Sermon Title: God’s Spirit for the Future

Sermon by the Reverend John Young-Jung Lee on March 9, Fifth Sunday in Lent

Ezekiel 37:1-14

37:1   The hand of the LORD came upon me, and he brought me out by the spirit of the LORD and set me down in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones.

37:2   He led me all around them; there were very many lying in the valley, and they were very dry.

37:3   He said to me, "Mortal, can these bones live?" I answered, "O Lord GOD, you know."

37:4   Then he said to me, "Prophesy to these bones, and say to them: O dry bones, hear the word of the LORD.

37:5   Thus says the Lord GOD to these bones: I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live.

37:6   I will lay sinews on you, and will cause flesh to come upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and you shall live; and you shall know that I am the LORD."

37:7   So I prophesied as I had been commanded; and as I prophesied, suddenly there was a noise, a rattling, and the bones came together, bone to its bone.

37:8   I looked, and there were sinews on them, and flesh had come upon them, and skin had covered them; but there was no breath in them.

37:9   Then he said to me, "Prophesy to the breath, prophesy, mortal, and say to the breath: Thus says the Lord GOD: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live."

37:10 I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood on their feet, a vast multitude.

37:11 Then 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.'

37:12 Therefore 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.

37:13 And you shall know that I am the LORD, when I open your graves, and bring you up from your graves, O my people.

37:14 I 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.

John 11:1-45

11:1    Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha.

11:2    Mary was the one who anointed the Lord with perfume and wiped his feet with her hair; her brother Lazarus was ill.

11:3    So the sisters sent a message to Jesus, "Lord, he whom you love is ill."

11:4    But when Jesus heard it, he said, "This illness does not lead to death; rather it is for God's glory, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it."

11:5    Accordingly, though Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus,

11:6    after having heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was.

11:7    Then after this he said to the disciples, "Let us go to Judea again."

11:8    The disciples said to him, "Rabbi, the Jews were just now trying to stone you, and are you going there again?"

11:9    Jesus answered, "Are there not twelve hours of daylight? Those who walk during the day do not stumble, because they see the light of this world.

God’s Spirit for the Future

Our first lesson this morning of Ezekiel’s vision carries us to the valley filled with bleached bones. We do not end with talking disconnected and weathered bones strewn on the floor of a forgotten valley, but the hopeful vision out of hopeless reality through prophesying, through God’s vision, God’s sight.

What Ezekiel saw in this story reminds us of international disaster of violence and terror; war against nation to nation, race to race, religion to religion; a crisis of faith which we doubt of God that God had broken God’s promise. Now we can see that the whole earth is the valley of dry bones.

People in the city no more have a day of rest for spiritual nurturing. On weekends, people moving around only for physical pleasure or activities for fun. It is not VALUE but FUN is the key word that directs people’s choice. People go to the hokey games on Sunday because it is fun. People do not come to the church because it is not fun at all. Something goes very wrong. Value has nothing to do with the people and their lives. People’s mind moved from “spiritual to flesh” for last few decades. As a result, church became useless and barely survive as a souvenir of the good old days. Churches experience a slow dying into dry bones. The dry bones are all over the places.

As we drive around the city, we see and taste the bad fruit of spiritual decadence. Graffiti scrawled on the sides of abandoned buildings and expletives misspelled on the side of a corner market only a few blocks away from the sky scrapers, the symbol of rich. Besides the magnificent church building, alcoholics and homeless people lying down on the benches. An old man in a tee shirt and baggy pants sat on its steps. Bleached bones lying heaped up.

In the mist of these dry bones, God asks us the same question: Can these bone live? Can you people, the body of Christ now almost withered to die alive? Maybe we see ourselves buried in the heap of hopelessness. What is our answer to God and what are we going to proclaim to the world of many dry bones?

The Bible teaches us that our desperate situation is where God wants to “be with” with the ruach, - the life-giving Spirit that makes into a new life. It is possible when we have the eyes to see God and God’s way as children of God. It is possible when we awaiting for God’s inspiration and ready to live with it. It is possible when we say “All things are possible in you O God and with Christ and through the life-giving Spirit, the Holy Spirit.”

Ezekiel’s perspective, the way of thinking and acting teaches us the truth. Led by the Spirit of God, Ezekiel was in the middle of a valley, full of dry bones. God asked him, “Can these bones live?" Ezekiel answered, "O Lord, GOD, you know." What does it mean to say this? This is a conviction to God’s way of looking and working. It is asking God for God’s inspiration. Isn’t it similar to Jesus’ confession, “not my will, but thy will be done”? This is an affirmation, saying, “I am your child.” 

To this conviction, God says, "Prophesy to these bones: O dry bones, hear the word of the LORD. I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live; I will lay sinews on you, and will cause flesh to come upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and you shall live; and you shall know who the LORD, God is."

When Ezekiel prophesied, suddenly there was a noise, a rattling, and the bones came together, bone to its bone. And then again Ezekiel prophesied “breathe upon these slain, that they may live." Finally the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood on their feet, a vast multitude.

This story tells us how we can be the partner of new creation. This analogy also speaks of the dynamic of a new life, our faith journey towards a new life. In this journey we hear the sound of a new life. “Trust in God. Obedient to God’s will for a new life” This is what we, the church as the body of Christ, strive for the kingdom of God, strive for reconciliation and healing.

In this sound of a new life, we hear Jesus’ saying,  “I AM the resurrection and the life, whoever believes in me shall never die!” “Lazarus, come forth!” The Good News is that the unexpected happens! As the dry bones join together, we have a vision that people in different faith walk hand in hand, Arabs and Jews and Christians lay down their suspicions and mean-spiritedness. A church in the city suddenly starts to get a vision of life, rich and poor join hand in hand, all the differences get together to celebrate God’s presence in the midst of their lives.

Here is a story of George B. Dantzig, American mathematician who introduced the simplex algorithm and later known as the father of linear programming. During his first year of graduate study at the University of California at Berkeley, George arrived late for a statistics class. He saw two problems on the blackboard. Assuming they were homework, he copied them and a few days later turned in his solutions.

One Sunday morning six weeks afterward, the professor appeared at Dantzig's door, waving a manuscript. It turned out that the professor had merely written two examples of unsolvable problems on the blackboard. The manuscript was Dantzig's work readied for publication. (Reader's Digest, September 1990.)

Our pre-concept governs our life. This story tells us that being without pre-concept of impossibility, George Danzig was able to solve the problem. Most of pessimists see the future as dark and hopeless based on their experience and knowledge that the world has developed into the direction of inustice and dehumanization, demolition of nature by the selfish power of the people.

Some of our church members have been worrying seriously from the last year about the declination of membership and Sunday worship attendance. It is true that we have to concern about it. However we can have a positive and hopeful vision for the future of our church. We can grow as long as we faithfully commit ourselves to God’s mission for the world which was revealed by Jesus Christ. It is God who makes us grow. We can grow as long as we persistently search for the way out of difficulties and problems we have now.

One of the impossibility for the modern Christians of mainstream churches to which we are belong to is that Church never can grow. It is based on people’s experience of continuous declination. So the old timers hardly imagine that the church can grow. However, new comers, especially who recently converted or joined in the church, think that church “can” grow. They think that people may consider to come again to the church. They sometimes ask for launching a membership development project, while the old timers are suspicious of it.

Our pre-concept in many occasions governs the whole life; and most of the people are controlled by it. Many people believe that Murphy’s Law as a truth that works in our lives – “If it can go wrong, it goes wrong”. This simple idea can be interpreted as this: “If it can go wrong, in your sight or by your common sense or estimate (my addition), it goes wrong”. But the prophets in the Bible and Jesus Christ have totally different perspectives and ways of thinking. It is not “if it can go wrong in your sight” but “nothing can go wrong, in God, and it will go right.”

Do we hear the unexpected sound of life? Let’s not say, “if it can go wrong” by our common sense, but say, “nothing can go wrong, in God, and it will go right.” God promises us not just life after death, but life before death, the life here and now. God is the God of future. God's Spirit is for the new life in the future of our world. Therefore it doesn’t speak of mere surviving but for the future abundant life, fruitful life, life that is full of hope.

That is what resurrection means - hope in the midst of hopelessness; not going back to the old way of life, but moving forward for the new life we receive by the life-giving Spirit. In our spreading joyful noises, may we hear the sound of a new life, as the dead man came out, “Praise you with our whole heart!

God asks us right this moment, “Can this society, this world, live?” With trust in God and the Spirit's guidance, we all say, “O Lord, GOD, you know. They will live by your help O God" In this our answer, may God’s bountiful blessings be all of us who gather and hear today.

Thanks be to God. Amen.