“Hope in the Time of Pandemic” (Ezekiel 37:1-14)

     We are living in stressful times.  I think that I can safely say that most of us—if not all of us—are somewhere between “kind of stressed” to extremely anxious.  An infectious disease outbreak can do that to a person because they are one of the most distressing forms of disaster to deal with psychologically because of the uncertainty they cause.  With other disasters we know what we are up against if they impact us because we know that we have survived and that the worse is over once the event is over.  COVID-19 is a whole different creature . . . an unknown . . . that we know very little about.  It is creepy to think that we are dealing with something we know nothing about, that it is among us, and that it isn’t going away without a fight to come back another day.  It is weird to think that it is not acting alone . . . that it recruits carriers who unknowingly spread the virus putting the lives of others at risk . . . and, that we could potentially be that carrier.

     Thus, it is that we are doing the things that the government and health experts have asked us to do.  We have practiced social distancing . . . we stay six feet apart if we go out into the public . . . we stay home except to do the essential business we need to do to stay home . . . we clean everything we touch . . . and, we wash our hands constantly.  We have shut down schools, businesses, and houses of worship.  We are living our lives in a new reality . . . a reality we are not used to.  And, it is stressful.

     It is stressful to be separated from what we know . . . separated from how we normally live . . . and stressful to be challenged to think differently about what we always thought about life and God’s presence in all of it.  Such stressfulness can make us feel helpless and hopeless in the time of this pandemic.

 

     Remember, we are not alone.

     Think back to the scripture reading we heard earlier . . . about Ezekiel’s vision.  Ezekiel was a prophet called by God to prophesize to the people . . . the people who ignored God’s call upon their lives, refused to listen to the warnings, and then received their consequences as the Babylonians came and destroying their homeland, killing its people, and hauling the survivors back to Babylonia to live in exile. These were a people who had lost everything . . . families and friends, homes and businesses, and the Temple where God dwelled.  They were cut off from God.  They had lost it all!  Here was a stressed group . . . here was a group who had lost all hope.  Losing it all put them among the walking dead for they considered themselves as being as good as dead.

     It was to this group of people—God’s people—that Ezekiel is called upon to speak and share the vision God has given him.  It is a grim vision of a battlefield strewn with the bones of all those killed . . . a stark reminder to those who stumble upon it.  For as far as Ezekiel can see he sees bones . . . lifeless, dry bones.  And, God questions him, “Son of man, can these bones live?”

     I imagine that Ezekiel thought to himself that there wasn’t any chance these bones could ever live, but he deferred by answering God: “Sovereign Lord, you alone know.”  From that point on we witness in the story the power and glory of God as God makes those bones come to life.  God tells the prophet to prophesy the word of the Lord . . . that God will bring them to life . . . that they will live once again.  And, it happened just as God said it would.

     It was a pretty elaborate and powerful demonstration and illustration being provided to Ezekiel about the people of Israel . . . about what God could and would do for them.  God wanted them to know that if God could bring bones back to life, surely God could do the same for them as a people.  Such was the message Ezekiel was to deliver to the people stuck in exile.

     It was a message of hope for an exiled people still mourning the loss of family and friends, home, business, and temple . . . still mourning their way of life . . . of relating to God.  There is hope in the darkness they were enduring.  Standing in the multitude of dry bones brought back to life, the people are offered a new alternative of reality and of relating to God.  Because God is present, they can breathe . . . stand ready for the future . . . and look forward in hope.

     I like that idea of “they could now breathe”.  How many times have we been told to “calm down and breathe” when we have been stressed out and hit full panic mode?  God is telling them that they are not abandoned just because they have lost their homeland and the temple.  No, God is still with them . . . God tells them, “I will put my Spirit in you and you will live . . . then you will know that I the Lord have spoken, and I have done it.

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     I think that the message that Ezekiel shares is relevant to us in this time of pandemic.  We are not alone; God is with us . . . God will always be with us.  Through these uncertain times . . . through the stress of it all . . . God is with us . . . and, we will pull through it.  We will pull through it, but we are quickly learning that it will not be life as it once was . . . it won’t be “new life”, but “renewed life”.  Ezekiel’s vision is a resurrection story, but not a pretty one.  But resurrection stories are not pretty because resurrection is not new life, not the perfect promise of newborn baby, but renewed life, life that is forged from death . . . even the risen Jesus bore his scars.  It is a message of hope born out of brokenness . . . a new beginning.  God is present.

     In these uncertain times our worry and stress can become barriers blocking us from living our lives in love with God and others.  Our worry and stress can blind us to the presence of God . . . God’s grace and love . . . and, God’s call to love as we have been loved.  It is ironic that this pandemic is exploding during the season of Lent . . . that it has become our vision of the valley of dry bones.  It has made us stop, think, and recalculate our bearings of how we relate to God and to one another.  It is a whole new way of seeing God and others, and how we respond.

 

     We need to remember; God is with us.  Because of this we have hope in the time of pandemic . . . hope in our worry and stress.  We are not alone; we are the children of God.  We just need to breathe and know . . . God is with us . . . always with us . . . so, lets get with God.  Amen.

    

“Blind” (John 9:1-41)

There is a joke that has been reborn in light of the COVID-19 pandemic in reaction to the world’s response after the outbreak occurred in China.  It is a joke that is probably familiar to most of us.

A great flood hits a community and the city’s authorities tell people they need to leave.  They make this announcement by going house to house.  At one house the owner tells the authorities that God will take care of him.  Then the waters begin rising until they are lapping at the door.  A boat arrives and tells the owner to get in before the house is flooded, but the man insists that he will stay, and that God will take care of him.  Eventually the water rises to the height of the roof, the man climbs onto the roof, and a helicopter is sent.  They ask the man to get in before it is too late, but he refuses, claiming that God will take care of him.  Soon the water rises above the roof and the man drowns.

Upon getting to heaven, the man confronts God, demanding to know why God did not take care of him.  God responses, “I sent people to your house to warn you, but you did not leave.  I sent a boat for you to leave, but you refused.  I even sent a helicopter, and you refused.  What more did you expect?”

Sometimes we are blind.  Blind to the fact that the answers and solutions are all around us and have been for quite a while.

In the scripture reading this morning we are confronted by blindness—both physical and spiritual. The story is about a man who has been blind since birth who has an encounter with Jesus.  The disciples want to know who has sinned, the man or his parents, to cause his blindness.  Jesus responds that neither had sin . . . he is just blind; but the situation presented an opportunity to do good for God.  He spit on the ground, made some mud, put it on the man’s eyes, and sent him off to wash it off.  The man did as he was told and returned with sight.

Of course, no one believed it.  Some claimed it was not him, despite his insistence that it was.  So, they took the man to the Pharisees to settle the matter once and for all.  The leaders questioned the man and he never waivers from the truth . . . Jesus healed him of his blindness.  What ensues is a running debate between the healed man and the Pharisees.  The Pharisees make all sorts of claim about Jesus and the fact that they do not believe the man was ever blind.  The parents vouch for the man.  The man sticks to his story, stating, “Whether he is a sinner or not, I don’t know.  One thing I do know.  I was blind but now I see!”   Then he hurled a challenge at the Pharisees asking them why they cared, did they want to become one of Jesus’ disciples too?

With righteous indignation, they threw the man out.

Upon hearing what had happened to the man, Jesus found him.  Jesus reveals to the man that he is the Messiah, the Son of Man.  The man proclaims, “Lord, I believe” and began to worship Jesus.  Jesus says, “For judgment I have come into this world, so that the blind will see and those who see will become blind.”  Standing nearby were a few Pharisees who took offense at what they were witnessing and hearing.  They ask Jesus, “What? Are we blind too?”  They want to know if Jesus is insulting them.

Though he doesn’t say it quite this way, he tells them that if the shoe fits, wear it.

One of the background pieces of information we often forget about Jesus’ dealings with the Pharisees and other religious and legal leaders of his time was his statement of having come not to abolish the law and prophets’ words, but to fulfill them.  Thus, it should come as no surprise that Jesus is confrontational with those individuals who view themselves as the pious faithful . . . people like the Pharisees, Sadducees, and legal experts.  These are supposedly the keepers of the faith . . . the ones who are supposed to know the laws and the words of the prophets . . . the ones to teach them and live them.  Laws and words they had had for many, many generations; and yet, they were blind to the will of God.  They just didn’t get it even as God has sent help in the form of Jesus.

We must also remember that Jesus stated that the two most important commandments . . . two most important laws, were that people were to love the Lord completely and to love others as God had loved them.  Jesus came to show them how.

For example, did it really matter the cause for the man’s blindness?  Did it matter whether he sinned or his parents or even some long lost relative a million years before?  Of course not, but by wasting time arguing the causes of blindness nothing is being done to help this man.  How often do we turn in our lives with a blind eye?  The idiom, “turning a blind eye” describes what people do when they do not want to deal with undesirable information.  This is an accusation leveled across the world as nations and governments have dealt with COVID-19.

COVID-19 is a whole new virus that scientists and medical experts know very little about.  Over the weeks and months that it has been blazing across the world, they have learned that it is a deadly virus.  This is serious business that effects the lives of all of us, and especially the lives of those who might be the most susceptible to it.  Because of this the world has spoken about the urgency of how to level the field in making this pandemic manageable to hopefully quell the death toll. 

The response?  Well, the response had been kind of weird . . . at least to me.  I have been surprised at the push back and poo-pooing about the virus and the recommendations to curb its spread . . . social isolation, washing hands, canceling events, schools closed, and the closing down of  public places.  I have heard it called “fake news”.  I have heard conspiracy theories that China or some political party is behind it.  I have even heard many say, “God will take care of us . . . God will help us.”  All of this was being said as we witnessed the devastation of the virus’ spread across other parts of the world.  Is this not blindness?

Well, in a little over a week we have seen a change because we have seen the fearful reaction . . . the run on stocking up on food and cleaning supplies to isolate ourselves for the next two weeks.  Never before in my lifetime have I ever been in stores and seen shelves empty.  Suddenly the blindness has been lifted . . . and, the question becomes whether or not we opened our eyes soon enough.  It is not “fake news” or a plot hatched by China or some political ploy.  And yes, I believe God will take care of us, but at the same time how many people, boats, and helicopters must God send before we wake up and realize that we have a major role to play in whole pandemic.  God will take care of us, but we need to take care of each other . . . just as God has done for us.

Isn’t that the whole point in this story we have heard this morning?  It does not matter why the man was blind.  It does not matter how the man became blind.  What matters was that the blind man was in need of someone to care about him, to help him with his needs, and to receive him into the family—the family of God.  Jesus told his disciples: “Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him.”

Thus, it was that the man was healed.

Thus, he believed.

In this season of Lent, we are called to examine that which blocks our relationship with God and others.  In this we need to examine those blind spots in our lives that keep us from fully realizing the opportunities to reach out and grow closer to God and others.  We need to realize that we have all we need to know when it comes to what God wants us to do . . . God wants us to love.  To love God.  To love one another.  Jesus demonstrates this as he encounters the blind man . . . instead of asking questions and getting into theological debates, he heals the man and welcomes him back into God’s family.

If we can do this then we can join the man in proclaiming: “One thing I do know.  I was blind but now I see!”  Amen.