“The Breath of Life” Ezek. 37.1-14 Lent 5a March ‘23

 

1.                Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Heavenly Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. The message from God’s Word on this 5^th Sunday in Lent is taken from Ezekiel 37:1-14. It’s entitled, “The Breath of Life,” dear brothers and sisters in Christ.

2.                Every single time we inhale, our diaphragms contract and move downward so that the space in our chest cavity increases. The lungs then expand, air is pulled in, and with help of a fancy protein called hemoglobin, oxygen goes to the blood. While this is all going on, carbon dioxide moves into the lungs and is then forced out when we exhale. The whole thing is pretty amazing, and there are hundreds of more details about this thing we call “breathing” that I left out. Given that the average person takes about 25,000 breaths per day, it’s no wonder that we should check in with our breathing every now and then.

3.                In our text today, God shows the Old Testament prophet Ezekiel a vision that makes quite dramatic how important this simple thing of breathing is. It brings the resurrection of the whole army of Israel! Ezekiel envisions those who were very dead breathing again, physically. But he’s also seeing what breath can mean spiritually—with a definite pun intended there. More on that later. Ultimately, Ezekiel’s vision is a picture of what Jesus does for us: Jesus Gives Us the Breath of Resurrected Life.

4.                God’s people haven’t been breathing very well! We were born into broken breathing. Our breathing doesn’t work the way that it should (various lung problems). We “inhale” all sorts of things that harm us physically (drugs, too much food, too much sitting). We “inhale” all sorts of things that harm us spiritually (greed for a BMW, a corner office, a better look, a new partner).

5.                This kind of breathing has dried us to the core. Israel breathing all the wrong things has resulted in their destruction and captivity in Babylon. God gives Ezekiel a vision of what that means for them spiritually. It’s as if they are breathless, “very dry” bones (Ezek. 37:1–2, 11). Ezekiel was forced to take a good look at the situation, just as God’s Law forces us to take a close look at our own condition (Rom 3:20). We have been taking into our nostrils the breath of death: “Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost; we are indeed cut off” (Ezek. 37:11). On our own, we are deep down in the lowest of low places, lying lifeless in the valley of death.

6.                But a breath of fresh air is on the way. It begins with the Word of the Lord (Ezek. 37:3–4). The Word is living and active (Heb 4:12). And where the Word is, there is also the Spirit (in Hebrew ruakh): “Prophesy to the breath [again ruakh]; prophesy, son of man, and say to the breath [yes, ruakh], Thus says the Lord God: Come from the four winds, O breath [one more time, ruakh], and breathe on these slain, that they may live” (Ezek 37:9). Spirit and breath—it’s the same word. A Hebrew play on words . . . a pun that doesn’t make us groan. Because where the Spirit is, there is life. “I will cause breath [ruakh] to enter you, and you shall live” (Ezek. 37:5). “I will put my Spirit [rukhi] within you, and you shall live” (Ezek. 37:14).

7.                The Word and the Spirit give us back the breath of life that we lost in the fall. Notice, it’s just like the way God created Adam: first he formed him, then he breathed into him the breath of life (Gen 2:7). In C. S. Lewis’s The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, the evil witch turns both the people and the animals of Narnia into stone statues. They are totally lifeless. When the human characters Lucy and Susan discover these stone statues, the girls, too, become breathless because of what they see. But, Aslan, the Lion of Narnia, breathes upon these statues. Though it doesn’t happen instantly, soon all the people and animals of Narnia who had been turned to stone are brought fully back to life.

8.                The prophet Ezekiel twice mentions that God’s people not only had hearts of stone (Ezek 11:19; 36:26) but were also as dead as a pile of bones (37:1–2). These images depict complete lifelessness: stone dead in trespasses and sin, and completely sapped of all hope unless we receive a breath of life from above. And while the breath of resurrected life that Jesus gives to us here and now may not immediately transport us to a new heaven and a new earth, he has, like Aslan, begun a good work in us that will most certainly be brought to completion (Phil 1:6).

9.                So now God calls his people to take a breather. Jesus gives us the breath of resurrected life. In the Gospel lesson from John 11, Jesus speaks, “Lazarus, come out,” (John11:43) and Lazarus receives a new breath of life. In fact, “an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear [Jesus’] voice and come out” (Jn 5:28–29). The breath that Jesus gives re-creates both soul and body. Remember how very physical the resurrection was that Ezekiel saw (Ezek. 37:6–10). The breath that Jesus gives reaches even those in the grave (Ezek. 37:12–13). This breath of resurrected life happens because Jesus gave up his breath on the cross. In Mt 27:50–53 it says, “And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and yielded up his spirit. And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. And the earth shook, and the rocks were split. The tombs also were opened. And many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised, and coming out of the tombs after his resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many.”

10.             Now this breath of resurrected life is given in the Divine Service. Every Absolution is a new breath for a new day. Taking in the preached Word both kills false hopes (thus making “slain ones”) and gives life to the dead (Rom 4:17). With this breath in you, God sees you as already raised up with Christ in the heavenly places (Eph 2:6).

11.             This is our sure comfort and hope because the Apostle Paul says, “if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you” (Rom 8:11).

12.             Breathing is a big deal, and today God calls us all to receive the breath of resurrected life that comes only from Jesus. So, take a breather! In him is a breath for the weary and heavy-laden, for the crushed in spirit, for the despised and lowly. The breath he gives enters into the deepest dryness of your life and revitalizes who you are beyond all understanding. Yes, in Jesus is a breath of life that extends even beyond the grave, so breathe easy, my friends. Amen. Now the peace of God that passes all understanding, guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, until life everlasting. Amen.

“Jesus Gives Us Eyes to See” Is. 42.14–21 Lent 4A March ‘23

 

1.                Please pray with me. May the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts be pleasing in Your sight, O Lord, our Rock, and our Redeemer. Amen. The message from God’s Word on this 4^th Sunday in Lent is taken from Isaiah 42.14-21, it’s entitled, “Jesus Gives Us Eyes to See,” dear brothers and sisters in Christ.

2.                When people travel to Israel, a tour guide often tells the groups that he guides, that after decades of leading tours, one of the most repeated reasons he heard for people wanting to return to Israel for a second visit was “to see it without the camera lens.” Many new tourists, it turns out, were so captivated at seeing the Holy Land for the first time that they ended up taking too many pictures. So, by the end of the visit, they felt they’d spent far too much time behind the lens of the camera. Many of them wanted to come back and see everything all over again, only this time they wanted to take it all in as it really looks.

3.                In our text today from Isaiah 42, God’s people have been seeing things only through their own lens—missing what God had wanted them to see. The only correction for that is Christ, and Jesus gives us eyes to see with the sight of faith.

4.                God’s people have been looking at things all wrong! We were conceived in sin and born into the darkness of this world. Our eyes do not work the way they should (physical blindness, deterioration with age). We have the desire to look at things we shouldn’t (whether it is pornography on our phones, or we covet our neighbor’s husband or wife, his car or house, and other possessions). We’re not able to see the things of God for what they truly are. In the sacraments we may see just plain water in baptism, and bread and wine in the Lord’s Supper. We may only see suffering (this was the disciples’ mistake, Jn 9:1–2 where it says, “As Jesus passed by, he saw a man blind from birth. And his disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” All of this wrongful seeing stems from idolatry. Is 42:17 says, “They are turned back and utterly put to shame, who trust in carved idols, who say to metal images, “You are our gods.”

5.                God is deeply affected by our looking at things the wrong way. He has been holding his peace and restraining himself “for a long time” (Isaiah 42:14). He is now like a woman in labor, crying out, gasping, and panting (Isaiah 42:14). God is profoundly affected by our sin. But this also pictures a new life for his people about to emerge. God is making ready the way for his own visitation (lowering the high places, for example. Isaiah 42:15 says, “I will lay waste mountains and hills, and dry up all their vegetation; I will turn the rivers into islands, and dry up the pools.”

6.                God’s people were intended to look at things in a much better way. Isaiah reiterates the special status of Israel as “the servant of the Lord.” God’s chosen people were called to be a blessing for all nations. Gen 12:1–3 recounts God’s call to Abram where it says, “Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” But the ideal servant of Is 42:1–4 has turned into the blind servant of our text (Isaiah 42:19). The blind servant is us! Our eyes see our Lord’s deeds (in creation, in his Word), but we do not pay attention to them as we should. Our ears hear our Lord’s words, but we do not observe them as we should.            

7.                There’s a story about Sherlock Holmes, the great detective of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s novels, and his sidekick Dr. John Watson about a camping trip that they went on.  After sharing a good meal and a bottle of wine, they retired to their tent for the night.  At about 3 AM, Holmes nudges Watson and asks, "Watson, look up into the sky and tell me what you see?" Watson said, "I see millions of stars." Holmes then asks, "And, what does that tell you?" Watson then replied, "Astronomically, it tells me there are millions of galaxies and potentially billions of planets. Astrologically, it tells me that Saturn is in Leo. Theologically, it tells me that God is great and we are small and insignificant. Horologically, it tells me that it's about 3 AM. Meteorologically, it tells me that we will have a beautiful day tomorrow. What does it tell you, Holmes?" Holmes retorts, "Someone stole our tent."

8.                Have you ever had something like this happen to you?  The problem that you were facing was staring you right in the face and you didn’t even notice it.  It’s like when you lost your keys, and you search everywhere in your house for them only to find that they were lying on your desk or on your nightstand right where you last left them.  Sometimes people have spiritual blind spots when it comes to seeing plainly what God wants to reveal to us in His Word.  We see that in our Gospel reading for today from John chapter 9 and in our text from Isaiah 42.

9.                God himself restores the way we see things. It begins with a call to repentance. Isaiah 42:18 says, “Hear, you deaf, and look, you blind, that you may see!” Before we can truly see, we must first admit that we can’t see (Confession). In today’s Gospel, the blind man admits his ignorance several times, while the Pharisees keep talking about how much they know. The blind man ends up seeing more and more clearly, while the Pharisees, who more than anyone else at the time should have been “seeing,” become blinder and blinder. “For judgment I came into this world, that those who do not see may see, and those who see may become blind ” (Jn 9:39). St. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 2:14, “The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.”

10.             It continues with absolution through God’s Word and Sacraments. “Unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God,” Jesus says to Nicodemus in John 3:3. When our old selves are put to death, a new person—with new and improved vision—arises out of the water to which he sends us. Note how “Siloam” in Jn 9:7 means “sent” or “sent one.”) This giving of spiritual sight is entirely the Lord’s work (Is 42:16). The LORD God will continue to lead, guide, and be with us. In Isaiah 42:16 God says, “And I will lead the blind in a way that they do not know, in paths that they have not known I will guide them. I will turn the darkness before them into light, the rough places into level ground. These are the things I do, and I do not forsake them.”

11.             God calls his people to look with the eyes of faith. Return again and again to the font of the “Sent One,” and you’ll see things with the eyes of faith, the Light of Christ that makes all the difference in the world. The ones who are truly blind are the ones who see things only with earthly eyes.

12.             Jesus gives us eyes to see with faith that changes how we look at things. Baptism is more than simple water. Martin Luther reminds us in the Small Catechism that, “Baptism is not just plain water, but it is the water included in God’s command and combined with God’s word.” The Lord’s Supper is more than simple bread and wine. The Small Catechism teaches us that the Lord’s Supper, “is the true body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ under the bread and wine, instituted by Christ Himself for us Christians to eat and to drink.” Suffering is not simply punishment. It may be to display the works of God as we see in John 9:3. The theology of the cross means seeing our Lord hidden under the opposite. The cross is the greatest glory. Recall how darkness was over the land when our Lord Jesus, who is the light of the world, hung on the cross! The eyes of faith are a daily lamp to our feet and a light to our path (Is 42:21; Psalm 119:105).

13.             Whether or not you’ve ever tried on a pair yourself, you’re likely aware that night-vision goggles were developed so we could see images of our surroundings even in complete darkness. As you may have noticed from movies or TV shows, these devices display images in shades of green, and I read recently that this color selection was far from accidental. It turns out that green was chosen quite deliberately because our eyes are far more sensitive to this color than to many others. Picking green for the display was yet another feature of these goggles that would help us see as naturally as possible the things that would otherwise remain shrouded in darkness.

14.             Even at high noon on a clear day, this world is in total darkness to sin. All of creation is corrupted, and we ourselves are naturally unable to see the things of God. But, Jesus, has come to a people dwelling in darkness in order to be the light of the world, and in him we receive eyes to see the things of God as they truly are. When we look at our lives with the light of Christ, we have the kind of “night vision” that makes all the difference in the world (Is 42:16).

15.             Whatever it is that weighs most heavily on your heart right now, look at it with the eyes of faith in Jesus Christ your Lord. This is a light that shines in the midst of family troubles, a light that depression can’t touch, and a light that your own doubts can’t put out. Whatever comes your way, see it through this lens first. There’s no darker place you can go where this light is not there before you. You have the light that nothing whatsoever—not even your own death—can overcome. And as much as the world, in the darkness of its blindness, wants to put it out, it still hasn’t, and it never will. Amen. Now the peace of God that passes all understanding guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus until life everlasting. Amen.