Ezekiel 37.1-14; John 11.1-45

We began our Lenten journey going with Jesus into the wilderness, where he faced the temptations that we know only too well. In various ways, as we prepare for the Easter Feast, we are encouraged to use the season of Lent to deepen our discipleship in our own mini wildernesses.

The valley we read about in our OT lesson is very much wilderness territory. And there in that wilderness the prophet sees a lot of dried out human bones. They are not the recent dead, they are very dry – they have been like that for a long time.

The question he is faced with is whether theses bones can live. I’m sure it wouldn’t have been the first thing that came into his head when he saw them, such was their state. But the question is posed for him – Is there a future here? Is there any hope in this situation? Can anything be done to bring life-giving change after so long?

What are the dry bones that we so often find ourselves looking at?

As we contemplate the world around us – there is Iran; Gaza; Sudan; Ukraine; to name some of the places we hear about almost daily.

Or as we contemplate our own society here in the UK – we look at increasing poverty; family breakdown; and growing mental health issues.

Or as we contemplate our own lives – many of us are aware of our own ageing bodies; our fear of being able to make ends meet, and our anxieties about what lies ahead for our children and their children.

The question that is posed for us this morning is however dry these various bones may be, however long they’ve been like that – is there any possibility of change and any hope of new life?

The natural answer is the one that the prophet gave – “God only knows”.

And God responds to Ezekiel telling him he should speak to the problem. He isn’t to do any of things we are tempted to do when facing intractable problems, such as carry out some research, devise a plan, attempt to engineer a solution. He is just told to prophesy. He is to announce God’s promise. So he speaks God’s promise into the silence and something extraordinary happens – there is a rattling sound and the bones come together and form skeletons, and then he sees sinews and flesh and skin appear, and there are now bodies in front of him, but they are not alive, they are still dead.

And once again he is told to speak, to prophesy. This time he is to address the winds and to call upon the winds to breathe life into these bodies. And so he does that and that vast army of bodies comes to life.

The combination of word and spirit that had brought about life at the very beginning of all things, has again brought about new life where there was not even any hint of hope.

So, now come with me to Bethany and to another scene of death. Here the death is more recent. We face not dry bones but a decomposing body that has begun to smell. Lazarus is dead. He and his sisters Martha and Mary were friends of Jesus, and Jesus has come to visit the grieving sisters. And the response of each of them is “if only you had been here”. And how often do we respond to the anxieties, fears and problems we face in exactly that way? If only …. If only this or that had happened; if only I had done something a little bit different; if only they had kept their noses out … if only …

We know that when Jesus initially heard that Lazarus was ill he hadn’t dropped what he was doing and gone immediately to Bethany. But when he does arrive he finds the sisters in deep distress. The impact of their brother’s death has overwhelmed them.

And we read that Jesus enters into their pain and grief and shares it to the extent that he is greatly disturbed in his spirit and groans, and he is deeply moved. Deep, deep within himself he is profoundly affected to the extent that he himself begins to weep. Why? Why does he behave like this when he knows he is going to bring him back to life? This is not some affected grief but a genuine deep down visceral pain in the heart of God. Sin and death have impacted this world to its great hurt, but even more to God’s hurting heart. And that effect of sin and death cannot be denied, although it is to be overcome.

And so Jesus weeps. And nothing has changed in that respect. He continues to suffer this world’s pain. To know deep within himself the effect of sin and death.

This chapter is the turning point of John’s gospel. This is the last of the signs showing us what God is like, and what God is about. And in chapter 12 we move into the last week of Jesus’ life and his own death and resurrection.

And this last sign is to prepare us for all that will follow as he enters into suffering, abuse and death, and to prepare us for his resurrection which we will celebrate on Easter day.

When Jesus tells Martha that her brother will rise again, she responds with what she has been brought up to believe – “yes I know he will rise at the last day”. But Jesus’ response is to tell her “I am the resurrection and the life”. He is telling her that that new life is already here and is to be found in him. And that new life he can and will impart to her brother, and to all who believe in him.

And though like Lazarus, he will die and rise, unlike Lazarus who would die again, Jesus will rise to a life that changes everything. By his dying and rising he will have overcome death and all that goes with it once and for all. So he tells Martha that those who believe in him will never die. His rising will be a final and definitive act.

Unlike the other signs in John’s gospel where the event happens, and is followed by Jesus’ explanation, on this occasion we have the explanation first, and then the miracle where he calls upon Lazarus to come out and out he comes.

So as we face the last few days leading us to Easter, what are we facing in our lives? Are we looking at dried up bones with no hope that anything can be done to produce a positive outcome? Or are we facing some deeply distressing personal grief?

The message of Lent is that God knows all about it. God knows the hopelessness of our situation. God gets our brokenness and distress because he shares in it, and so God weeps at it all still. But then God says there is hope because in me is new life, a new type of life, a life that cannot be overcome and that will never die.

But there’s a post script. When Lazarus came out of his tomb, he was still bound with strips of cloth and his face was still wrapped in a cloth. So Jesus tells those who are there that they are to unbind him so that he can go on his way and enjoy his new life.

And there is a message for us that though we have God’s new life within us, we need to help each other to experience that life to the full. We need to unbind one another. We need to share our lives and build each other up in our faith. As we learn together what God’s word says and what his promises are and above all as we express to each other that unconditional love that God has poured into our hearts, so we will unbind one another.

In the week ahead you may want to reflect and recall times in your own life when you have been aware of God bringing you into fresh a experience of his life but you have needed others to help you to begin to work it out. And you may think of others even now who you might draw alongside and help discover more of God’s love.

Amen.