Drama - Year A - Lent 5

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DRAMA—SERIES A—FIFTH SUNDAY IN LENT

Bible reference: Ezekiel 37:1–14

EZEKIEL SPEAKS

(This drama is in the form of a monologue spoken by Ezekiel to the congregation. Ezekiel should be in biblical costume. God’s lines could be spoken by a person using a microphone so only the voice is heard. Ezekiel enters singing)

Them bones. Them bones. Them dry, dry bones. Dry and dusty, like the plains of Babylon where I saw them.

That's one thing about Babylon that I can assure you of, it was dry. It was dry and dusty.

The sort of dry that fries your brain and stifles your senses. And dust. Dust that seeps into your home, through your clothes, into your sandals. Dry, dry dust.

Enough to make an Israelite long for the green valleys of the Jordan River. Ah it takes me back.

But I'm remiss. My father would turn in his grave to hear me rabbit on without introducing myself.

I am Ezekiel, son of Buzi the priest, of the priestly family of Zadok. My family had been priests in Jerusalem for generations.

I am Ezekiel, exile from my home, taken with young king Jehoachin, all the princes, all the mighty men of valour, ten thousand captives and all the craftsmen and the smiths to the dry and dusty plains of Babylon.

I am Ezekiel, called by God out of a mighty storm, in the year 593 BC to speak the word of the Lord to the nations.

I am Ezekiel who prophesied to the bones in Tel Abib, the ‘mound of the deluge’, and saw them rise to life.

Those bones were very dry. They were bones of people so long dead that the sun had bleached them dazzling white.

And wherever I looked in that place, as far as the eye could see, the scene was the same: dry, dry bones. Bones that spoke of death, desolation and despair.

As I saw that sight my own despair rose easily in my heart.

You see, Babylon, for all its splendour, for all the magnificence of its famous hanging garden, wasn’t my home or the home of my people.

We were prisoners, exiled from our home, kept from returning to our land by the armed might of the army of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon.

Our spirits were low.

Defeated militarily, we were being defeated psychologically.

We could see our children slowly taking on the Babylonian culture. Our young men and young women formed liaisons with the Babylonians. Many of the older people would never make the trip back to our homeland.

As I looked across the valley, at the bones of warriors long dead and defeated in battle, it was not hard to see my own life and the life of my people mirrored there.

Our warriors were defeated, our culture was being bleached of its life under the hot Babylonian sun, our spirits and our spirituality was being clogged with the dusty religion of our oppressors.

It was as if Israel itself had died.

Yet though I found despair rise up in my heart, I quenched it.

I was called by the Lord himself. And I’d found before that God was true to the meaning of my name, for the name which sounds so strange to your ears, has a simple meaning in the tongue of my people. I’m named Ezekiel, which means ‘God strengthens’.

On that plain God strengthened me with a miracle that gave strength to me in my despair and also was a message to give strength to all the people of Israel.

He called to me as I looked across that field of unburied dead.

‘Mortal man, can these bones come back to life?’

Was this some kind of trick question? How can bones come back to life? And yet it was God speaking and so I played it careful. I didn’t commit myself to any answer. ‘Sovereign Lord’, I replied, ‘only you can answer that!’ Then he said to me,

‘Prophesy to these bones and say to them, “Dry bones, hear the word of the Lord! This is what the Sovereign Lord says to these bones: I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life. I will attach tendons to you and make flesh come upon you and cover you with skin; I will put breath in you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the Lord”.’

So I prophesied as I was commanded. And as I was prophesying, there was a noise, a rattling sound, and the bones came together, bone to bone. I looked, and tendons and flesh appeared on them and skin covered them, but there was no breath in them. Then he said to me,

      ‘Prophesy to the breath; prophesy and say to it, “This is what the Sovereign Lord says:        Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe into these slain, that they may live”.’

So I prophesied as he commanded me, and breath entered them; they came to life and stood up on their feet—a vast army.

It was incredible!

Dry dusty bones transformed into living human beings before my very eyes.

A long dead army stood to attention before me in the very spot where it had been defeated in battle centuries before. In an instant God had restored a defeated people.

What was the meaning of this action? Why was God showing this to me? What did it signal?

So he explained:

‘These bones are the whole house of Israel. They say, “Our bones are dried up and our hope is gone; we are cut off”.’

It was true. This was exactly how we felt, a people without hope, a people who could see no future that gave any comfort. Into this dry and dusty future, into the bare bones of our lives, God spoke these words.

‘O my people, I am going to open your graves and bring you up from them; I will bring you back to the land of Israel. Then you, my people, will know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves and bring you up from them. I will put my Spirit in you and you will live, and I will settle you in your own land. Then you will know that I the Lord have spoken, and I have done it, declares the Lord.’

It was a promise to make tears well up in my eyes. My ears heard it, my eyes saw it before me, and my heart, though it hardly dared to, believed it.

The Lord was promising to restore Israel, God said he would take a people with no hope and give them a future. He would take the dry dusty bones of Israel's captivity and from them resurrect his people.

It was a miraculous moment. A turning point in the history of my people, and me the one given the privilege of telling the people of the news.

Well, today that is my privilege again.

To remind you people of God’s power to bring new life from dead bones. To remind you of his ability to resurrect dead hopes. To ask you to recall his promise of life.

Wherever there are places of death in the lives of his people, God actively seeks to bring life.

There are many such places.

It could be faith that has failed. It is into that dry dusty valley that the God brings renewed commitment and trust.

It could be physical disease that strikes. It is among those dying bones that the Spirit blows to bring life and health.

It could be in the area of the emotions that you are dry and dead and bleached. Then there God revives love and forgiveness.

It could be a church that has lost its fire and enthusiasm. It is to this dead church that the Spirit brings renewal and life.

It could be within a family that sin has brought the death of love. In this valley too God can bring life.

Indeed, wherever the dead dry bones of sin are to be found, there the Spirit breathes his life.

So I say to you, ‘Think about the valley of dry bones.’

What is it for you? What is that place of death that needs the Spirit’s life-giving touch today?

Is it spiritual, a crisis of faith, a distance from Jesus, a struggle with prayer? Is it physical, or emotional, a pain that will not go away?

Whatever it may be, pray for God to come and breathe life into those dry bones. Pray for him to resurrect hope and life in you.

And remember my story, the story of the bones given life by the word of the Lord. Let those bones be the sign of God’s promise to you.

And remember also my name, Ezekiel—God strengthens.

Rely on that strength as you wait for the Lord’s promise to be fulfilled.

(Exits singing) ‘Dem bones, dem bones, dem dry bones, hear the word of the Lord.’

© Mike Fulwood 1997

Permission is given for the owner of this disk to make sufficient copies of this script for their group or congregation, for rehearsal and performance purposes only.