to life what was once. And God kept his promise – . The vision that he
gave to Ezekiel came true. God brought his people out of Babylon. God restored the city of Jerusalem. A remnant of
the Israelites made their way home – the temple in Jerusalem was rebuilt. God granted them new life. Hope and
despair and the feeling of certain death were gone and in its place was new life.
This became clear to Ezekiel in his vision. Ezekiel said, “So I prophesied as I was commanded. And as I was
prophesying, there was a noise, a rattling sound, and the bones came together, bone to bone. I looked and
tendons and flesh appeared on them and skin covered them.” But there was still no breath in them, Ezekiel goes
on , “So I prophesied as he commanded me, and breath entered them; the came to life and stood up on their feet –
a vast army.”
Through his Word, God can grant new life to those lost in despair and dead in sin. God through his Holy Spirit can
make the dead live once again. It is our Almighty God who holds the power over life and death. This fact becomes
clear to us as we heard the words of our Gospel lesson this morning. Heard the story of Lazarus. The brother of Mary
and Martha and friend of Jesus. John tells us today that he was dead in his grave for a couple days. But Jesus came
and demonstrated his power over death. By the Word of his mouth he raised Lazarus from death to life. He declared
to Martha that day, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live even though he dies, and
whoever lives and believes in me, will never die.”
So this morning as we look at this picture of the valley of dry bones – we see that left to ourselves we are dead in our
sin – unable to raise a finger to bring about any sort of life. And we ask the the question, Can these bones live? And
the answer this morning from God’s Word is a resounding yes! Today in Gods word we see a picture of what the God
through his Holy Spirit does for us. God tells us today, “I will put my Spririt in you and you will live” And so God has
done this very thing for you and me. He comes to us by Word and by Sacrament. And through these means he makes
what was once dead alive again. He finds our bones dried up in that valley by sin. And in his unending grace he
speaks his Word to us. Through his Word and through his Sacraments he raises us to a new life. Through his Work he
breathes into us the new life of faith. A faith which trusts in the work of his Son Jesus. Christ.