Fifth Sunday of Lent

In the lesson that we heard from Hebrew Scripture God takes Ezekiel by the
hand and leads him to a ghastly scene that apparently is a former battlefield in a
valley full of old, dry bones, dismembered and desiccated. Only last week we were
on the upswing in the story of God’s people with Samuel anointing David king,
inaugurating the most prosperous, victorious time in Israel’s history. You know,
“the golden era” that time in our lives or even our congregation’s life that we keep
trying to go back to.

But a lot has happened since Israel’s golden era. After David and his son,
Solomon’s respective reigns, things go bad with subsequent leadership transitions
and now they have been conquered, carried away to a foreign land and enslaved.
Dark times for the people of God and this valley of dry, dead bones is clearly a
symbol of the death of Israel and the death of any sense of hope for the people of
God. David’s victories, Solomon's wisdom, and the splendor of that glorious
temple are all gone, faint memories at best.

And yet God has not abandoned God's people. God tells Ezekiel to prophesy, to
speak for God... to prophesy to the bones of what little is left. That would
certainly be a challenging preaching assignment; preaching to dry bones, the
remains of fallen soldiers in the battle where Israel loses it all. For Ezekiel it had
to seem a bit futile, simply too late. I mean, what can you say to a pile of dead
bones that's really helpful and constructive?

It’s too late. That's what Jesus hears when he approaches the village of Bethany
when first Martha and then later Mary meet him. “Jesus, if you had been here, my
brother would not have died." But now, it's too late. “Lazarus is dead and gone,
dead as dry bones, Jesus. We sent word to you Jesus that Lazarus was sick,
begging you to come, but you didn't come.”

In fact Jesus stayed where he was for two more days. And once the worst
happens, Jesus didn’t try to make things palatable, warm or sweet; Jesus knew that
his friend, Lazarus, was dead, but he also knew... that it was not too late.
“It's a lost cause. Nothing can be done. The situation is hopeless.” We live in a
world where we are constantly assaulted with the word that there is simply no hope, surrounded by the dead carcasses of a former golden era. All you have to do
is turn on the nightly news and see that message broadcast from around the world.
Wars, rebellions, famine, senseless murders, climate change, land that is ravaged of
its natural resources, hate that has steeped for centuries between nations and ethnic
groups. We long for God to come, we've sent messages just like Mary and Martha
did to Jesus. “Come now before it’s too late.” It’s the same for our personal lives.
We get to the point that it seems that it is too late. We've tried so hard for so long,
but life just keeps shelling out the same bad news. People disappoint us. Our
dreams are not fulfilled. The hoped for job doesn't come through. Our health fails.
And we look for God, but it seems that all we can see is a valley of dry, dead bones
of a barely reminiscent golden era, and it seems too late.

But of course...it isn’t too late because Ezekiel prophesied to those bones, and
today Jesus, the living God steps down here into the valley of our suffering, stands
at the opening of our tomb and shouts, “Lazarus!... Lazarus!...Come forth!” And
we suck in the breath of God and slowly start making our way out of the cave into
some of that bright summer sunshine, and it’s like we are seeing everything for the
first time. We’re still pretty stiff, we’re learning to walk all over again. We’ve still
got these burial cloths wrapped tightly around us, and Jesus says, “Unbind them,
let them go.”

Beloved community, I invite you to look around at everyone who is gathered
here today. Jesus is calling us forth out of that tomb. We’re a little stiff, but we’re
walking upright and we’re alive. We need to help each other along. We need to
help unbind one another from the old burial cloths that bind and restrict us, those
burial cloths wrapped around our face, that block the light. God is calling us to quit
trying to make this graveyard so cozy and warm and sweet, to leave it behind and
step into the brilliant light of today, not to reminisce about our golden era, but to
see what God’s hand is doing in the world around us today. Lazarus! Come forth!
Quit living in the good old days, don’t wait for the end of time; let Jesus raise you
from the dead... today. AMEN.

The Rev. Dr. Dennis Campbell