April 6, 2014 The Fifth Sunday in Lent Sermon

                                                                        

                                              Christ United Presbyterian Church

The Fifth Sunday in Lent

April 6, 2014

Ezekiel 37:1-14

John 11:1-45

Ezekiel was a young man who had been raised to be a priest in the glory days of Israel. But Ezekiel witnessed the unthinkable:  Israel destroyed and he and thousands of others dragged off into exile in Babylon.  Ezekiel was called by God to tell the Israelites that their land, their might, their glory was all gone, and in that situation he was also to tell them that STILL God wanted to renew his covenant with them.  Why would they listen to him? 

The people were literally without hope, and their old hope had been built on things and not on faith and obedience to the Lord.  How could God have done this? Why should they ever believe in the Lord again?

God placed Ezekiel in the middle of a valley filled with old bones, bones left to rot after a great battle many years before. God says:  “[37:11] 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.'”

When God asks Ezekiel if he believes that those bones can be reanimated he replies with a very tepid answer:  You know the answer to that, God. 

The story of the valley of the bones is not a story about resurrection.  It’s a story about the ability of God’s Spirit to bring life in the face of death, to restore hope in the face of hopelessness, to revitalize the people with the true life of God’s covenant and our obedience.  When we follow the Lord’s instructions even those bones can’t withstand the force of God’s Spirit.

Ezekiel found that God was just full of surprises.  He found that when he did what the Lord commanded of him, those bones found new life.  In the lesson of those bones come alive he found the courage to face the “living dead,” the dried up bones of the hopeless people, the children of Israel.  And he accepted God’s call to him to go and restore the hope of those people with the presence of the Spirit of a god whose faithfulness wasn’t reflected in earthly power of might or glory but rather the simple hope that he was their God and they were his people; a God who would always love them and always show them the way back to God’s joy and God’s happiness.

In the Gospel lesson Jesus demonstrates God’s power over bodily death.  Like the reanimation of the bones in the valley, this is not a resurrection but merely a sign to show God’s power over all earthly sorrow and pain.  He came to mourn with and comfort his friends but sadly found that they still didn’t understand God’s power and Jesus’ own mission.  He was on the verge of facing his own suffering and death and at this eleventh hour he finds that even those who were closest to him still didn’t see, still hadn’t heard.  They all wanted one more great sign.

Even Martha still isn’t sure.

And so Jesus went into the tomb as Ezekiel went to the valley and called life anew into dead bones.  He called forth his dear old friend from the tomb in the final hope that some would believe before he too was put to death.  This was no resurrection – that was yet to come – but merely a reanimation of death.  It was a sign of Christ’s own power over the suffering and tragedies of this flesh; a sign of God’s faithful power and love strong enough to overcome doubt and fear and the final destruction of this earthly body, this fleshy tomb.

Still today we are all locked in these fleshy tombs of our own.  We become frightened, disheartened, discouraged, hopeless.  Many churches have lost prestige and membership.  They feel abandoned by God.  They feel lifeless.  Sometimes they become hopelessly engaged in debates about how to restore their former glory. 

Do you know what it means to be hopeless.  It really means that you cannot envision the possibility of a future, of a life past this one made up of yesterday and today, of an existence in which newness of life and the power of God’s Spirit leads you forward.  Hopelessness is a lapse in faith.

Let me let you in on a little secret.  We aren’t in control.  We don’t have to be able to describe in perfect detail what we are going to be doing in the future to know that we have a future. We don’t have to be in control in order to have hope.  God is in control, and God wants us in the new life of God’s future. We simply have to surrender our willfulness to God’s will.  We simply have to say “Yes!” to God’s call when he calls us out of our tombs.

Jesus called Lazarus out of the tomb, but he then instructed the people who were present to complete the reintroduction of this body back into the community.  Jesus called Lazarus forth from death itself, but he told the people to release him from the bindings and fetters that would still hold him back.

Jesus calls his church from the tombs into which we have placed our hearts and hidden our hope.  Jesus says if you need one more sign then here it is:  I can even bring you alive!  And then he says to those of us who are watching, skeptically, now go and release my church so that she might live again.   

It is our job as God’s people to help one another respond to that call, to remove each other’s bindings that hold us back even when Christ calls each of us into new life.  God’s Spirit is in this church still, but you and I are called upon to release the Spirit from the funeral bindings and let God bring new life  -  not old life  -  let God bring new life into this place.

In a few moments we will ask God who calls us from our tombs to fill us with His new life as we sing:

High King of heaven, thou heaven's bright sun,
O grant me its joys after victory is won;
great Heart of my own heart, whatever befall,
still be thou my vision, O Ruler of all.

Christ weeps in sorrow, frustration and even anger as we call out for still one more sign, and he gives it to us nonetheless:  Come out!  Be made alive!  See that God can even call you from your tomb.  Fill your heart with the vision of God, and live anew; live to be used again and again, today and forever, for the glory of God.  There is your hope.  Is he calling you now?

Come out!

Amen!