Pentecost and Confirmation Sunday              
May 23^rd, Anno + Domini 2021   
Our Redeemer and Our Savior’s Lutheran Churches
Custer and Hill City, South Dakota
D’em Dry Bones                                     
Ezekiel 37:1-14, Acts 2:22 - 36

Back bone’s connected to the shoulder bone, shoulder bone’s connected to the neck bone, neck bone’s connected to the head bone, now hear the Word of the Lord. 

“D'em bones, d'em bones, d'em dry bones.”  Why is it that this beloved song, based on today’s Old Testament reading, is not included in our hymnal? 

Well, I suppose it’s because 'D'em Dry Bones’ is less a hymn and more a folk song to teach children the parts of the body.  Which is great.  Our confirmands have been busy in recent weeks, reading and reviewing and discussing the nuts and bolts of the Christian faith, preparing themselves for the examinations they all have successfully completed.  Creation, sin, promise, Jesus, cross, death, resurrection, forgiveness.  Essential stuff.  But it’s a nice change of pace today to have this very different kind of story to consider.  Our Old Testament reading is a fantastic account from the prophet Ezekiel, one for which you might close your eyes as you listen, to imagine it in your mind’s eye as you hear it.    

The hand of the LORD came upon me and brought me out in the Spirit of the LORD, and set me down in the midst of the valley; and it was full of bones.  Then He caused me to pass by them all around, and behold, there were very many in the open valley; and indeed they were very dry.  And He said to me, "Son of man, can these bones live?" So I answered, "O Lord GOD, You know."  Again He said to me, "Prophesy to these bones, and say to them, 'O dry bones, hear the word of the LORD!  'Thus says the Lord GOD to these bones: "Surely I will cause breath to enter into you, and you shall live.  "I will put tendons on you and bring flesh upon you, cover you with skin and put breath in you; and you shall live. Then you shall know that I am the LORD."  So I prophesied as I was commanded; and as I prophesied, there was a noise, and suddenly a rattling; and the bones came together, bone to bone.   Indeed, as I looked, the tendons and the flesh came upon them, and the skin covered them over; but there was no breath in them.   Then He said to me, "Prophesy to the breath, prophesy, son of man, and say to the breath, 'Thus says the Lord GOD: "Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe on these slain, that they may live."   So I prophesied as He commanded me, and breath came into them, and they lived, and stood upon their feet, an exceedingly great army.

Great story.  At this point perhaps you're thinking you can see why it became a children's song for teaching anatomy, but so far it's hard to figure what this strange story has to do with the Gospel.  No worries, God never leaves us without the answer we need.  His Scripture explains, or interprets, itself.  So we read a little farther. 

Then [the LORD] said to me, "Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. They indeed say, 'Our bones are dry, our hope is lost, and we ourselves are cut off!'

The bones are a metaphor, for God's people.  Ezekiel was a prophet of the Babylonian exile.  The exiled remnant of the people of God were captives, living in a strange land, constantly under pressure to adopt their captors' way of living, their captors' way of worship.  Israel had been sent into exile as punishment for their idolatry and lack of faith.  Now, in captivity in Babylon, they felt abandoned and without hope.  Cut off by God.  

What happened to Israel in captivity was due to a military conquest by a powerful empire.  The same thing happened again in our Acts reading, due simply to the preaching of Peter.  Today we have the first section of Peter's Pentecost sermon.  On that 50^th day after the Resurrection, Peter and the other believers are together in Jerusalem, when a sound of rushing wind fills the house they are in, and tongues of fire settle on them, and they receive the Holy Spirit.  Through His power, they proclaim God's glory in a variety of languages that they have never spoken before, a noisy miracle which attracts a great crowd. 

 Our reading from the book of Acts ends on a hopeful note this morning: ‘And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.’  If you read further, you’ll discover that Peter’s sermon suddenly gets a lot sharper.  He really lays it on the line.  Peter preaches Jesus of Nazareth.  He declares that this man, recently crucified, who taught many and did great miracles, had been raised from the dead by God His Father.  Jesus, Peter explains, is God's Son, the Messiah, the promised Son of David, come to be the Savior of Israel.  God the Father raised Him from the dead, and exalted Him to His right hand, giving Jesus power over all things.  Peter closes this next section of his sermon with these words: Therefore let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ. 

 Ouch.  God sent you a Savior, and you killed Him.  You’re guilty.  Not just guilty of some garden variety sin, but guilty of killing God's Son.  And now the One you crucified has risen from the dead and rules over all things.  Ancient Israel, captive in Babylon, no doubt felt cut off from God, without hope.  But what could compare to the agony of those Jews who heard Peter's sermon, especially those who had witnessed the crucifixion of Jesus?  Or the guilt of those who had shouted ‘crucify him, crucify him,’ when Pilate tried to let Him go? Could they have any hope of escaping God's wrath?

 Pentecost is a day we especially focus on the Holy Spirit, on the third person of the Trinity, and how He works.  Which is a great day to celebrate confirmation, for, as our confirmands know, true faith in Christ is a gift, that can only be created in us by the Holy Spirit.  The same Spirit who brings sinners to faith in Jesus also took Ezekiel to the valley of dry bones to show just how badly the people of ancient Israel were cut off from God.  The Spirit also leads Peter to lay the guilt of killing God's Son on his Pentecost congregation.  The Spirit speaks the Word, through Ezekiel's prophesying and Peter's preaching, in order to reveal the truth.  The truth about our condition, the desperation of our status as sinners before God. 

 Do you think of the Holy Spirit as a preacher of condemnation?  I suspect we tend to associate the Spirit with hazy thoughts of emotion and feelings of rapture and joy.  And the Spirit's goal is to give us joy, in the end, perfect and everlasting joy.  But first must come the bitter truth.  You killed God's Son.  Not just those Jews 2,000 years ago, but you, and me, and ancient Israel, and every person who ever sinned.  Jesus had to die because of your sin.  And mine.  Guilty.  The Spirit's first Word to everyone concerning the crucifixion is “guilty.”  Ouch.  The Truth can hurt.  But do not fear the Spirit's Word.  Don't shy away from hearing Him speak to you through the Scriptures.  Yes, He will point out your sin, just like He did through Peter.  But He does always this with the same goal in mind, which is to get to the next part of Peter's sermon.  Listen, as the Spirit speaks to the Jews on Pentecost, and to you today: 

 "Therefore let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ." Now when [the congregation] heard this, they were pierced to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, "Brethren, what shall we do?"  Peter said to them, "Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.  For the promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call to Himself." 

And with many other words he solemnly testified and kept on exhorting them, saying, "Be saved from this perverse generation!"  So then, those who had received his word were baptized; and that day there were added about three thousand souls.

 The Holy Spirit promised Ezekiel that as the dry bones came to life through the power of the Word, so too God would open the graves of His people and bring them up from them.  The Holy Spirit worked this miracle at Pentecost, cutting His hearers to the heart with the truth about their sin, in order that He could bring them back to life through the Water and the Word.  Today our confirmands confess the gifts they were given in Baptism.  We cannot value our Baptisms too much, for in Baptism the Lord gave us forgiveness, new birth, and the Holy Spirit's indwelling.  We cannot value God's Word too much, for it is the Spirit's tool for bestowing on us the blessings of Christ, including most importantly forgiveness, life and salvation.

 The Spirit's Word is always about Christ.  Because only Christ has redeemed us from our sins.  Only in Him can sinners find new life.  Only Jesus has won the forgiveness of sins for all the world, including you.  So the Spirit speaks, through the Word, through the prophets and the apostles, about Jesus and what He has done to forgive your sins and give you new life.  He gives you the truth, which will hurt at times, but which He will always use to forgive your sins and lead you once again to your Savior, Jesus. 

 We celebrate with our confirmands today as they confess this faith publicly, and join all the communicant members at the altar to receive Christ’s Body and Blood, the special form of the Gospel that we eat and drink.   For those who will not commune here today, if you are looking for a Church home, we would be honored to help you find you one; if you live here in Custer, perhaps with us.  If anyone here has yet to be Baptized, I would be honored to talk with you about this wonderful gift.  And for all gathered here today, here these words: The Spirit’s Gospel of truth, His sweet news of free forgiveness, is for you.      

 Come Holy Spirit, and always speak Your Gospel Truth to us,

in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.