Ezekiel 37:1-14 (The Message)
God grabbed me. God’s Spirit took me up and set me down in the middle of an open plain strewn with bones. He led me around and among them—a lot of bones! There were bones all over the plain—dry bones, bleached by the sun.
He said to me, “Son of man, can these bones live?”
I said, “Master God, only you know that.”
He said to me, “Prophesy over these bones: ‘Dry bones, listen to the Message of God!’”
God, the Master, told the dry bones, “Watch this: I’m bringing the breath of life to you and you’ll come to life. I’ll attach sinews to you, put meat on your bones, cover you with skin, and breathe life into you. You’ll come alive and you’ll realize that I am God!”
I prophesied just as I’d been commanded. As I prophesied, there was a sound and, oh, rustling! The bones moved and came together, bone to bone. I kept watching. Sinews formed, then muscles on the bones, then skin stretched over them. But they had no breath in them.
He said to me, “Prophesy to the breath. Prophesy, son of man. Tell the breath, ‘God, the Master, says, Come from the four winds. Come, breath. Breathe on these slain bodies. Breathe life!’”
So I prophesied, just as he commanded me. The breath entered them and they came alive! They stood up on their feet, a huge army.
Then God said to me, “Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. Listen to what they’re saying: ‘Our bones are dried up, our hope is gone, there’s nothing left of us.’
“Therefore, prophesy. Tell them, ‘God, the Master, says: I’ll dig up your graves and bring you out alive—O my people! Then I’ll take you straight to the land of Israel. When I dig up graves and bring you out as my people, you’ll realize that I am God. I’ll breathe my life into you and you’ll live. Then I’ll lead you straight back to your land and you’ll realize that I am God. I’ve said it and I’ll do it. God’s Decree.’”
Most of us know the story of the first Pentecost from the book of Acts. Peter and other disciples were preaching on the Temple steps when suddenly a great wind blew through and tongues of fire appeared over their heads. Those around accused them of being drunk, but it was the Holy Spirit that Jesus had promised them. Set on fire, they went forth and brought the faith of Jesus to the world.
But there were many earlier stories of the Spirit appearing in our mortal world. In fact, the very first sentence in the Bible speaks of “a wind from God that swept over the waters” and all things then came to be — the same wind that swept over the disciples on Pentecost day. The story I’m focusing on today also comes from the Old Testament, from the book of Ezekiel, the story of those dry bones.
Ezekiel was a prophet, before and during the Babylonian exile. He foretold the captivity of Judah and the destruction of the Temple. When God showed him the mounds of “dry bones” in a vision it was a vision of a used-up and defeated Judah, left as lifeless as a field of bones, incapable—on its own—of rising up again.
Yet God instructed Ezekiel to prophesy to those bones and to call the Spirit-breath of God upon them and they fleshed out and rose up again.
There are times when we can feel as lifeless and spirit-less as one of those piles of dry bones — no energy, no hope, no courage, no caring — but we are assured the Spirit of God can breath through us and restore us to life again just as God once breathed life into a valley filled with death.
Right now a lot of us are feeling like those dried out bones. We are losing hope that we will ever return to the life we thought we knew so recently. Our country is being torn apart by racism and classism and a grossly imbalanced distribution of wealth — and hate seems as common as kindness once was. Our cherished traditions are being crushed and tossed aside and it’s pretty easy to feel dried out and “spirit-less.”
But just as the Spirit once breathed across the formless wastes before Creation, and into the hearts of the disciples Jesus left to carry on his work, just so the Spirit of God can still breathe through us and restore to us the life of love and sharing that God created us to live. Rise up, dry bones!
But there were many earlier stories of the Spirit appearing in our mortal world. In fact, the very first sentence in the Bible speaks of “a wind from God that swept over the waters” and all things then came to be — the same wind that swept over the disciples on Pentecost day. The story I’m focusing on today also comes from the Old Testament, from the book of Ezekiel, the story of those dry bones.
Ezekiel was a prophet, before and during the Babylonian exile. He foretold the captivity of Judah and the destruction of the Temple. When God showed him the mounds of “dry bones” in a vision it was a vision of a used-up and defeated Judah, left as lifeless as a field of bones, incapable—on its own—of rising up again.
Yet God instructed Ezekiel to prophesy to those bones and to call the Spirit-breath of God upon them and they fleshed out and rose up again.
There are times when we can feel as lifeless and spirit-less as one of those piles of dry bones — no energy, no hope, no courage, no caring — but we are assured the Spirit of God can breath through us and restore us to life again just as God once breathed life into a valley filled with death.
Right now a lot of us are feeling like those dried out bones. We are losing hope that we will ever return to the life we thought we knew so recently. Our country is being torn apart by racism and classism and a grossly imbalanced distribution of wealth — and hate seems as common as kindness once was. Our cherished traditions are being crushed and tossed aside and it’s pretty easy to feel dried out and “spirit-less.”
But just as the Spirit once breathed across the formless wastes before Creation, and into the hearts of the disciples Jesus left to carry on his work, just so the Spirit of God can still breathe through us and restore to us the life of love and sharing that God created us to live. Rise up, dry bones!
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