Shake, Rattle, and Roll Ezekiel 37:1-14, Acts 2:1-13

For the twentieth year People magazine has named the Sexiest Man Alive.
This year it’s Matthew McConnauhey,
that chiseled 36 year old Texan and bonafide movie star.
You know what I have to say to that?
I DEMAND A RECOUNT!

Actually, I prefer to fly under the radar of celebrity.
It would be flattering and OH so glamorous to be the focus of everyone’s attention
FOR ABOUT TWO HOURS!
then, I imagine, it would get terribly tedious.
Sure, you’d have a lot of money,
but you couldn’t go outside without having your picture taken.
You’d be invited to fabulous parties
but you’d have to always be on your guard against people
who only want to know you so they can use you to achieve their own ends.
When Matthew McConnauhey was told of his Sexiest Man Alive selection
his first response was "I like the ‘Alive’ part of that."
I’m sure everybody laughed when he said it,
but I wonder if he didn’t have a wistful look in his eyes.
I wonder if he didn’t say it with a touch of sadness
as the only one in the room who could fully understand
how quickly such celebrity can deaden someone’s spirit,
how completely such frenzied adoration can dry up someone’s soul.

The prophet Ezekiel was acquainted with deadened spirits and dried up souls.
He had been among the first wave of those taken into exile
when the Babylonian army took control of Jerusalem in 597 B.C.
He had been uprooted from his celebrated position as a priest to the royal family
and taken to a foreign land with the most educated and talented of the Jewish elite.
It would be another eleven years before Jerusalem would be destroyed
and another fifty years before the Babylonian grip would be loosened
and restoration of the holy city begun.
In the meantime, it was Ezekiel’s task
to try to make sense of it,
to put himself in God’s position and try to explain why such a thing
could happen to God’s beloved and chosen people.

Why WOULD God allow Jerusalem and the temple to be destroyed
and God’s chosen ones taken into exile?
Ezekiel wrestled with this knotty problem and came to a priestly conclusion.
God allowed it all to happen as a means of purifying Israel.
In much the same way a priest would sacrifice a lamb on the temple altar
for the purification of a person’s sins,
God sacrificed Jerusalem because they had strayed too far.
Ezekiel writes that for a time God hid God’s face from the Jews
because the Jews had dealt treacherously with God.
God allowed them to be taken into exile as punishment for their wickedness.
But almost simultaneously with this judgment, Ezekiel writes,
God’s mercy was activated.
God was moved to begin a process of restoration for God’s beloved.
Even as they were going into exile, Ezekiel writes,
God was putting in motion the plan to restore them once and for all
to the land that God had given them.

Few are willing to adopt Ezekiel’s theology of divine punishment
as an explanation for personal or national suffering,
even if it is couched in terms of sacrifice and divine purification.
Even Ezekiel seems to have little stomach for it after awhile
and is much more eager to focus instead
on the power God has and the choice God makes to restore and redeem
those whom God loves who are feeling dead and dried up.

Ezekiel’s vision of the Valley of the Dry Bones is a powerful vision of hope
in the face of complete devastation.
It’s a graphic depiction of how the Spirit of God that hovered over the waters
at the first creation
is ready still to RE-create when the right time comes.

Ezekiel writes that one day he was led in a vision to a wide valley,
and on the ground all around him there were bones – human bones.
Not only were there bones, but they were DRY bones.
There was no marrow,
no DNA even for the Crime Scene Investigation team to collect.
There was no blood to bring oxygen, no nerves to fire,
no tendons or cartilage with which to join the bones together.
They were sun-bleached and brittle – as lifeless as bones get.

At this point the Spirit asks Ezekiel, "Mortal, can these bones live?"
By all rights Ezekiel SHOULD have said, "No."
It didn’t take a psychic to know what these bones represented.
They represented the nation of Israel,
or what was left of the nation of Israel after living in a foreign land for years
and dealing with the memory of having their national soul, the temple,
desecrated and destroyed.
He should have said, "Who are you kidding? No way! It’s been too long!
That ship has sailed. That pig has oinked. that dog has died.
Instead, Ezekiel said the only other thing he could have possibly said,
He said, "God only knows."
He wasn’t being flippant or sarcastic only realistic.
"God only knows."

Ezekiel was in a tight spot.
For years he’d tried to be the faithful prophet,
interpreting as best he could the events of his day,
treading the fine line all preachers tread as we stand to face the congregation.
It’s the line between challenge and comfort,
between prodding and placating.
He’d listened intently for God’s voice,
continued to speak even when the only word from the Lord was a hard one.
For years after being dragged into exile Ezekiel had no doubt held his breath
confident that better times were just around the corner
until finally he’d hit the wall, come up short one too many times,
faced the reality that one CANNOT anticipate the hand of God.
As hard as you try to read the signs,
in the end there is no telling WHEN, and WHERE, and HOW
God will accomplish what God is going to do.
So when asked, "Can these bones live," Ezekiel spoke the truest word he knew,
"God only knows."

What followed then was an object lesson,
a visual demonstration that even the celebrity prophet Ezekiel
with all his prophetic powers could take things only so far.
Beyond that only God could inspire, only God could give new life.
In his vision Ezekiel prophesied to the bones,
and, sure enough, the bones did re-articulate,
toes to foot, thigh to hip, skull to spine.
And muscle and tendons and even skin appeared, but there was no breath.
Only the breath of God could inspire this army of broken, cut off souls
and like a mighty wind it blew and they stood upon their feet and lived.

On the day of Pentecost so long ago that same wind blew again
and a small band of believers who had been waiting, hoping, wondering,
maybe even doubting Jesus’ promise to give them direction and strength
were filled with the Holy Spirit and given the gift of language –
words spoken in different exotic languages that enabled them to speak THE WORD
to a hungry, willing crowd.
They couldn’t have done it on their own,
it required God’s Spirit to shake them out of their doldrums,
rattle their cages,
and put them on a roll toward living out their purpose in God’s grand scheme.

They were fortunate.
They only had to wait a brief time, not like Ezekiel who may very well have died
before the Exile ended and the Israelites were allowed to return to Jerusalem.
Even if he lived, he would have been 87 years old
when God finally brought the Israelites home.
Each of us here has had, will have, or is having right now
a time when it seems as though God’s face is turned away.
We have had, will have, or are having the experience of deadness,
of dryness,
of separation and desiccation as we wait to be inspired by God’s Spirit.
When will it happen?
When will we find strength to cope with illness or grief?
When will our faith become vibrant again?
When will war end and threats diminish and hatred cease.
God only knows.

But while we wait, the best thing we can do is continue to gather in worship
come to God’s table where we are promised God’s Spirit is present
and listen to advice from the mother of the Sexiest Man Alive.
Matthew McConnauhey was asked in an interview to relate such advice
and he remembered that when he was growing up
his mother would wake him for breakfast.
If he came to breakfast grumbling or in a bad mood
she would lead him back to his bedroom and tell him in no uncertain terms,
"when you come to share a meal with your family
it is best if you focus on the rose in the vase
and not the dust on the table."
I would add that’s it’s also best to focus on the promise
that God is faithful and in God’s own time
God’s Spirit will come like the rush of a mighty wind
to fill us and restore us and empower us.