Fifth Sunday in Lent, Year A April 10, 2011
Ezekiel 37:1-14 Psalm 130
Romans 8:6-11
John 11:1-45
Our Lord has written
the promise of resurrection,
not in books alone,
but in every leaf in springtime.
the promise of resurrection,
not in books alone,
but in every leaf in springtime.
~ Martin Luther
The readings for today are probably among the better known in the Bible, and as lectionary readings go, connect better with each other than most of the readings do. They all have to do with being called back to new life by God, our Creator and Redeemer. In Ezekiel’s vision of the Valley of Dry Bones, that great Prophet speaks to the people of Israel, a people who had lost their hope and were, in their minds, as good as dead. And Ezekiel calls them back to new hope and new life, as he has been instructed to do by the LORD. The Psalm for today responds to the words of Ezekiel. “O Israel, hope in the LORD! For with the LORD there is steadfast love, and with him is great power to redeem.” [Psalm 130:7]
And then there is John’s account of Jesus calling his friend Lazarus, dead and entombed for four days, to come out of the tomb. It is in this passage that John reports one of Jesus’ great “I Am” sayings: “I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die.”
I’ve spoken on these passages here in this church at least 5 times, because the three year lectionary turned to Year A in Advent of 1995 and continuing through 1996, not long after I began serving here the first time around. So, today I thought I would challenge you to look at them in a little different way. I want you to look at them from a metaphorical point of view. Does anyone here know what a metaphor is? [Wait for answers] A metaphor is a figure of speech – a way of saying things in a different way. We use analogies a lot. An analogy says something is LIKE something else. But a metaphor says it IS something else. For example, if I speak of my little dog Nixie and say, “My dog Nixie is like a real little person” - that would be an analogy. But if I say, “My dog Nixie is a real little person” – that’s a metaphor. Metaphors are stronger statements than analogies. But enough on the English lesson! Back to the lessons for today.
To treat Ezekiel’s vision of the Valley of Dry Bones and John’s account of Jesus’ raising of Lazarus as a metaphor means we have to speak about them in a totally different way – they have to “be” – they have to “re-present” – something they are not.
April 22 is Earth Day, a day set aside to celebrate Creation in all its grandeur and in all its pain. And the earth has certainly been suffering a great deal of upheaval and pain these past few years: hurricanes, earthquakes, tsunamis, tornadoes, ice storms, intense snow storms, flooding, mud slides, and the obviously human-caused catastrophes, things like the Gulf oil spill and many of the raging forest fires on the West Coast in the past few years.
We usually celebrate Earth Day on the Sunday closest to April 22 – and this year, that would be Easter. But I was struck this week by the lessons for today, and how – metaphorically – they speak to us of the meaning of Earth Day and our role in God’s Creation.
Think, for example, of Ezekiel’s vision. He sees a valley filled with dried bones, and they were very dry. And he hears God asking him if these dried bones can live. And Ezekiel, not so sure of himself, answers, “O LORD God, you know.” Meaning maybe something like this: “Not me, Lord, I don’t know – but you must know. Only you know – you are the One who creates and re-creates. The One who redeems. Not me.” And God says, “That’s right – but I need you to help me. You’re a Prophet, so prophesy! They’ll listen to you – these as-good-as-dead-dried-bone-Israelites! Tell them about my breath - that I will “breathe” on them. Now, we have to remember that the Hebrew word for breath is ruach, which in Greek becomes pneuma, which in English becomes spirit – and it actually meant “spirit” all along. So God needs Ezekiel to tell these hopeless, as-good-as-dead, spiritually dried up Israelites that they need to reclaim God’s Holy Spirit. Then, and only then, do they rise up again in hope and believe that they will return from Exile to their own land, and they will know that their LORD God is One who speaks and acts. Ezekiel was being called to speak and act on behalf of God. And he did. He said, “I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood on their feet, a vast multitude.”
The Valley of Dry Bones story is a group version – a national version - of the Lazarus story in John’s gospel – the only gospel, by the way, to tell this story. Lazarus, Jesus’ friend, is dead and in the stone cave tomb. And Jesus commands some of the people to “take away the stone.” And after praying, he cries out in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” And he does, still fully bound in burial wrappings. And Jesus again commands some of the people, “Unbind him, and let him go.”
What happens if we use these stories as metaphors about our relationship with the Earth? The metaphorical point of these stories is that God needs people to help bring what seems hopeless and dead back to new life. And when it comes to caring for the Earth, it means us. We are the ones who must challenge dried bones to get some spirit – some life – into them and get up and get going. We are the ones who must open up the cave tomb to let new life come into what we have given up on. We are the ones who must unbind whatever it is that binds the lifeless and the hopeless and set them free to live again – and this includes what seems lifeless and hopeless about Earth.
PLAY THE VIDEO 2011-change-the-world-promo.mp4 (1:18)
PLAY THE VIDEO 2011-change-the-world-promo.mp4 (1:18)
I have one other video I would like to share with you in celebration of Earth Day. It is a contemporary Christian song, written and performed by Brian Doerksen. It’s on YouTube and on our own church website YouTube channel. It’s named Creation Calls.
PLAY THE VIDEO CREATION CALLS (6:22)
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© Carol J. Borland, Pastor Emeritus and Interim Pastor, West Danville United Methodist Church, West Danville, Vermont. Lent 5A & Earth Day Celebration. April 10, 2011
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