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 5th 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.
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