Video and Sermon Text for the Fifth Sunday in Lent
Fifth Sunday in Lent
Romans 8:1-11
John 11:1-45
O Lord, let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to you, my rock and my redeemer. Amen.
As Lutheran Christians we understand that God speaks to us through His holy Word. He speaks to us words of Law that accuse us of our sin. How do we know that what we are thinking, doing, planning to do is not only wrong, but trespasses against God? God’s Word tells us. God’s Word shows us our trespass. It accuses us. God’s Word shapes our morality and ethics. It’s not only about behavior but about thinking too. We can and do sin with our thoughts. The purpose of showing our trespass is to make us uncomfortable enough to be contrite and to repent and to seek the Lord’s forgiveness. In God’s Holy Word, we receive the Gospel. Jesus says to us,
28 Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
When we come to the Lord burdened by our sins, he gives us rest through the blessing of his cross. Because we receive with faith the good news that Jesus died on the cross for us, we are forgiven of our sins. The anger and punishment we justly deserve vanishes. Christ absorbed the Father’s anger and punishment on the cross. Instead, you receive his declaration that you are forgiven. Your sin, before God, is no more.
Knowing that God speaks to us through Law and Gospel, is the valley of the dry bones Law or Gospel? It is both. Ezekiel’s vision accuses us. It certainly accused the Jewish exiles in Babylon. They refused to take seriously the prophets that were sent to them. They refused to turn from their idols. They refused to remember the Sabbath. They by and large forgot God. They sought their own lives, their own pleasures. They lived for themselves. Their moral and ethical decisions followed the way of their sinful hearts. As a result, God punishes them by permitting Babylon to conquer Jerusalem in 587. They watched with horror as the walls were breached. Their terror continued as the temple was destroyed. Now, they are in a foreign land, enslaved, working for someone else. They are without hope. They lost their land. Their heritage, their identity, was taken from them. The once great nation is in ruin. They are as dry bones in a valley. The vitality of life has left them. The future is not theirs. It belongs to their captors. When they die, they might as well be thrown into a valley of dry bones. They too will disappear from history as the northern tribes all those years before. They are devoid of hope.
Despite their seemingly endless, hopeless situation, God extends a vision that includes hope. There is good news. God has the means and power to transform a people’s situation. God can take dead, useless, dry bones, and bring about new life. He can replenish, invigorate, restore life.
Even from a foreign land, God gladly receives the prayers of the contrite and repentant. He welcomes the heartfelt prayers of slaves. Broken, contrite and repentant minds and hearts that respond to their punishment by seeking to amend their lives so that they can live their remaining days in the faith of their forebears. In this vision, God gives them hope. An undeserved restoration is possible with God.
When you hear Ezekiel’s vision of the valley of the dry bones, perhaps you can see yourself there. You know the stress, the exhaustion, the feeling that you are working and running in place. You can see the walls of protection crumbling. Someone is trying to break down your doors. You sense that something is coming for all that you deem sacred. You sense that your trust in God is fading as you are getting worn down. The dark is not far away.
At this moment, place your faith in Jesus Christ. Ezekiel saw what the Holy Spirit did to those bones. He made them move. He put flesh on them. He made them alive. The Holy Spirit ensures that you hear what Jesus says to Martha. “I AM the resurrection and the life.”
Before there is resurrection, there is death. Jesus dies on the cross for you. He receives all the accusation, all the punishment, all the pain, all the suffering, that you deserve. He bears this on the cross. He becomes the dry, lifeless, hopeless, bones in your behalf. Yet, even as he receives the full brunt of the Father’s wrath that you deserve, he still says to you, “Today, you will be with me in paradise.” “You are forgiven.”
Jesus says to all of you: “I AM the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die.”
Standing before Lazarus’ tomb Jesus called Lazarus forth from the tomb. Four days dead. He is settled into his grave. Lazarus died so that God’s Power, the Power of the Word to bring forth life, the power of the Holy Spirit to quicken breath in a body whose heart and lungs have ceased their life giving function. Lazarus breathes. He rises. He comes forth.
Jesus explained when the news of Lazarus’ sickness was told to him, “This illness does not lead to death. It is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.” His dear friend bears the works of God in his body. What was once dead is now alive again. He lives to die another day. He lives so that Jesus is glorified. Christ Jesus’ power over demons, sickness, and even death, is for all to see.
Remember what Jesus did that day. He spoke into a dead man’s tomb and called him to come out. You glorify him by putting your faith in Him. He is the I AM that spoke the world and all its creatures into existence. He is the I AM that revealed Himself to Moses in the Burning Bush. He is the resurrection and the life. Take to heart what he says and trust His good news. “Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die.” Place your faith in Him. He is the one who loves you, forgives us, who gives you life, who gives his life on the cross so that you live with peace and hope.
The peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
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