"Can These Bones Live?" a sermon on John 11:1-45 and Ezekiel 37:1-14

John 11:1-45
Ezekiel 37:1-14
“Can These Bones Live?”
Preached Sunday, March 26, 2023

We have been asking questions this Lent. Questions of ourselves, questions of each other, and questions of God. The point of focusing on questions this Lent is, the hope and prayer is, that through our honest questions, we would draw closer to God. That we would truly live into the purpose of Lent which is to prepare our hearts and minds and souls for the miracle of Easter.

And if that is the case, if Lent is about preparing ourselves for the resurrection, shouldn’t we ask: Can these bones live? Do I believe in the power and possibility of resurrection?

In our “Seeking: Honest Questions for a Deeper Faith” Lenten devotional, the Rev. Danielle Shroyer reminds us that in the story of the Valley of the Dry Bones in Ezekiel, God doesn’t ask about the probability of resurrection, God asks if it is a possibility. CAN these bones live?

And so as we hear this question echoing in our ears and hearts today, let’s turn to these two stories of Resurrection in our Scriptures. Not THE Resurrection of Easter, of Jesus defeating the powers of sin and death - but Resurrection nonetheless. Life where there was death. New Beginnings where there were endings. Flesh where there were bones. Breath where there was none. Resurrection.

In Ezekiel, we have a vision of a valley of dry bones with no flesh left - completely stripped. Now, I recently read a book called “Will My Cat Eat My Eyeballs? Big Questions about Death from Tiny Mortals.” In it, author and mortician Caitlin Doughty answers questions about death and bodies posed to her by kids. I’ll tell you right now, this book is not for the easily squeamish. And in that book she talks about how long it would take for a body to be completely de-fleshed, to just be bones - and honestly, it has a lot to do with how deep the grave is and what the climate and wildlife is - in a coffin, it could be more than a decade. In other wet climates, weeks. In deserts, much longer - one of the reasons the Egyptians were able to preserve bodies for so long in the desert. But most likely, several years at least. Now, remember - this was a vision Ezekiel had and so likely wasn’t an actual valley of bones - but the dry bones without flesh or sinew, were to represent a place of death - where there had not been life for a long time - no evidence of life remained, just the bones. Like the Israelities that Ezekiel spoke to, having lost any sign of hope, in a long exile…a valley with dry bones…

In John, we have a four day old body, fresh in the grave. In her book, Doughty talks a lot about what happens to the body right after dying…and it’s a lot. Details aren’t necessary but it’s messy. It smells. It's visceral. It’s raw. Being a mortician is not a calling I could ever have. Martha even makes a comment to Jesus, Lord, his body is only four days old, if we remove the stone from the grave, the stench will be unbearable… If the dry bones represent a place or state that has been long without life, long without hope…then then the four day old body of Lazarus can represent a place or state where grief and despair are raw, where the pain is still fresh and the enormity of loss, obscures any way forward for life.

The question in both these stories is: Is Resurrection possible?

Before we answer that question, I want to ask - which story do you relate to most right now? Or perhaps you can relate to them both in different ways.

Have any of you ever had an area of your life where you’ve written off the possibility of new life?
Perhaps a relationship long broken.
Chronic depression or anxiety.
A dream you let go off.

Or what about an area of our world that you’ve long written off?
The dream for peace
For restorative climate justice
For an equitable and inclusive society

Or are any of you in the midst of raw and visceral grief? Where life is just messy? Where you can’t see past whatever is going on…
A recent death of a loved one.
A divorce or separation.
A new diagnosis.

Or what about an area of our world that we are living in the midst of that zaps us of hope?
The war in Ukraine
The visceral and vicious attacks against children of God who are trans
The rise of anti-semitism and related hate crimes?

Where are you letting cynicism, despair, doubt write off the possibility of resurrection in your life or the world? Where does resurrection seem impossible?

…

A valley of dry bones. A four day old body. Your life. The world.

Where is resurrection NOT possible?
The answer for God is, nowhere.
Can these bones live?
Yes!
Is resurrection possible?
Yes!

The Rev. Danielle Shroyer says, “To be quite honest, very few things feel more ridiculous than hope these days.” And, as Christians, as people who worship the Resurrected Jesus, we are called to be people of ridiculous hope!

In a word that has been long without hope. In a world that is so messy…we are called to proclaim resurrection. That new beginnings and new life is ALWAYS possible.

In the beginning of the sermon I said, in order to prepare ourselves for the resurrection, we should ask ourselves: Can these bones live? Do I believe in the power and possibility of resurrection?

The power of the resurrection comes from the fact that to preach and hope and believe in resurrection in this world of death and despair IS ridiculous. Our world thinks resurrection is ridiculous. We say in our Communion liturgy:

“By the baptism of his suffering, death, and resurrection
you gave birth to your Church,
delivered us from slavery to sin and death,
and made with us a new covenant by water and the Spirit.”

Without Jesus, without the resurrection, we are enslaved to sin and death. Much of our world still is under the powers of sin and death and despair - devoid of the hope of resurrection. To proclaim resurrection is to claim that we are under God, a new covenant, through baptism and the resurrection… We are people who, through Jesus and the resurrection, are set free from sin and death and are given the ridiculous hope of new life, of resurrection.

To end this sermon where we have asked “Can These Bones Live? Do I believe in the power and possibility of resurrection?” I’d like to read a poem by The Rev. Sarah Speed entitled “The Answer is Yes”:

“It’s the question we ask at the end of our rope,
when the storm is raging,
when the monsters under the bed have introduced themselves.

When everything around us seems to be on fire.

It’s the question we ask when hope slips through like sand in a bottle,
when the mockingbirds stop singing,
when the news reporter leads with another mass shooting.

It’s the question we ask when the depression moves in,
making herself at home, making a mess of it all.

It’s the question we ask
when we’re not sure if Easter will come.
Will it be Lent forever?
Will the sun ever rise?
Will this hope lead to something?
Can these bones ever live?”

Can these bones live? Do I believe in the power and possibility of resurrection?

I pray our answer is yes.

Amen.