10.31--Our Dry Bone Valleys

Our Scripture reading today comes from Ezekiel 37:1-14. Let us together dive into the depths of this story. Listen attentively to this story of our people.

<Tell Ezekiel 37>

Imagine it. Imagine God picking you up and transporting you to a valley that is full of bones. Imagine being led from one end of this valley to the other, picking your way through the bones as you go. Imagine accidently stepping on one them, feeling more than hearing the crack under your foot as you wince at the jarring noise.

Why would God bring you here? What is so significant about the bones that they would catch and hold the attention of the Almighty? Why is it so important that you walk among them?

As I read this story, I am stuck with the feeling like this is not as uncommon a sight for Ezekiel as it might seem for us. I mean, if I were a prophet of God, called to share heavenly visions with the people of God, and if I were to be transported to a valley full of dry bones, I think that I would have spent some more time describing my surroundings. God has tasked me with the job of retelling my experiences to a broken and hopeless people. If I want them to truly understand what I’m saying and where I’m at, I would think that one would need to give them more information than simply that a valley was full of bones.

What kind of bones were they? Were they bleached white by the sun? Was there any other kind of debris mixed in with the bones? Did I recognize any of the landmarks around me, outside of the valley?

This prophet, who is known for having some really psychedelic visions, spends less time in this story describing his surroundings than he does in any other vision.

Why?

And after hearing what happens, wouldn’t it make more sense for him to be transported to a graveyard? A cavernous mountainside covered in tombs? I would think that these would be better places to witness a mass-resurrection. Those seem real. Those seem believable.

So we have to wonder: why this uncovered mass grave to which readers and hearers could not relate or picture?

The answer is actually kind of simple. You see, back in the days of hand-to-hand fighting, many battles would take place within valleys. This usually kept one side from gaining a high ground advantage and made it harder for armies to sweep around from behind and pin their adversaries. Many of the battles that our Scripture gives witness to were fought in such valleys. Over the years, decades, and centuries, all of the spoils of war such as swords, armor, and the like would have been stripped off the bodies. Carrion birds and decomposition would have taken care of the flesh. After a while, the only things that would have been left in these valleys were the bones, which would decompose soon as well.

These bone valleys, though not particularly common, would not have been too rare a sight. Many of Ezekiel’s audience would know exactly what he was talking about. They know those places. They know those valleys. These valleys represented complete desolation and destruction. Sometimes whole peoples were wiped out in these valleys, and even for the victorious nation, these places would have held a sense of foreboding. A sense of almost reverence and sacredness. A feeling too complicated to put into words. And you know what? Many of us understand what he is talking about as well.

The summer after my freshman year at TLU, I studied abroad in Prague, which is in the Czech Republic, which is in Eastern Europe for all of you who are geographically challenged. While there, our group traveled to Poland and spent a week in Krakow. A number of us took the opportunity while we were there to visit the Auschwitz concentration and death camp. We walked through the buildings that housed the soldiers, passed through the rooms where new prisoners were processed, peered into cabins where they would cram in hundreds of people each night, tread over ground where innocent blood was spilt, and stood dumbfounded in a gas chamber where so many had lost their lives.

The room that shocked me the most, the one that I still find myself thinking about and the one that still haunts me, was the room full of all of the hair from all of the inmates. As they were processed, someone would shave off all of their hair, and for some reason they kept it all. Now, it fills all but a glassed-off hallway in the middle of a room about this size.

I know those places. I know those valleys.

If you have ever experienced a place like that, you know what Ezekiel is speaking about when he speaks of the valley of dry bones. Those valleys are the epitome of human suffering and death, places where our words cannot begin to describe the carnage that has taken place, the pain endured, the lives lost. You know those places. You know those valleys.

And this is where God carries Ezekiel.

But this is not the end of the story! No, this is the very beginning of it! Ezekiel is transported to this place of darkness, this place of desolation, to witness and to take part in something miraculous! Out of the horrific reverence of this death valley, God brings life. Bones come together, bone to bone. Tendons and flesh appear. Skin covers the bodies. Breathe is breathed back into what before was breathless. In this place, behold, God has made all things new.

God promises in this story to bring new life and restoration to God’s people. The Israelites have been uprooted from their homes, driven into alien land, and they feel like all their hope is lost. But God promises that this is not the end. Out of the darkest places, out of the graves, God promises to bring fulfillment, and God promises to bring them back where they belong. God promises to breathe new life into their dry bones.

There is a very important point to understand here. God is not promising an easy life to the Israelites. God is not promising that there will not be pain or loss along the way. If that were so, then God would not work out of the dry bone valleys of the world. Instead, God promises that even in the midst of division, even in the midst of heartache and strife, even in the midst of death, God will not turn away and God will not forget God’s promise to them.

And friends, God promises to do the same for us. Out of the dry bone valleys of our life, God has promised to bring restoration. Out of death, God has promised to bring new life. When we feel the most disconnected with everyone and everything around us, God has promised to bring integration into our lives.

And nowhere is this seen more clearly than in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Out of the darkness of the cross, out of the depth of the tomb, came the light and life that saved the world. In Christ, we see the true completion of God’s promise to Ezekiel so many years earlier. In Christ, we know the grave has lost its power and that death has lost its sting. In Christ, the dry bones are put back together, and new breath is breathed into them.

As we were leaving Auschwitz, I met an old lady who spoke very broken English. She looked like she was barely held together, like a gust of wind might make her fall apart. She was there selling her book, and I bought a copy of it while I listened to her story. She told me that she had been a prisoner here during the war, and that she comes back every day to remind herself of what happened. I asked her why she did this, and she said I’d have to read the book to find out. I still have that book, a book entitled Hope.

So wherever the valleys of dry bones are in your life, I pray that God will take you there. I pray that, like Ezekiel, God will show you the new life that God brings to those valleys for you and for all of creation. And I pray that in those valleys, God will breathe new life into your dry bones.

Amen.