Wednesday of the Second Sunday of Easter - Sermon Text and Video of Divine Service

Video of Divine Service for Wednesday of Easter 2


Wednesday of the Second Sunday of Easter

Ezekiel 37:1-14
John 20:19-31


Alleluia! Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!

O Lord, let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to you, my rock and my redeemer. Amen.

That is quite a question that Ezekiel is asked while standing before a valley filled with dry human bones. Ezekiel is a priest. He sacrificed animals at the temple in Jerusalem before being enslaved with the rest of the population in Jerusalem and Judah. Ezekiel knows the difference between life and death. He lives in an agrarian society. He is not insulated from the normal rhythm of birth, life, and death found in all species of life whether it is plants, animals, or humans. 

When asked, “Son of man, can these bones live?” Ezekiel should have said, based on observation and experience, “No.” Instead, realizing who is asking the question, he displays a welcome expression of humility. He defers to the Lord God who created the earth and the heavens and all that dwells therein; who rescued Noah and his family from the great flood; who gave Abraham and Sarah a son in their old age; and, who led Israel out of the bondage of slavery into freedom through dramatic performances of power and might: the ten plagues, walking through the Red Sea on dry land, and providing daily food and water in the wilderness for forty years. 

The proper response of Ezekiel is to suspend the expectation of the ordinary and be open to the impossible. For with the Lord our God, all things are possible. Ezekiels says, “O Lord God, you know.” 

The vision of the dry bones coming to life is a vision of hope given in a time of despair. Ezekiel and much of Judah and Jerusalem are exiled in Babylon. They are slaves once more. The prophets explained to the people in no uncertain terms that the reason that the army failed, the walls were torn down, and the temple destroyed, and that they are slaves in a foreign land, is because they sinned. They refused to believe in the Lord God with all their heart and mind and order their lives according to the instructions of God given through Moses. They refused to believe in the Lord. They refused to trust the Lord. They chose to live their own life apart from the Lord. This is where their lack of faith brought them. This epiphany along with their dreadful status as slaves, led them to be collectively depressed and despairing and to live without hope. 

The Lord seeks repentance of sinners, not capitulation to annihilation. The Lord gives this vision to Ezekiel so that the people have hope. The Lord chooses to intervene in the normal patterns of life and death established after the fall of Adam into sin. The Lord God can, and intends to, restore the people of God unto their former land. 

Fast forward five centuries and we encounter the reason that the people are rescued from Babylonian captivity and brought again into their homeland. A footnote for Ezekiel 37:14 in the Lutheran Study Bible (2009) explains why: The revelation of God’s power to raise the dead sends beams of light into the future beyond Israel’s rescue from death in the Babylonian graveyard. A revived Israel is but the earthly clay that He will use to call into being a Spirit-filled people of all nations, once dead in trespasses but made alive in Christ Jesus (Rm 6:11; Eph 2:1). He who is “the resurrection and the life” will awaken those who sleep in the dust of the earth – “some to everlasting life, and some to … everlasting contempt” (Jn 11:25; Dn 12:2; cf Job 19:25; Ps 49:19; 73:24; Is 26:19; Jn 5:25-29)   

In Israel, God becomes incarnate in the virgin Mary. In the midst of the restored people, Jesus ministers through teaching, healing, and ultimately his great gift to the world, the crucifixion and resurrection. Jesus is the final sacrifice to atone for sins of all people, Jew and Gentile. All who are dead in slavery to sin, death, and devil, can now hear the Good News of Jesus Christ and receive his gift of forgiveness through Holy Spirit created faith so that the shackles of their trespasses fall off and we live in the freedom that Christ brings to us. 

Jesus intervenes in the ordinary pattern of your life to bring you forgiveness and freedom to live in hope. When you hear Christ speak to you His word of peace, do not be like Thomas and refuse to believe. Trust the testimony of the Word and receive Christ Jesus and his gifts with faith. God desires that you live forever with Him. 

The peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

Alleluia! Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!




Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

2022-12-19 Vespers - Commemoration of Adam and Eve

 2022-12-19 Vespers - Commemoration of Adam and Eve - Isaiah 40:1-17 & Revelation 7:1-17 As we commemorate the first man and woman today, we recognize that Adam and Eve were endowed with great gifts from God. Adam is created in the image of God. And from Adam came Eve. Adam is given dominion over all the earth. A tremendous responsibility of stewardship is entrusted to him.  When they succumbed to the temptation to be like God, and fell into sin, their sin impacts us all to this day.  When Adam and Eve chose to disobey God’s command, they inaugurated a cycle of life and death that we have no choice but to participate in.   Creation is constantly changing. There is nothing steady.  The seasons come and go.  The sleep and inactivity of winter leads into the new birth of spring which is followed by a summer of growth which is then followed by a time of harvest and a slow dying as all of creation returns to its winter death waiting for the new life to ...
Read more

John Donne on Christmas

Image
As we are now happily within the Twelve Days of Christmas, I am pleased to share this snippet by John Donne that I have borrowed from Alan Jacobs blog:  https://buttondown.email/ayjay/archive/christmas-epiphany/ John Donne, from a sermon preached at St. Paul’s Cathedral on  Christmas Day 1626 : The life of Christ was a continual Passion; others die Martyrs, but Christ was born a Martyr. He found a Golgotha (where he was crucified) even in Bethlehem, where he was born; For, to his tenderness then, the straws were almost as sharp as the thorns after; and the Manger as uneasy at first, as his Cross at last. His birth and his death were but one continual act, and his Christmas-day and his Good Friday, are but the evening and morning of one and the same day. And as even his birth, is his death, so every action and passage that manifests Christ to us, is his birth; for,  Epiphany  is manifestation; And therefore, though the Church doe now call Twelfth-day Epiphany, because...
Read more

2022-12-21 Evening Prayer - Commemoration of St. Thomas, Apostle

 2022-12-21 Commemoration of St. Thomas, Apostle- Isaiah 42:1-25, Rev 9:1-12 In the name of the Father, +Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.  God speaking through Isaiah issues a wonderful promise: “Behold, the former things have come to pass, and new things I now declare; before they spring forth I tell you of them.” That promise is of a Savior who is coming.  Isaiah 42 contains the first of four suffering servant songs found in Isaiah. The others may be found in chapters 49, 50, and 52-53.  These texts are linked to Jesus. In fact, Isaiah 42:1-4 is quoted in Matthew 12. In between the miracles of healing a man with a withered hand and casting out a demon, Matthew lets us know beyond a shadow of a doubt that Jesus is the one Isaiah spoke of.  Jesus is the chosen servant. He does the Father’s work in the power of the Holy Spirit.  He is opposed, oppressed, ridiculed, rejected, scorned and even smited on the cross. But, despite the herculean efforts of the enemies...
Read more