June 4, Pentecost, Children's Sunday
Lesson: Ezekiel 37.1-14
(Back
to Study Home Page) (Back
to Sermons for 2005-2006)
(Back to
Sermons Home Page) (Back to
Shultz Home Page)
INTRODUCTION:
Dem Dry Bones!
Ezekiel connected dem dry bones
Ezekiel connected dem dry bones
Ezekiel connected dem dry bones
I hear the word of the Lord.Your toe bone connected to your foot bone,
Your foot bone connected to your ankle bone,
Your ankle bone connected to your leg bone,
Your leg bone connected to your knee bone,
Your knee bone connected to your thigh bone,
Your thigh bone connected to your hip bone,
Your hip bone connected to your back bone,
Your back bone connected to your shoulder bone,
Your shoulder bone connected to your neck bone,
Your neck bone connected to your head bone,
I hear the word of the Lord!Dem bones, dem bones gonna walk aroun'
Dem bones, dem bones, gonna walk aroun'
Dem bones, dem bones, gonna walk aroun'
I hear the word of the Lord!Disconnect dem bones, dem dry bones
Disconnect dem bones, dem dry bones
Disconnect dem bones, dem dry bones
I hear the word of the Lord!Your head bone connected from your neck bone,
Your neck bone connected from your shoulder bone,
Your shoulder bone connected from your back bone,
Your back bone connected from your hip bone,
Your hip bone connected from your thigh bone,
Your thigh bone connected from your knee bone,
Your knee bone connected from your leg bone,
Your leg bone connected from your ankle bone,
Your ankle bone connected from your foot bone,
Your foot bone connected from your toe bone,
I hear the word of the Lord!
I hear the word of the Lord!
It didn't work.
It never came to pass.
The bones remained dry.
The symbol of the open valley being thickly strewed with very dry bones represents the hopeless state of the Jews when dispersed throughout the provinces of the Chaldean empire.
The ligaments were not attached.
The flesh did not come upon them.
The skin did not cover them.
They had breath, they were alive, but they did not have the breath.
(Top)
(Back to Study Home Page) (Back
to Sermons for 2005-2006)
(Back to
Sermons Home Page) (Back to
Shultz Home Page)
MAIN BODY:
This is a parable, a story of what might have been.
It is illustrative of the revival of a nation.
Jamison Faucett and Brown suggests three stages in Israel's revival that present themselves to the prophet's eye.
The new awakening of the people, the resurrection of the dead (Ezekiel 37:1-14).
The reunion of the formerly hostile members of the community, whose contentions had affected the whole (Ezekiel 37:15-28).
The community thus restored is strong enough to withstand the assault of Gog, &c. (Ezekiel 38:1-39:29)
But for that to happen they needed the wind of the Spirit.
In a sermon founds in Homiletics Magazine, The Spirit Scale, May 15, 2005 is a description of the Beaufort Scale.
For thousands of years, no one thought that the wind could be measured.
In the late 1700s, a cabin boy in the British Navy began to keep a meteorological journal so that he could stay on top of weather conditions.
His name was Francis Beaufort, and he grew up to become a Rear Admiral, serving the Navy for 68 years.
Over the course of his career, he developed a method for describing the wind that became known as "The Beaufort Scale."
According to Beaufort, you've got your "calm." You've got your "light breeze." And then a "moderate breeze," and then a "gale," then a "storm," and then a "hurricane."
Beaufort's definition of "calm" is a "sea like a mirror."
When a "light breeze" is blowing, you see small wavelets on the water, and the crests don't break.
A "moderate breeze" creates small waves, while a "strong breeze" generates large waves, white foam crests and probably spray.
When a "gale" is beginning to blow, you see moderately high waves and crests that begin to break into sea spray.
A "storm" is defined by very high waves with long, overhanging crests. The surface of the sea takes a white appearance, and the tumbling of the sea becomes heavy.
And at the top of the scale is a "hurricane"--a wind condition you don't want to see firsthand! "The air is filled with foam and spray," says Beaufort, and the sea is "completely white with driving spray."
With his descriptions of every condition from calm to hurricane, Francis Beaufort created a way to describe the wind--a scale that is still in use today.
Israel needed a hurricane.
The wind did not come.
It happens that way, sometimes.
Israel become a divided nation about 975 BCE
The Babylonian Captivity was about 605.BCE
Ezekiel was written about 565 BCE
God said to Ezekiel"
11Then he said to me, "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.' 12Therefore prophesy, and say to them, Thus says the Lord GOD: I am going to open your graves, and bring you up from your graves, O my people; and I will bring you back to the land of Israel. 13And you shall know that I am the LORD, when I open your graves, and bring you up from your graves, O my people. 14I will put my spirit within you, and you shall live, and I will place you on your own soil; then you shall know that I, the LORD, have spoken and will act, says the LORD."
God then told Ezekiel to take two sticks and write upon them:
15The word of the LORD came to me: 16Mortal, take a stick and write on it, "For Judah, and the Israelites associated with it"; then take another stick and write on it, "For Joseph (the stick of Ephraim) and all the house of Israel associated with it"; 17and join them together into one stick, so that they may become one in your hand. 18And when your people say to you, "Will you not show us what you mean by these?" 19say to them, Thus says the Lord GOD: I am about to take the stick of Joseph (which is in the hand of Ephraim) and the tribes of Israel associated with it; and I will put the stick of Judah upon it, and make them one stick, in order that they may be one in my hand. 20When the sticks on which you write are in your hand before their eyes, 21then say to them, Thus says the Lord GOD: I will take the people of Israel from the nations among which they have gone, and will gather them from every quarter, and bring them to their own land. 22I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel; and one king shall be king over them all. Never again shall they be two nations, and never again shall they be divided into two kingdoms. 23They shall never again defile themselves with their idols and their detestable things, or with any of their transgressions. I will save them from all the apostasies into which they have fallen, and will cleanse them. Then they shall be my people, and I will be their God.
These are pictures of revival, resurrection, and renewal.
(Top)
(Back to Study Home Page) (Back
to Sermons for 2005-2006)
(Back to
Sermons Home Page) (Back to
Shultz Home Page)
The hope that was created by what Ezekiel had witnessed and written would not come to pass.
The people remained separated.
Jesus was traveling from Judea to Galilee.
He had to pass through Samaria.
In John 4:-26 (NRSVA) is the information that confirms the separation of Judah and Israel.
5So he came to a Samaritan city called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. 6Jacob's well was there, and Jesus, tired out by his journey, was sitting by the well. It was about noon.
7A Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, "Give me a drink." 8(His disciples had gone to the city to buy food.) 9The Samaritan woman said to him, "How is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman of Samaria?" (Jews do not share things in common with Samaritans.) 10Jesus answered her, "If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, 'Give me a drink,' you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water." 11The woman said to him, "Sir, you have no bucket, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? 12Are you greater than our ancestor Jacob, who gave us the well, and with his sons and his flocks drank from it?" 13Jesus said to her, "Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, 14but those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty. The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life." 15The woman said to him, "Sir, give me this water, so that I may never be thirsty or have to keep coming here to draw water."
16Jesus said to her, "Go, call your husband, and come back." 17The woman answered him, "I have no husband." Jesus said to her, "You are right in saying, 'I have no husband'; 18for you have had five husbands, and the one you have now is not your husband. What you have said is true!" 19The woman said to him, "Sir, I see that you are a prophet. 20Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you say that the place where people must worship is in Jerusalem." 21Jesus said to her, "Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 22You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such as these to worship him. 24God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth." 25The woman said to him, "I know that Messiah is coming" (who is called Christ). "When he comes, he will proclaim all things to us." 26Jesus said to her, "I am he, the one who is speaking to you."
We also know from the Scriptures that revival, resurrection and renewal had escaped the Judah and Israel.
We read the lament of Jesus in Matthew 23:37-38, NRSVA
37"Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing! 38See, your house is left to you, desolate.
We read the parable of the Vineyard in Luke 20:9-19, NRSVA
9He began to tell the people this parable: "A man planted a vineyard, and leased it to tenants, and went to another country for a long time. 10When the season came, he sent a slave to the tenants in order that they might give him his share of the produce of the vineyard; but the tenants beat him and sent him away empty-handed. 11Next he sent another slave; that one also they beat and insulted and sent away empty-handed. 12And he sent still a third; this one also they wounded and threw out. 13Then the owner of the vineyard said, 'What shall I do? I will send my beloved son; perhaps they will respect him.' 14But when the tenants saw him, they discussed it among themselves and said, 'This is the heir; let us kill him so that the inheritance may be ours.' 15So they threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. What then will the owner of the vineyard do to them? 16He will come and destroy those tenants and give the vineyard to others." When they heard this, they said, "Heaven forbid!" 17But he looked at them and said, "What then does this text mean:
'The stone that the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone'?18Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces; and it will crush anyone on whom it falls." 19When the scribes and chief priests realized that he had told this parable against them, they wanted to lay hands on him at that very hour, but they feared the people.
We read what happened at exact moment when Jesus died on the cross Matthew 27:50-51a, NRSVA
50Then Jesus cried again with a loud voice and breathed his last. 51At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom..
We know that Paul sought first to teach in the synagogues, but then, being rejected, he turned to the Gentiles.
Acts 13:46-47 (NRSVA)
46Then both Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly, saying, "It was necessary that the word of God should be spoken first to you. Since you reject it and judge yourselves to be unworthy of eternal life, we are now turning to the Gentiles. 47For so the Lord has commanded us, saying,
'I have set you to be a light for the Gentiles,
so that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth.'"
(Top)
(Back to Study Home Page) (Back
to Sermons for 2005-2006)
(Back to
Sermons Home Page) (Back to
Shultz Home Page)
What finally brings the vision of Ezekiel all together is Pentecost.
God had to wait until Pentecost.
What Israel rejected the Disciples accepted.
DRY BONES AND LOVE AGAIN
Now the wind blows.
If we were to apply "The Spirit Scale," what would that look like? How do we experience the Holy Spirit in our lives today?
Calm. This is the condition we experience when the Spirit leads us, equips us, and gives us serenity and peace. "Peace be with you," said Jesus when he appeared to the disciples after his resurrection. "As the Father has sent me, so I send you." Then he breathed on them and said, "Receive the Holy Spirit," giving them the power to forgive sins (John 20:21-23). When the Spirit Scale reads "calm," we are given peace and a sense of purpose--we know that we belong to God, and that we now possess a sense of direction.
This Spirit-scale calm is something we feel even though our lives may be buffeted by hurricane force winds. Whatever the nature of the external wind that is assailing us, the calm of the Spirit keeps us on mission, on point, and on message. We are unmoved. We are unfazed. We are experiencing the "calm" of the Holy Spirit.
Strong breeze. At other times, the Holy Spirit comes as a "strong breeze," a Spirit-wind that has a creative quality to it and leads to surprising improvements and new directions in our lives. In the Bible, this is seen in the "wind from God" that swept over the face of the waters at the moment of creation, bringing order out of chaos (Genesis 1:2). This is the Spirit-wind that came upon the anointed figures of the Old Testament when they were empowered for specific tasks and missions. This is the Spirit that came upon the seventy elders (Numbers 11:25).
This is the Spirit that came upon Balaam when he uttered his oracle (Numbers 24:2).
This is the Spirit that rested upon Othniel, the judge of Israel (Judges 3:10), and Gideon (6:34) and Jephthah (11:29) and Samson (13:25).
This is the Spirit that fell upon Saul (1 Samuel 10:10) and David (16:13).
When we head into a situation where new directions, fresh opportunities and unlimited possibilities face us, we look to the Holy Spirit for the "strong breeze" to empower us according to the will of God. Of course, we may need to hoist a sail to catch the wind--but that's another metaphor.
Gale. Higher up the scale is the Spirit as a "gale," a force that breaks unhealthy patterns and shakes up the status quo. In a world that so often fights fire with fire and responds to violence with even more violence, we are given the power we need to go in a different direction. "Evil is not effectively resisted with hatred and with guns"--so observes Jeffrey Burton Russell in his book The Prince of Darkness: Radical Evil and the Power of Good in History. "The only response to evil that has ever worked is the response of Jesus...and that is to lead a life of love. That means what it has always meant: visiting the sick, giving to the poor, helping those who need help." This is a powerful wind, one that can knock us off balance and push us out of our comfort zones. We need to ask ourselves: Are we willing to be blown in this direction?
Hurricane. Finally, at the top of the chart is the Spirit as a "hurricane." This is what hit Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost, turning the lives of the apostles completely upside down. They were reoriented from looking inward at themselves to looking outward toward a world in desperate need of the gospel. They were changed from fearful disciples into fearless evangelists, and they headed off into the mission field with a powerful sense of purpose. We used to call this "revival." When hurricane force Spirit-winds blow across the landscape of our souls and our common life together, nothing is ever the same. When you look at a real-life hurricane, you see the power of nature at work--hurricanes release the energy of a 10-megaton nuclear bomb exploding every 20 minutes. In the same way, when you look at the movement of the Spirit on Pentecost, you see the power of Almighty God at work. You see the breaking down of language and culture barriers...the empowering of frightened disciples...the courageous sharing of Jesus Christ with the world.
(Top)
(Back to Study Home Page) (Back
to Sermons for 2005-2006)
(Back to
Sermons Home Page) (Back to
Shultz Home Page)
CONCLUSION
The Pentecost is our heritage.
The Holy Spirit is our legacy.
Without the Spirit there is no good word.
Without the Spirit that is no good deed.
We do not reject, we accept.
As God promised in the vision of Ezekiel was unfilled in the past, it may be in the now, the present.
Ezekiel connected dem dry bones
Ezekiel connected dem dry bones
Ezekiel connected dem dry bones
I hear the word of the Lord.Your toe bone connected to your foot bone,
Your foot bone connected to your ankle bone,
Your ankle bone connected to your leg bone,
Your leg bone connected to your knee bone,
Your knee bone connected to your thigh bone,
Your thigh bone connected to your hip bone,
Your hip bone connected to your back bone,
Your back bone connected to your shoulder bone,
Your shoulder bone connected to your neck bone,
Your neck bone connected to your head bone,
I hear the word of the Lord!Dem bones, dem bones gonna walk aroun'
Dem bones, dem bones, gonna walk aroun'
Dem bones, dem bones, gonna walk aroun'
I hear the word of the Lord!
As Piers Linley, as written of "The Holy Spirit": (1)
The Holy Spirit can't be pinned down to a single name or image:
He is like the wind;
He blows where he chooses;
whence he comes and wither he goes no one knows.
He is God communicating himself, love overflowing.
He is the fountain's spray and bubble;
A spring of living water in the hearts of the faithful.
Amen!
1. Piers Linley, "The Holy Spirit," June 8, 2003, Preaching Home Page,
torch.op.org.
(Top)
(Back to Study Home Page) (Back
to Sermons for 2005-2006)
(Back to
Sermons Home Page) (Back to
Shultz Home Page)