~ Quasimodo Geniti ~
Readings: Ezekiel 37:1-14 | 1 John 5:4-10 | John 20:19-31
Text: Ezekiel 37:1-14
You’ve heard it said, “Seeing is believing.” This works most of the time. You wouldn’t buy a car if the dealer refused to show you the one you were buying. You wouldn’t work long for an employer who promised you a paycheck but never actually came up with the money.
However, sometimes our faith—what we believe—is opposed to what we see. Think of what we just confessed in the Creed—we see God’s visible creation, but not His Son and what He did for us, and, while we’ve seen a portion of the holy Christian and apostolic Church, we haven’t seen the Spirit or the rest of it. Nevertheless, we believe in these things because God’s Holy Spirit is at work in us—His Word tell us this is all true.
Think about the valley of dry bones from the Old Testament lesson:
The hand of the Lord was upon me, and he brought me out in the Spirit of the Lord and set me down in the middle of the valley; it was full of bones. 2 And he led me around among them, and behold, there were very many on the surface of the valley, and behold, they were very dry. (Ezek. 37:1-2)
Sight sees dry, dead bones.
Then the Lord asks a question: “3 ‘Son of man, can these bones live?’ And I answered, ‘O Lord God, you know.’” That’s faith’s answer—O Lord God, you know—because what our eye sees and what our mind knows would say flat-out “No.” But what the rest of this vision shows is that God is able by His Word to do what we may not see or yet see. Even death itself is not too great an obstacle to God.
4Then he said to me, “Prophesy over these bones, and say to them, O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. 5Thus says the Lord God to these bones: Behold, I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live. 6And I will lay sinews upon you, and will cause flesh to come upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and you shall live, and you shall know that I am the Lord.”
7So I prophesied as I was commanded. And as I prophesied, there was a sound, and behold, a rattling, and the bones came together, bone to its bone. 8And I looked, and behold, there were sinews on them, and flesh had come upon them, and skin had covered them. But there was no breath in them. 9Then he said to me, “Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man, and say to the breath, Thus says the Lord God: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe on these slain, that they may live.” 10So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived and stood on their feet, an exceedingly great army.
This is the same thing we see in the raising of Lazarus in John 11 (recall that this is the event John mentions brought people to see Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem, John 12:17-18). “21 Martha said to Jesus, ‘Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. 22 But even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you.’ 23 Jesus said to her, ‘Your brother will rise again.’ 24 Martha said to him, ‘I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.’” It’s faith over sight. Sight sees a lifeless body, a closed tomb. Faith sees that God is able to do all things good—even if it should be to raise the dead.
25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, 26 and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?”
There again the Lord asks a question. It’s a question that can honestly only be answered by faith, by the Holy Spirit at work in a person’s heart. Do you believe that God is Almighty, that He is who He says He is, and He can do what He speaks? Do you believe this word is God’s Word, not just someone’s optimistic wish?
Faith answers affirmatively. Yes, I believe because the Holy Spirit tells me God does not lie. He is not limited in what He can do. Everything which we confess in the Creed is true, even though we’ve seen very little of it. All of the Bible is true, even though we may not fully understand some things, and haven’t seen others. We believe that God has given us nothing but truth to cling to. We receive this Word, as St. Paul says of the Thessalonian Christians:
“We…thank God constantly for this, that when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men but as what it really is, the word of God, which is at work in you believers.” (1 Thess. 2:13)
Doubt and unbelief will put limits on what God can do—sometimes thinking He can only do as little as our own imaginations. “Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. Behold, they say, ‘Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost; we are indeed cut off.’”[1] All looks lost, and judging by man alone, it may well be. Calculating and relying on human ability alone, it looks improbable, if not impossible.
God’s people Israel (the Church) today say you can’t bring the people of this generation to faith. We need to spice things up to “get the young people.” They’ll only come if you entertain them and “keep them interested.” We believe in market analysis, groups like Barna and Pew Research, in addition to hearsay from false prophets and hypocrites who claim to know the Scriptures but deny the power of God.
God’s people look to themselves and say, “I’m tired and worn out from all that I’ve been through.” I believe in the doctors who tell me all that’s wrong with my health, and the gurus which tell me I need to take some “me time” and focus on myself for a while. I believe in my calendar which is packed with far too many “important” things to fit in serving my neighbor or taking up a responsibility at church.
Yet faith comes first, then sight. Look and believe what God did to dry, dead bones. Look at what He did to a man dead in the tomb for four days! Why do we doubt that He can sustain His Israel, the Church? Why would we believe He’s more at work where we see impressive things happening, and not at work everywhere His Word is preached—including at Bethlehem Lutheran Church among the 0.3% of Lebanon who gather here?[2]
We are people who have the gift of the Holy Spirit, who joy in the forgiveness of sins, who are members of the holy Christian and apostolic Church. We are God’s people, and our hope is in the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting. Death is an easy thing for God to overcome by His Word. So, can He not also dispel our sloth and hopelessness?
Even though we do not see the dead raised, we believe that His Word goes out and accomplishes His purpose.[3] He calls the weary to rest, He convicts the indifferent, He raises those in spiritual death.
Now, come you weary people of God, to the feast which your Lord has prepared for you at His table. “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” What is this bread and cup? The Lord Himself answers with what can only be received by faith: “Take, eat; this is My Body, which is given for you. This do in remembrance of Me…Drink of it, all of you; this cup is the new testament in My Blood, which is shed for you for the forgiveness of sins. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.” This is the Body and Blood of your Risen Lord, and by it He will forgive your sins, give you life, and salvation. And faith says: Amen.
In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.
[1] Ezekiel 37:11
[2] 55 people out of an estimated 19,000 population
[3] Isaiah 55:9-11
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