Time to Stop Being a Zombie: Respire

One of the universities in our town used to have its indoor track open to the public, and I made full use of it in my efforts to get in shape. While I'm no athlete, my lungs are well-equipped to hold air for quite a while. I remember impressing my swimming teachers when I was seven or eight by swimming underwater across the Olympic-sized pool without once coming up for breath. It continues to drive my kids crazy that they haven't been able to win a breath-holding contest with me. For whatever reason, these lungs of mine are fairly capacious.

So when I'd run around the track, dragging air into these lungs was a full-scale operation, and could be heard at some distance. I'd round a curve of the track, and I'd see other walkers or joggers waaaay down at the far end of the gym glance over their shoulders presumably to see who was billowing like a steam engine behind them.

CHUGGA-chugga-CHUGGA-chugga... :)

I'm in John 7:1-13 today, but I want to jump back to Ezekiel 37 before I head over there. Ezekiel, prophet of God and one of His servants who records some of the most colorful descriptions of his visions in Scripture, finds himself in the middle of a valley, set there by the Lord Himself. Looking around, it dawns on him that this valley is full of human bones. 

Specifically -- dry bones. Long dead. No flesh remaining on them. Picked clean. Sun-bleached. 

God asks Ezekiel: "Can these bones live?"

Ezekiel, I imagine, glances heavenward. "Only You know, God."

God gives some interesting instructions to Ezekiel. "Prophesy to the bones," (teach them, oh prophet) "and say, 'Dry bones, hear the word of the Lord!... 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."

Ezekiel is obedient; he immediately does what God has commanded him to do. He begins speaking to the bones. And as he does, a great rattling sound fills the air as bone after bone moves and joins together. Remember that song: "The foot-bone connects to the ankle-bone, the ankle-bone connects to the leg-bone, the leg-bone connects to the knee bone..." Despite the lack of technicality for bone-names in the song (the terms "tibia" and "fibula" don't fit the rhythm as well), it gives an interesting picture of scattered skeletons slowly piecing themselves together. When the bones are in place, tendons and muscles appear and cover over the bones, and then skin. 

But still -- in a truly macabre picture -- there's a host of lifeless bodies lying there, staring emptily at nothing, with no sign of animation at all.

Something is still necessary for these bodies to come to life. God identifies that something with a little bit of flair: "Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man, and say to it, 'This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Come from the four winds, oh breath, and breathe into these slain that they may live."

I just noticed this, right now while I'm typing: God calls Ezekiel a title -- "son of man."

Who else calls Himself the Son of Man? Jesus is well-known for using that term to refer to Himself many times over. So I find it interesting that here, God tells Ezekiel -- son of man -- to call for the breath to breathe life into these bodies. "And breath entered them; they came to life and stood up on their feet -- a vast army."

Obviously, this was a metaphorical vision for the people of Israel, referring to their national restoration, not a post-apocalyptic zombie novel, but it is a powerful image none-the-less.

Now I'm ready to head to John 7:1-13. Here, we have a brief but interesting picture of Jesus' relationship with his brothers-of-the-flesh, Mary and Joseph's sons -- who have names, by the way: James, Joseph, Judas, and Simon (Mark 6:3). The Feast of Tabernacles is happening in Jerusalem, and Jewish men are generally expected to attend. 

Jesus has been hanging around Galilee (in the northern part of Israel) for a while, partly as a measure of protection. There are some high-powered Jews in Jerusalem who want very badly to kill Him, and Jesus knows it's not time to die yet, so he's practicing avoidance techniques, mainly -- not calling attention to Himself in the public sector in the hotbed of Jerusalem... yet.

Jesus' brothers are preparing to go to the Feast, though, and when they're getting ready to depart, they find Jesus and tell Him: "You ought to leave here and go to Judea, so that Your disciples may see the miracles You do. No one who wants to become a public figure acts in secret. Since You are doing these things, show Yourself to the world."

These aren't faith-filled words; they're not encouraging words. They poke fun at Jesus, mocking Him, twisting in the knife of disbelief just a little deeper. "No one who wants to become a public figure..." Can you hear the ick-factor in those words? How you love to call attention to Yourself. Stop it; you're embarrassing us all. Mark 3:21 gives us some of his brothers' thoughts: "When [Jesus'] family heard about this, they went to take charge of Him, for they said, 'He is out of His mind.'"

I have a feeling that many of us know what it's like to have family members think we're a little crazy, a little off our nut. Maybe they eye our passion projects... dispassionately. Maybe they think we're a "religious zealot." Maybe they wish we'd pipe down a little about hot-button topics or touchy issues. Whatever the case, it's discouraging to realize that your own family is ashamed of you. I wonder how many tears Jesus shed over His family's lack of faith in Him? 

Whatever the case, Jesus refuses to go to the Feast in the public limelight. He refuses to -- as His brothers put it -- show Himself to the world, not in the way they say. Jesus is not operating by a human agenda. There is a time-clock, set by His Father, to which He is answerable, and that time-clock has not yet ticked to the time where events are lined up for Him to make Himself known for Who He is.

So He lets His brothers go down to the Feast by themselves... and then He wraps Himself in obscurity, and attends in secret. 

The thing that stands out to me in this passage is the picture of Jesus' family. In an earthly way, His family is supposed to be His supporters, His legs to walk on. But they fail Him, badly.

The Apostle Paul -- in several places -- describes the family of God as a body. Romans 12:4-5 says: "Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ, we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others." 1 Corinthians 12:12-31 goes into greater detail with this metaphor. "The eye cannot say to the hand, 'I don't need you!' And the head cannot say to the feet, 'I don't need you!'... God has combined the members of the body and has given greater honor to the parts that lacked it, so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other."

As brothers and sisters in Christ where Christ is our head, we are one body. That's why it's so distressing to see, hear, and experience some followers of Jesus pointing to other followers of Jesus and saying, summarily, 'You aren't serving Christ, because you don't think and do exactly like me.'

I am not throwing accountability under the bus here; that is important. But when two people are whole-heartedly leaning into their relationship with Christ and both are chipping away at two sides of the same picture -- when these same two accuse each other of not doing the work that they are doing... see how hurtful this is? 

See how the body of Christ dies a little each time this happens? How the breath stills in those lungs? How the bones dry out just a little more?

John 20:22 brings this back full-circle. To set the scene: Jesus is alive! (There should be a few more exclamation points behind that.) Jesus is alive!!!! He's appearing to disciples and followers, confirming and reconfirming the fact that He is no longer trapped in a tomb. Breath has re-entered His body; He lives!

Anyway, Jesus shows up at one of the disciples' gatherings, appearing through locked doors 'cause He's just that amazing. John 20:22 says: "And with that, [the Son of Man -- remember? The same title from Ezekiel?] breathed on them, and said, 'Receive the Holy Spirit.'"

Jesus is breath -- for us. He is life -- for us. If it were not for Jesus, for the Holy Spirit living in us today, right now -- we would be a valley of dry bones. We may have tendons, muscles, skin. But until that breath of the Holy Spirit flows through us, we are, essentially... zombies. Dead eyes and dead bodies that have no movement... until Jesus Himself breathes life into us.

Fill those lungs. Breathe in. Breathe out. Respire.