March 29, 2020 Text: Ezekiel 37:1-14
Dear Friends in Christ,
Let’s talk breathing. When we inhale our diaphragms contract and move downward so that the space in our chest cavity increases. The lungs expand, air is pulled in, and with the assistance of hemoglobin, oxygen goes to the blood. In the same breath, carbon dioxide moves into the lungs and then is forced out when we exhale. God has created quite an elaborate system. How many times on average do we do this a day? How about 25,000 times! It probably goes without saying in these pandemic times but it is always good to check in with our breathing now and then.
Today in our Old Testament lesson God is showing the prophet Ezekiel how dramatic this breathing can be – it brings the whole house of Israel together. Ezekiel saw those who were dead breathing again. Not just physically but spiritually as well. A good picture of what Jesus does for us . . .
“BREATHE IN RESURRECTED LIFE”
Our breathing is broken. It has been since sin joined the world. People today suffer in various forms – COPD, asthma, emphysema, black lung disease and other forms that restrict good breathing. Apart from that we all inhale things that can cause us pain and heartache – drugs, we are gluttons with our food intake, we don’t get moving around the way we need to – physically this hurts us. We can also inhale things that hurt us spiritually – greed for the latest gadget, a new partner, reading things outside of Scripture, following the latest fad, despair and apathy.
We are dried to the core. Israel was dried to the core. They had been breathing in all the wrong things and this resulted in their destruction and captivity in Babylon. God’s gives Ezekiel a word picture of “very dry bones.” Like God’s law does for us, Ezekiel needed to take a good look at what was happening. They were breathing in death, verse 11: “Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost; we are indeed cut off.” On our own we are all lifeless in the valley of death. We are also experiencing what it is like to be cut off socially and spiritually.
Don’t despair. A breath of fresh air is on the way. God’s Word is living and active and can breathe new life into us. Where the Word is there is also the Spirit, “breathe on these slain that they may live.” (v. 9b) In Hebrew Spirit and breath are the same words, because where the Spirit is, there is life. “I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live.” (v. 5b) “I will put my Spirit within you, and you shall live.” (v. 14a) The breathing we lost during the fall into sin has been restored. Look at what God did with Adam. First He formed him and then He breathed into him the breath of life.
So now the Lord says to us: “take a breather.” Breathe in the resurrected life. Doesn’t that fill the lungs with something good? Jesus breathed that life back into Lazarus in our Gospel lesson. The breath that Jesus gives reaches even those in the grave. (v. 12-13) We have this breath of resurrected life because Jesus gave up His breath on the cross. “He breathed his last.” He had to die. He had to go without breathing for a time. But this would not be His last breath. He would fill the earth with new air when He came out of the tomb – breathing and talking and eating.
The breath of resurrected life still comes to us. It comes in the Divine Service when we hear the Absolution and are given new breath for a new day. When we take in the Word as it is preached and heard it gives life to our dead souls. With the breath of Christ in you God already sees you raised up with Christ in the heavenly places. This is our comfort and hope.
I’ve seen a Christian brother or sister struggle to breathe. It is hard to watch, difficult to help, and the image can be carried in your mind for years. God sees the same thing in us, when His children struggle. Breathing is a big deal and today God calls us to receive the breath of resurrected life that comes only from Jesus. Take a breather those who are weary. Take a breather those who are socially isolated. Take a breather those who are anxious. Take a breather those who need some rest. The Lord can come into the dryness of your body and spirit and He can revitalize you beyond your comprehension. The breath of life in Jesus extends beyond the grave, so breathe easy, my friends.
Amen.