Can This Bone Live?

Ezekiel 37:1-14

The hand of the Lord came upon me, and he brought me out by the spirit of the Lord and set me down in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones. He led me all around them; there were very many lying in the valley, and they were very dry. He said to me, “Mortal, can these bones live?” I answered, “O Lord God, you know.” Then he said to me, “Prophesy to these bones, and say to them: 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 I prophesied as I had been commanded; and as I prophesied, suddenly there was a noise, a rattling, and the bones came together, bone to its bone. I 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 he said to me, “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.” I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood on their feet, a vast multitude. Then he said to me, “Mortal, these bones are the whole house of Israel. They say, ‘Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost; we are cut off completely.’ Therefore prophesy, and say to them, Thus says the Lord God: I am going to open your graves, and bring you up from your graves, O my people; and I will bring you back to the land of Israel. And you shall know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves, and bring you up from your graves, O my people. I will put my spirit within you, and you shall live, and I will place you on your own soil; then you shall know that I, the Lord, have spoken and will act,” says the Lord.

“Mortal, can these bones live?” Mortal, can Israel and Palestine live together in peace?  Mortal, can your country come together?  Mortal, can you be healed from your trauma?  Mortal, can your depression, anxiety, addiction, cancer, dementia, joints, bones, heart be healed?  Mortal, can hate be transformed into love?  Mortal, can racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, greed, and fear be removed from the earth?  Mortal, can Christianity be recovered from the Fundamentalists and Nationalists?  Mortal… can these bones live?

Excellent questions God but let me start with the bones question.  They are…REALLY OLD… VERY DRY bones.  That’s not encouraging.  As if that wasn’t enough, check this one out… looks like a femur… it has a metal spear head stuck in it!  I’ve got to be honest with you, God, a spear head stuck in a completely dried out bone doesn’t scream "I'm alive" to me.   Look at these bones over here… the vultures and vermin have been at them for years… years!  The skeletons aren’t even all together anymore!  The leg bone ISN’T at all connected to the hip bone… Heck!  I don’t even see a hip bone anywhere around here!  This whole valley is a jumble of bones!  Here’s a skull… Alas, poor Yorick… there’s a mouse nest where your brain used to be… then where is the rest of him?  Could be anywhere.  This valley is FILLED with bones.  Can these bones live? 

It seems like a hopeless proposition… these bones living again.  Just like Israel and Palestine seem hopeless… just like a country tipping into Fascism… just like life changing trauma, illness, injury and disease.  It seems hopeless… these bones living again… just like the chance of raw, illogical hatred being changed into raw, illogical love seems hopeless.  Can these bones live?  I sure as hell don’t know… mere mortal that I am… as you’ve very correctly pointed out already God… but I suspect you know.

At that point God told the Ezekiel, “Prophesy to these bones.”  Prophesy?  What's that goign to do?  Why did God tell him to PROPHESY to the bones?  Because, you see, Ezekiel was a PROPHET and prophesying was what Ezekiel did best… Prophesy was his expertise… prophesy was his gift… his calling… his talent… his jam!  God was telling Ezekiel NOT that “prophesy” was the answer to the world’s hopelessness.  God was telling Ezekiel that pouring his gifts into the world’s hopelessness… WHATEVER those gifts might be… THAT was the answer.  If Ezekiel had been a musician, God would have told him to sing to these bones!  If Ezekiel had been a monk, God would have told him to pray for those bones.  If Ezekiel had been a nurse, God would have told him to comfort those bones.  If Ezekiel would have been a finance guy, God would have told him to make a spreadsheet for those bones.  Teachers would be told to teach.  Doctors would be told to heal.  Therapists would be told to listen.  Builders, bakers, and candlestick makers would be told to do the things they do best for those bones.

But what possible difference could a candlestick make to the devastation, pain, and fear that fills the people of Israel and Palestine?  What difference could prophesy make to a valley filled with bones?  Well, God says it can make ALL the difference.  It is, you see, when we pour our talents… our gifts… our expertise… our passion… WHATEVER THAT MIGHT BE… when we pour our talents, gifts, passion and expertise into the hopelessness of the world, things begin to happen.  It might start like a noise, a rattling, but then you will see that what was impossible will begin to come together, piece to piece. 

Looking out at that awful, horrible, hopeless valley of dry bones, God asked Ezekiel to use only what he already had within him at that particular moment of his life.  God didn’t ask for more than Ezekiel had.  God didn’t ask him to do something he’d never done before.  God asked Ezekiel to do the thing he did BEST and when Ezekiel did that… things changed all around him and there began to be life in a place there had not been life before.  

You may not have Ezekiel’s gift for prophecy, but it isn’t prophesy that brought life to those bones.  It was pouring the  gifts, talents, calling and passion that he had been given by the Holy Spirit into that moment… THAT is what brought life to those bones.  You and I are called to do the same.  To pour our own personal gifts, talents, calling, and passion that we have received from the Holy Spirit into the places around us that are dry and lifeless.  No matter how seemingly unrelated and irrelevant your gifts might seem to a situation... maybe even as unrelated as bones and prophesy, those gifts, in ways we will perhaps never really understand, WILL bring life to those places that are as dry and lifeless as a valley of bones.  So let us go… and bring the world… LIFE.  Amen.