A WORD FOR TODAY, March 18, 2026
Peggy Hoppes
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Blessings. Peg
A WORD FOR TODAY, March 18, 2026
Lectionary Scriptures for March 22, 2026, Fifth Sunday in Lent: Ezekiel 37:1-14; Psalm 130; Romans 8:1-11; John 11:1-45 (46-53)
“But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if it is so that the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if any man doesn’t have the Spirit of Christ, he is not his. If Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the spirit is alive because of righteousness.” Romans 8:9-10, WEB
I worked as a mobile disc jockey a few decades ago. I had a set of equipment and crates full of vinyl records that I took to different venues to entertain at all sorts of parties. I worked for a company that took care of the administration of the work. They gave me my contracts, and it was my responsibility to ensure that I was prepared for the type of party to which I had been assigned. Based on my age and personality, I tended to work school dances and weddings, although there was also the occasional office gathering, pool party, or class reunion. It was important that I have the right kind of music for each party, but it was sometimes difficult to judge what the group might want.
There are just some groups of people that are impossible to please. There was one wedding reception where the bride and the mother-of-the bride disagreed completely about the music to be played. They spent the whole evening insisting on my attention to their guests. The bride requested a song, but as that song began, the mother complained that her guests did not want to listen to that type of music. She insisted that I change my format. When I did play a song for the older generation, the bride complained that I was playing “old fogey” music. The bride said it was her wedding so I should obey her commands. The mother said she was paying for the wedding and so I should obey hers. In the end, their selfish insistence that I play what they wanted to hear meant that I was unable to do the job I had been hired to do. The party died.
It was my job to discern the atmosphere of the group and make the party successful. A successful party did not necessarily mean that everyone was dancing. A successful party was the one at which everyone was enjoying themselves. Like the party with the bride and her mother, sometimes it was impossible to find the right format to make the party a success. Guests complained that the music was too loud while others thought it was too soft. Some wanted only oldies while others wanted to hear newer music. Most of the time I could bring life to the party, but sometimes I failed.
Unlike me, God never fails. He is able to do anything, even the impossible. He often does the opposite of what is natural or expected.
I have only experienced one earthquake in my life, and that was the Loma Prieta earthquake in 1989. We lived in California, far enough from San Francisco that we weren’t in any danger but close enough to experience subtle movement. The only reason I know that we felt it at our house is I could see a hanging plant in our living room begin to sway. I was watching the five o’clock news when it hit. The anchor in Sacramento freaked out because he could feel the building move under him and we could see the overhead lights swaying on camera. That’s when I looked around our house and saw the plant. I was later told by a friend that water splashed out of her pool. It might not have been a problem for us, but the damage in and around San Francisco was serious.
I thought about this experience when I read through today’s Old Testament lesson. Ezekiel had a spiritual experience in which God’s Spirit set him in a valley full of bones. God asked, “Can these bones live?” The human answer is, “of course not,” but the faith answer is that God knows. Then God told Ezekiel to prophesy over the bones. As he spoke, there was an earthquake. We know that earthquakes destroy things. In San Francisco, the Loma Prieta earthquake took down a bridge. It killed sixty-three people and caused six billion dollars in damage. Earthquakes don’t put skeletons back together or return the flesh to those bodies.
This week’s Old Testament story is a miraculous witness to the work God can do in this world. He gave the prophet Ezekiel the words to speak so that the dead were raised to new life.
This is what God does every day with His Word. Those who do not look to God or to Jesus as Savior are walking like dead men in this world; they are dead in their sin because they have not heard the saving words of forgiveness that comes from Jesus Christ. God’s Word will bring them to life again. By His Word, God puts His Spirit into their hearts so that they will have faith and hope in His promises.
It took something extra to put life into a dead party. Sometimes I had to work very hard to bring out the spirit of the celebration. I’ve heard it said that there are dead churches, places that seem to have no life. Perhaps this is true; there are many Christians who are like the walking dead; they do not really believe the message of the cross and the forgiveness of sin which Christ won for us on the cross. Yet, if God can bring life to a valley of dry bones, then He can bring life to the deadest of congregations. We can be like Ezekiel speaking God’s word of promise into the lives of those who have not truly embraced God’s promise, and we too will see the bones rise up and dance.
Have you ever noticed that the Gospel lessons during Lent get progressively longer each week? I don’t know about you, but I easily get lost in my thoughts while listening to such long readings, especially since these are stories that are so very familiar. We think we know every word, so we stop listening. We hear the first few words and think, “I know what this passage says,” and then lose focus.
Though we take these texts for granted, they have incredible depth and are invaluable to our Christian growth and maturity. They also have something new and unique to tell us today. We hear and respond to the texts according to our current circumstances, but if we do not listen, we may not hear what God wants us to hear.
The story of Lazarus talks about death. Who among us is not dealing with death from one point of view or another most of our lives? As we hear this story, we might identify with any of the characters. Has someone you love recently died? Perhaps you can hear some words of comfort in the response of his sisters. Do you have a friend who lost someone recently? We can learn from the mourners how to help our friend, and how not to help. In the disciples we see fear about facing the consequences of Jesus’ decisions. Jesus is an example of strength in sorrow and concern for others.
We can even identify with Lazarus. There are times in our lives when we are as good as dead, wrapped up in those grave clothes and buried in a tomb. We might be suffering from loneliness or depression. Our burden might be an addiction or obsession. Whatever it is, this text may help us to hear Jesus calling out to us by name, commanding us to come out of the tomb. Through this text, we might even see that Jesus is calling us to be like Him (and Ezekiel), speaking God’s word to call people out of their tombs to a new life of faith.
There was once a commercial on television that used the classic song by Queen, “I Want It All and I Want It Now!” The commercial was for a credit card company. It showed a man who wanted a new television, but it wasn’t until the old television broke that his wife finally told him he could buy a new one. He was so excited. He called his credit card company to find out how much credit he had available so he knew how much he could spend. With that knowledge in hand, the man felt confident that he could afford to buy his dream television.
It was all well and good that he has enough credit available to buy that bigger and better television, but the credit card company never reminds us that we are using borrowed money. The more we spend, the more we have to pay. Credit is easy to abuse. It is so easy to pull out the credit card when we are feeling a little stretched by our bills and our needs. It is easy to pull out the credit card when there is something we really want but don’t have the money right now. We have all had moments when we’ve sung along with the son, “I want it all and I want it now.” It is so convenient to use our credit cards to fulfill our dreams, but one purchase leads to another; until we end up with so much debt that we can’t get out from under it. Using credit is not necessarily sinful, and it can be a helpful tool, but it is sinful to be poor stewards of our resources.
Sin leads to more sin when we are unwilling to recognize our sinfulness and our need to repent.
We all sin. We don’t treat our neighbors with love and respect. We get angry with our children and our spouses, gossip about others, take things that are not ours. We fall to the temptations of this world. We are greedy, lustful, abusive, self-centered. We want it all and we want it now. We look for help in all the wrong places. Sadly, we often do not even realize our sin. We recognize the biggies, especially in the lives of others. But when it comes to our own failure, we are blind. We think we are good enough. We think we are better than our neighbors, so we go on our way without repenting. This way of life takes us on a path that will lead to more sin.
Even one wrong thought, word, or deed against God or man is a sin and we are all guilty. None of us could stand before the holiness of God. But God is gracious and merciful. He forgives our iniquity. He not only grants forgiveness, but He also forgets our sin. Washed by the blood of Christ, we are cleansed and made new and right before Him. As we live in this hope, we find ourselves walking in the light of Christ, covered by the unfailing love of God and reconciled to Him. When we wait for the Lord and watch for Him, we are less likely to fall into the temptations of this world. Though we may still fail in our daily walk of faith, He is near with His forgiveness for those who will see.
Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore stared in a movie called “50 First Dates.” Adam played a jerk named Henry who couldn’t make a commitment to any one woman. He lived on one of the Hawaiian islands, so took advantage of every pretty tourist he met. He had as many one-night stands as he pleased. The women were often looking for a wild time without commitment anyway, so it was a win-win situation for both. One day, he met Drew’s character Lucy, a beautiful local girl. There was no chance she would fly off into the sunset. Henry fell in love at first sight and went back to get to know her better.
Unfortunately, Lucy suffered from a rare brain problem. After a tragic accident, the part of her brain that controls short-term memory was damaged. She forgot her daily experiences every night in her sleep. She woke up every morning as if it were still the day of her accident. Her family felt it was best to let her relive that day, and so they created a world that hid the truth. At first, Lucy’s family and friends thought Henry was just out for a repeating easy one-night stand, after all, if Lucy couldn’t remember the next day, she’d never get attached. Henry liked Lucy so much that he encouraged her family to tell her the truth so that she would be willing to spend time with him. Each day he convinced her to fall in love with him. Henry was willing to do whatever was necessary to make her remember, giving himself fully to the relationship even though he knew that she would never remember tomorrow.
This movie reminds me of how we treat God sometimes. He is willing to do whatever it takes to make us love Him, but we easily forget all that He has done. There are many reasons why this might happen. We get caught up in the cares of this world and forget that God will give us rest. When we are comfortable, we think we do not need God, so we forget that He is the source of our success and prosperity. We are easily distracted by the schemes of the devil or just with our daily living that we do not realize how near He is and how much He truly loves us. Once in a while we wake up to the love and it is on those days we find ourselves truly rejoicing.
In the movie, Lucy’s family realized that Henry was good for her when they discovered that she sang every afternoon on the days she met him. She eventually broke up with Henry because she did not want him to be trapped in such an abnormal life. Why should he give up his career and his goals for the sake of someone who would never remember him the next day? Henry did not want to go, but he did for her sake. In the end they could not live without one another. Though she forgot him every day, he lived in her dreams and in her heart. They managed to have a joy-filled life together when they gave in to the love.
Lucy survived the accident and was alive, but she had no life. She was reliving the same day over and over and over again. Her father and brother went to a great deal of trouble to restore the world to what she knew every morning so that she would not be shocked and upset by her brain damage. Henry was alive, but he had no life, either. He was doing the same thing time after time: one-night stands with women he would not remember a week or even a day after they were gone from his life.
For both Lucy and Henry, life began when they met because they dwelled in each other’s hearts. That’s what happens to us when we have a relationship with God. He lives in us and we live in Him. His kingdom flows out through our lives by His Spirit. Sometimes we are like Lucy and we forget our God. We forget what He has done and how much He loves us. Yet God never forgets and He will continue to come to us in mercy and grace to make us fall in love with Him again. He dwells in our hearts, and we can rest in the promise that we will be with Him for eternity because of the love of our Lord Jesus Christ.
I might have seemed useless to everyone in this story for Henry to continue the relationship. It often seemed useless to try to make the parties a success. Have you ever felt like you are in a hopeless situation? Perhaps you feel that way much too often. You know there is something you should do, but you are also sure that it won’t do any good. For instance, parents know that it is impossible to reason with a toddler who is having a tantrum or a teenager who has decided to rebel. I’m still trying to figure out how we managed to survive those years!
Sadly, many Christians think that it is pointless to share the Gospel. I suppose some of it is the fear of being rejected, but we also worry that we will be deemed judgmental and intolerant if we share the Gospel. We’d rather just live our faith quietly; after all we have been repeatedly told that faith is a private matter anyway. There are those who do not even think it is their place to raise their children as Christians. “They can decide when they are grown.”
How will they know if we don’t tell them?
God commanded Ezekiel to do something that seemed absolutely pointless. What good would it do to prophesy over a field full of dried bones? The people that were once those bones had been dead a long time. There was no chance that they would ever come back to life. There was no skin, muscle or organs. Some of the bones were probably carried off by wild animals. How could one man’s voice change anything about that field? It wasn’t pointless because God was able to restore flesh and soul into dry bones.
Thankfully, Jesus didn’t think the work God sent Him to do was pointless. He glorified God by doing that which would seem pointless to the rest of us. Sometimes God calls us to do things we don’t want to do, but we discover that when we are obedient, His commands are never pointless. We see that He is faithful. He is glorified by our faith and our willingness to speak to the dry bones.
Just like the Israelites in Babylon and the sisters of Lazarus, God comes to us with a vision of what life will be like under His rule. He shows us new life brought by His Word and His Spirit. The dead bones in the valley can dance and sing His praises. By God’s power, Lazarus could walk out of his tomb to live another day. So, too, in faith we can live in hope and glorify God with our lives.
Faith is the only thing we have the helps us through. Jesus said if we believe we will see the power of God. That power will bring life out of death. It is a matter of trusting the Lord to be faithful to His promises, because there we find our salvation. It is this trust to which the psalmist is referring to in today’s Psalm. “But there is forgiveness with you, therefore you are feared. I wait for Yahweh. My soul waits. I hope in his word.”
Our hope is found in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Without Him we are nothing more than dead bones in a valley or dead men in the tomb. Without Him we have no hope. All too often, however, we don’t recognize our own death. We don’t see how we are being like the Pharisees by our attitudes toward others. We do not see that we are relying on our own righteousness. We don’t live as God has called us to live, full of mercy and compassion for those who are suffering, boldly speaking the Gospel message to those He will raise to new life.
Paul reminds us that when we keep our mind on our flesh, we are dead, but when we live in the Spirit, we will know real life and peace. In Christ we are no longer dead. We are going to mess up. Even after Martha confessed her faith in Jesus, she still doubted. It is that way with us every day. We second guess God’s work. We question His mercy; we doubt His promises. As Martin Luther put it, we are “simul justus et peccator” which means that we are simultaneously saints and sinners. However, in Christ we have been given the gift of His Spirit, which dwells in our hearts. As we live in His grace, we are sanctified, daily growing in faith and in knowledge of the work God is doing in our lives as well as in the lives of others.
It took something extra to put life into a dead party. I had to work to bring people to the dance floor who did not want to dance. It took something special to bring happiness to the celebration. Sometimes it seemed pointless to even try, but while we may think someone is beyond hope today, God calls us to do the work of His kingdom, prophesying to them so that we would see God glorified as they are raised to new life in Christ.
We have hope, and there is hope for others. It isn’t pointless to speak God’s Word to the world because God can, and does, bring life out of death. Looking to Jesus means looking at hope, trusting in God’s promises to bring us through. He will bring life out of death according to His good and perfect Word. And though our bodies are riddled with sin and death, Christ gives us life to live for His glory by taking His mercy and grace to the entire world.
They may not listen when we proclaim God’s Word, but they can’t hear if we don’t try. We speak, not expecting our words will bring life, but knowing that God’s Word can raise the dead. We don’t always know exactly what will happen, but God knows. He can restore the flesh on dry bones and raise the dead out of their tombs. So, when it seems hopeless, we are called to trust in God. God can do the impossible and He will be glorified by our obedience. Are we willing to shine hope in a world that seems hopeless? Are we willing to share the Gospel even when it seems pointless?
There is always hope when we trust in God. He can bring life to dry bones. He can raise the dead out of their tombs. When it seems hopeless, we are called to trust in God. We are encouraged to join the psalmist in a cry of faith. We are invited to speak God’s grace to the dry bones and to call people out of their tombs. Will we ignore the opportunities, or will we join as His partners in His life-giving work?
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