The
scriptures for today begin with one of the most well-known prophetic
visions—and surely one of the strangest. Ezekiel is transported to a valley
filled with bones, where asks God what seems to be a foolish question: “Can
these bones live?”
“O
Lord God, you know.”
Ezekiel’s
vision begins in despair for a people utterly cut off from life, a people
without hope, a people reduced to dry bones. The prophet responds by obeying
God’s command, prophesying to the bones, which come together, are clothed in
sinews and skin, and finally receive breath and live—the house of Israel is
restored.
Dry
bones live when people hear and respond to God’s word—and God acts on behalf of
God’s people. Ezekiel’s vision which began in desolation and despair ends with
new life—and in hope.
Jesus’
disciples had met their own valley of dry bones not many days earlier, when all
their hopes for his victory were apparently crushed by the cross. But God acted
by raising Jesus from the dead, bringing hope out of despair, joy out of
sorrow, life out of death.
It
was hope that had led the apostles to gather together in that place in
The
power from on high comes to them. The events are recorded in almost symbolic
language, as the writer struggles to describe a unique, inexpressible event.
Words can only dimly get at the reality of what happened in that place. Events
like this one—encounters with the Spirit of the living God—are by their very
nature indescribable. For example, the medieval mystic Julian of Norwich spent
a lifetime trying to describe and comprehend a few minutes of revelation during
illness as a teen, writing her book “Showings of Divine Love” only in her old
age. Just as we can’t know exactly what Julian saw, we can’t know precisely
what happened on that Pentecost, but we can know that they had a concrete
effect on people’s lives.
For
Julian, we have the evidence of her book, from which people have received
spiritual sustenance for centuries. For the apostles at Pentecost, we have the
evidence of the Church, born that day, bearing witness to the Resurrection of
Christ ever since. The people of
The
apostles were given power for mission—to be sent forth to proclaim God’s word.
We continue today to share in that power, not necessarily in the same form, but
with the same intended effect—that all may hear and believe that Jesus, the
Christ of God, was raised from the dead, and that we all may be saved.
Power
of any kind is mysterious. Even the electric power on which we are so dependent
is not fully understood. It seems that the deeper physicists look into the
mysteries of the atom and the forces of the universe, the more mysterious
things become. There are some things which science understands as
unknowable—unanswerable questions. The wonder is that we don’t have to
understand absolutely everything about electricity to use it, and to see it in
action. We flick a switch and the lights come on.
Like
electricity, the power that came to the apostles does not have to be understood
fully to put it to use, and to see its effect. We don’t know—we can’t
know—exactly how the Holy Spirit works in human lives. But we can know that the
Spirit’s work happens, and we can see the results in changed lives, as dry
bones put on flesh and sinews and breathe in God’s life.
What
happened at Pentecost? I can’t answer that. But what I do know is the result—a
motley and fearful crew of disciples became a mighty band of evangelists. Much
time and energy has been wasted over the years trying to define how God does
things, when what we ought to affirm is that God has acted. We see the bones
come together, and we don’t know how. We see the skin and the sinews growing,
and we don’t know how. We see them breathe, and we don’t know how. All we know
and need to know is that God has done this.
When
we say like the bones that we are dried up and cut off, we are part of the
problem. Better to let God do God’s work in us, and be part of God’s
solution—not dry bones, but living, breathing spokespeople for God.
God
still asks us, “Mortal, can these bones live?” Let us answer God, “YES! By your
hand and your spirit, Lord, these bones will live.” People of God, we are not
dry bones. We are God’s great army, equipped and gifted for God’s great work,
not just here in this place of gathering, but out in the marketplace, among the
legions of people awaiting God’s Word. So let us leave here today, determined to
let the Spirit work God’s wonders through us.
May
all who hear us hear in words they can understand, that God has raised Jesus
from the dead, and all who call upon his name shall be saved.
Amen.
