Ezekiel 37:1-14
“The Leg Bone’s Connected to the Knee Bone…”
By: Rev. Ken Sauer, Pastor of Grace United Methodist Church, Soddy Daisy, TN www.graceumcsd.org
In the year 597 B.C. Jerusalem fell to the Babylonians.
Eighteen year old King Jehoichin, who had only been King for three months, was forced to surrender and was taken captive to Babylonia along with the brightest and the best of the nation.
Ezekiel, a young priest-in-training was part of the exile.
And Jerusalem stood under the yoke of the Babylonian Empire.
Sounds a bit like the beginning to Star Wars.
Anyhow, it was a very difficult time in Israel’s history.
The exiles were a very unhappy people.
War and political conflict had uprooted them from their native soil and transplanted them to a strange land.
All grounds for hope had been lost and plundered.
There was no end in sight.
Many think that Ezekiel was in Judah during the last struggle against Babylon, and so there is nothing to keep us from interpreting the Valley of the Dry Bones as an actual battlefield.
And on this very spot—the nation’s hopes had been dashed.
Now, as Ezekiel looks out over the scene, with the bones of people who were not given a proper burial scattered all over the valley, he is hit hard by the desperate situation of his people.
What will the future hold?
Will there be any future?
It doesn’t look like it.
In Ezekiel’s vision, the Spirit of the Lord led him among the bones of the Israelites on the valley floor.
“They were scattered everywhere across the ground and were completely dried out.”
A modern-day Ezekiel might be taken to Darfur where there are the bones of burned villages.
In our own land we still find the bones of slaves and Native Americans.
But we don’t have to look across the world or back in time to see bones in a sea of trouble.
A modern-day Ezekiel may be taken to Any Town, USA, where the local businesses are dried up and the next generation is exiled to another land.
He might walk down the streets in certain neighborhoods, looking at foreclosed homes.
There are millions of places where the prophet could be taken today.
Just look where we live—this community, this country, this world!
We see kids carrying guns to school…to school of all places!!!
And in many instances they are using them on their own classmates!!!
What causes them to do this?
At such young ages, have they found that there is nothing worth believing in—nothing worth living for?
Do they have no hope?
What have we done to our children?
Children!!!
Is it any wonder they have no respect for us?
If you are 40 or over try and think back to your own childhood…
…were kids packing automatic weapons—killing their classmates and themselves?
Was that even a remote possibility?
Who would have imagined we’d have days like these?
What has happened to hope?
In a world where children…
…children have been sexualized…
…and adults…
…older adults have been sexualized as they grasp with all their money and might for the fountain of youth…
…where is the moral depth?
…where is the humanity?
…where is reality?
…where is the hope?
Everyday, we see men, women, boys and girls—deteriorated physically, spiritually, and morally.
We see despair, depression, hunger, and homelessness.
We see children walking the streets, orphans and widows not being cared for.
On the t-v news or on the newspaper racks we see an endless war, daily bloodshed, extortion, and so much corruption that it may well cause us to look up to God and wonder, “Can these bones live?”
There are some who have chosen to serve at the altar of the gods of wealth and power and have lost their souls.
There are those who have been abused, neglected, forgotten and are suffering all kinds of hardships…many of them are little less than breathing corpses.
There are kids on dope.
There are crack houses, gang members, heroine fiends, broken homes, people living with HIV/AIDS.
There are folks whose lives have been written off by society as being disposable…
…there are so many situations that seem absolutely hopeless…
Perhaps, in your own lives or in your own homes you are currently experiencing a loss of hope.
Perhaps in your neighborhood, you see folks moving without the spark of life in their eyes.
It’s may be a bit like Dawn of the Living Dead!
There seems to be no end in sight; no grounds for hope!
But wait a minute!
Wait just one minute.
This has happened before.
Remember Ezekiel…
… the bones “were scattered everywhere across the ground and were completely dried out.”
Then God asked Ezekiel, “Son of man, can these bones become living people again?”
And with that the spark burst forth…
…the spark of hope!!!
Because, despite all he saw and all he felt, Ezekiel still believed in the God through Whom all things are possible!
“O Sovereign Lord,” Ezekiel replied, “you alone know the answer to that.”
God alone knows!
God alone is the One in Whom we can count on!!!
God alone is the One to Whom we can turn when we are staring at the graveyard of hope!
And when we ask the Lord for the answer it comes as it did to Ezekiel: “Speak a prophetic message to these bones and say, ‘Dry bones, listen to the word of the Lord!
This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Look! I am going to put breath into you and make you live again!
I will put flesh and muscle on you and cover you with skin.
I will put breath into you, and you will come to life.
Then you will know I am the Lord.’”
My friends, we who have faith in the Living God…
…we who are been graced with the spark of hope…
…it is our obligation…
…it is our privilege…
…it is our great calling to share that hope with all the world!
We are to share that hope with the children who have been raped of their innocence, and have no hope…
We are to share that hope with those who live in despair, depression, darkness, and anger.
We are to share that hope with not only the abused but the abusers!!!
We are to share that hope with those who have lost their souls, and with those who have been written off by everyone else!!!
We had a great time with the Dig Project Concert did we not?
It was so great to see all those kids.
We had 15 or 20 skater kids out in the parking lot doing tricks.
We had a hundred or so other kids inside listening to the testimonies and watching the show.
Where did those kids come from?
Many of them were with Youth groups from other churches.
Some of them had received fliers, seen the articles in the newspapers and had come on their own.
Still others had come with Terry Davis, the Youth Director of Covenant Church down the street.
Terry is doing some awesome ministry…
…he’s reaching out to the dry bones of kids and igniting the spark of hope!
The older and more stable kids from Covenant Church went and picked up the younger skater kids and brought them here Friday night.
Those kids live in our neighborhoods.
They live in Lakesite.
They live in Rolling Hills.
They live in Hunter Trace.
When Terry got here Friday night he was so excited.
He told me that a couple of his skater kids had decided to accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior before coming over here.
He also told me that some of those kids knew who I was.
They told them that I talk to them when they are in our parking lot with their skate boards.
And I had to think for a minute…
…and then I remembered that I do.
Just an enthusiastic and non-judgmental “Hello,” and “What do you think about the weather?” coming from an adult brings them hope!
Can you imagine?
Covenant Church has built a SkatePark for the kids…
…instead of building something for themselves…
…they’ve built a skate park in the parking lot of their church!
And those kids have no money.
They didn’t even have money to pay for pizza and hot dogs last Friday night.
And Covenant is a church no bigger than we.
And they are a church that actually has much less money in their pockets than we do!
I think we ought to put some serious thought to investing in these kids as well.
What about a Coffee-House?
What about a safe place to come and hang out?
All it would take would be a little money and some volunteers willing to spend time to spread hope!!!
And right here in our own backyard!!!
How about we let our kids know we care.
How about we let them know that there is a God Who loves them beyond measure, and that there is a Savior Who bled for them, and that there is not just a little hope, or some hope—but there is a whole world and eternity brimming full with hope!!!
Terry and some other Christian leaders in the Soddy Daisy/Hixson area are also working with the kids and Hixson High School in order to have a city-wide prayer walk!
I’ll be there!
How about you?
The tentative date is set for April 3rd.
We’re going to let the students lead the prayer walk, but as adults, we want to be there for them—letting them know we care—letting them know that there is indeed hope!!!
This passage from Ezekiel is among the most important in the whole Bible.
God had granted Ezekiel a vision of what would take place.
Ezekiel was standing at a point where the power of God was about to break through into history and give it a new direction!
And that is exactly what happened.
Ezekiel’s vision was brought to fruition.
Israel did rise from the grave of exile, it did stand on its feet again—“a great army” at God’s service.
Israel did go home again.
The temple was rebuilt.
Babylon, that eternal empire, fell within 50 years!
And more: God’s promise to put the Divine Spirit in them, though not immediately fulfilled has come to pass through Jesus the Christ Who lived, died and lives again forevermore!!!
The message of this great historical passage is that with God anything is possible, for is that not what God does by raising the dead to life again—prove that with God—anything is possible…
…and herein lies our hope!!!
Amen.
