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God's Questions
Can These Bones Live?
Message Notes
Ezekiel 37:1-14 (NIV)
1 The hand of the Lord was on me, and he brought me out by the Spirit of the Lord and set me in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones. 2 He led me back and forth among them, and I saw a great many bones on the floor of the valley, bones that were very dry. 3 He asked me, “Son of man, can these bones live?”
I said, “Sovereign Lord, you alone know.”
4 Then he said to me, “Prophesy to these bones and say to them, ‘Dry bones, hear the word of the Lord! 5 This is what the Sovereign Lord says to these bones: I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life. 6 I will attach tendons to you and make flesh come upon you and cover you with skin; I will put breath in you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the Lord.’”
7 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. 8 I looked, and tendons and flesh appeared on them and skin covered them, but there was no breath in them.
9 Then he said to me, “Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man, and say to it, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Come, breath, from the four winds and breathe into these slain, that they may live.’” 10 So I prophesied as he commanded me, and breath entered them; they came to life and stood up on their feet—a vast army.
11 Then he said to me: “Son of man, these bones are the people of Israel. They say, ‘Our bones are dried up and our hope is gone; we are cut off.’ 12 Therefore prophesy and say to them: ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: My people, I am going to open your graves and bring you up from them; I will bring you back to the land of Israel. 13 Then you, my people, will know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves and bring you up from them. 14 I will put my Spirit in you and you will live, and I will settle you in your own land. Then you will know that I the Lord have spoken, and I have done it, declares the Lord.’”
From Lament to Hope
Where do you see valleys of dry bones?
Have you ever been faced with dry bones?
“At the core of the biblical narrative is the story of displacement—of having wandered a long way from home and longing to return. This is the underlying plot of being cast out of Eden, of being foreigners in Egypt, of the journey to the promised land, of the long of exiles in Babylon to return to the land of their fathers” Feasting on the Word, Year A, 126
Hope and Resurrection: “Mortal, can these bones live?” (NRSV)
Entering into the discomfort of the question
The risk of trusting God
Ruach - Hebrew word for breath, spirit, wind= breath of life
“The Spirit of God, who hovered over the waters in Genesis, still hovers over chaos—waiting to bring life where there is none.” -Tish Harrison Warren
Our Covenant Life
Prophesying life in the valley
Being the breath of hope amid dry, dry bones
“In this scene set in shadows
Like the night is here to stay,
There is evil cast around us,
But it is love that wrote the play.
David Wilcox, “Show the Way”
Let us proclaim the mystery of faith:
Christ has died.
Christ is risen.
Christ will come again.
