“Can these bones live?”

This is the question God asks the prophet Ezekiel in Ezekiel 37:3. 

If you missed this Sunday's sermon, you missed Pastor Luanne drop some incredible wisdom on this very question and you can catch that here.  As for our blog today, I'd love to throw in my two cents on the question...

Can these bones live?

Personally, I'm not sure I've ever really heard this level of audacity behind the question.

Can these bones, these dead, dry, lifeless reminders of our sin and futility be filled with life again?  Can these bones that were once covered with flesh and filled with potential and have fallen prey to the inevitable end we humans face be filled once more with hope and a future?  Can these bones, bones that one time bore names and stories, dream dreams and live lives once again?

Can these bones live? 

It feels as though this question is one we are being asked again and again. 

Can these bones – whatever our bones are – live?

Can this marriage make it?

Can this relationship be restored?

Can this fear be overcome by love?

Can this despair be replaced by hope?

Can this anger be exchanged for forgiveness?

Can this dead-end job lead somewhere, anywhere good?

Can this heart of stone beat with flesh and blood once more?

Can this church become the hell-crashing, heaven-anticipating community of faith, hope, and love that Jesus calls us to be? 

Can these bones – whatever those bones are – live? 

The answer is, “Maybe” and this oh so middle of the road answer depends on what you see.

If all you see are bones, then the inescapably short conclusion you will be forced to conclude is, “No”.  No, they can’t.  I wish they could be more.  I wish they could live again.  I wish life could replace death.  I wish love could replace fear.  I wish forgiveness could replace hate, and hope could replace despair, but life is what it is, and all there is, all I see, are these dead, dry bones. 

If all you see are the bones of death and despair, that’s all you will ever see. 

However, if you have eyes to see and ears to hear, you will find that where the world sees nothing but bones, God sees the scaffolding for bodies.  Where the world sees defeat, God sees an army waiting to be raised and released.  Where the world sees despair, God sees defiant, untamable hope.  Where the world sees a past that failed, God sees a future full of potential and power. 

And the difference between what was and what could be, between despair and hope, fear and love, a failed past and a future bursting with potential, is God’s own Word and Spirit. 

First, the prophet Ezekiel speaks God’s Word over the bones and immediately the once dry bones come together and become covered in flesh.  (Ezekiel 37:4-8)  As good as this is, there is something missing.  The bones have become bodies, but there is no life-force within them – nothing animating them.  It is here that the prophet calls forth God’s Spirit over the bones, and the fleshly bodies are now filled with breath, with life. (Ezekiel 37:9-10)

God’s word turns the bones into bodies; God’s Spirit fills those bodies with breath – with life. 

I’m not sure what the bones are in your life today.  I don’t know what feels dry, dead, lifeless, and beyond hope. 

All I know is that through God’s Word and God’s Spirit, there is nothing so dead that it cannot be raised to life.  It may take time, and the process may be slower than you’d like.  Jesus spent three days in the tomb, and for reasons beyond our understanding the bones may remain bones for longer than we’d prefer, but don’t lose sight of the promise: These bones can live! 

So, whether it’s a marriage, job, relationship, family, mental health, sin, hopelessness, fear, anxiety, or anything else under the sun, may the power of God’s Word and Spirit breathe new life within you today for the glory of God and the sake of the world.