The Answer is Blowing in the Wind

In that song, Dylan asks how long it will take for humankind to stop turning its head away from all those who suffer from want of need, from injustice, lack of freedom, and the ravages of war.

These challenges, he suggests, are like a mountain, seemingly impossible to overcome. Just as we cannot wrap our heads around the time it would take for a mountain to be washed into the sea, so we cannot even envision when the world will be free of these scourges. We are like a white dove flying endlessly in search of a warm, safe patch of sand in which to land.

The dove is a symbol of peace, and do Dylan is telling us peace is equally elusive. But here is something else you might not know: White doves live in the interior of forests and deserts. They do not live anywhere near the ocean. So when Dylan asks, “how many seas must a white dove sail before he sleeps in the sand?” he is comparing us to a dove that has utterly lost its way and does not know when it will ever find its way home.

It is exhausted and wants to sleep, but it cannot stop flying because it does not find any place to rest. That, says Dylan, is the state of humanity, exhausted by the eternal search for solutions to human caused suffering, feeling weary from the effort.

When, Dylan asks, will we finally be able to strop struggling to fix our world and be able to rest in the sand? The answer, of course, is blowing in the wind. The answer is blowing in the wind.

We might say that God taught the prophet Ezekiel the same lesson. The answer is blowing in the wind. Ezekiel’s first encounter with God occurs in the opening chapter of his book, when he experiences a personal revelation, a mystical encounter with the Divine in which he sees God seated on his heavenly throne, swooping down toward him.

That scene becomes a road map for Jewish mystics – Kabbalists – who try to discern from its imagery that nature of God. Ezekiel’s description of that encounter begins with these words: ???????? ????????? ?????? ???????? ??????? ?????????????? — “a stormy wind came out of the north,” and God’s chariot appeared in the midst of that wind.

Ezekiel was a Cohen. He was born in the land of Israel and carried into Exile with the Jewish people when they were conquered by the Babylonians. He prophesied at a time of great despair. The Jewish people had been uprooted from their land, no longer had a Temple, in many cases separated from their families. The Babylonian empire was powerful, and they had no hope of ever returning. They felt abandoned by God. They lost all faith. They were so to speak, spiritually dead.

Then one day God shows up to Ezekiel in the midst of that stormy wind. And God’s presence was so overwhelming that the prophet-to-be falls to the ground.

There are times when, like Ezekiel, we find ourselves in the presence of God. Moments when we sense Gods majesty, power, or his compassion, mercy, love at work in our world and in our lives. When we do, like Ezekiel, we are overwhelmed by it, and moved to thank God for his presence in our lives and the gifts God grants us. But there are also many times when we are oblivious to God’s presence in our lives, when we are blinded by our own self-interest, or are just overwhelmed by the challenges we face, Like our people in Babylonian exile, we feel abandoned. We ask, with all that is going on in our world, where is God? When times are rough, when we face difficult challenges, how do we feel God’s presence and hear God’s voice?

The first thing you have to do is that you have to seek it out. Open your eyes, your ears and your heart. Look for the moments and experiences through which God is calling to you. It’s a truism in life that you cannot find what you do not look for. Don’t put the entire burden on God. The midrash teaches us that wherever the Jewish people go in exile, the Shechina, the Divine Presence, always goes with us. The midrash states that when the children of Israel are crying from their suffering, God cries too. Why does God cry? When we are not in relationship with God, when we feel that we are in exile, struggling in our lives, God feels sad. God feels our pain, and cries too, right alongside us. God cries because God is trying to show Godself to us and we are not looking for Him. So, look!

The second way we can be more open to God’s presence is by studying our holy texts so that we internalize God’s words. Listen to how God prepares Ezekiel to hear His voice: “Son of man, eat what is before you, eat this scroll; then go and speak to the people of Israel.” Ezekiel then goes on to say, “So I opened my mouth, and he gave me the scroll to eat.”

Ezekiel literally eats Gods words, as if he ingests the Torah, written on rice paper with soy ink! Now, don’t start tearing up your Chumash! The point is you have to chew on it. Chew on God’s words. That which you read and see on the outside, you have to bring on the inside. And sometimes, it doesn’t taste all that good. Sometimes it takes a while to digest. Sometimes you have to work at swallowing it. Just keep at it until what’s on the outside comes on the inside instead of passing it by, you have to internalize God’s word.

Ezekiel did it. We have to do it. When you do that, you begin to see things you didn’t see before. When we internalize God’s word, we begin to see God possibilities all around us. The words of Torah can change our perspective and our outlook. We begin to see things not as they are but as they can become. When you digest it, chew on it, think about it, you begin to see the world and the people in it through God’s eyes. Rather than despair, you begin to see hope. Rather than doubt, you begin to see assurance.

This was the beginning of the journey for Ezekiel. God couldn’t show him the vision in this morning’s Torah portion – the Valley of the Dry Bones — until he was filled with God’s spirit and had digested God’s word. It was only then that he was able and ready to see what God wanted him to see.
God set him in the middle of a valley. It was full of bones. He led Ezekiel back and forth among them, and he saw a great many bones on the floor of the valley, bones that were very dry.
What Ezekiel saw was that death had come to the nation of Israel. Not physical death but rather a spiritual death.

Dry bones are those situations in life where it appears that no life had ever existed. Maybe you know a situation or somebody in your life that has dry bones. When you lose a job and there’s no new one in sight, or you’ve been diagnosed and the doctors have given you no hope, or when you have a spouse that walks out on you, or when you have a marriage that’s dead on the vine, or children who are rebelling, or maybe you are struggling with finances, or drinking, or doing drugs and getting on the wrong side of the law. Maybe it’s this pandemic that is overwhelming you. You feel like you are dry bones…. In such dire circumstances, it can be tough to feel God’s presence and hear God’s voice.

If you want to see and hear God, there is a third thing you must do. You have to believe that God makes the seemingly impossible possible. God says to Ezekiel, “Can these bones live?” Had Ezekiel not been filled with the Spirit of God, had he not internalized God’s Word, he would have looked at those dead bones and seen no possibility for life. But now he looks at these dry through the eyes of God and sees God possibilities. He looked at God and said, “I know you can do anything. I have been in your presence. I remember what you did for my ancestors when you brought them out of Egypt. I know what you have promised. I know you can do all things. If you say, “Live!” then life will come.”

Finally, if you have dry places in your life then you have to speak to those dry places. Don’t speak your word into them, speak the word of God into them. Tell them not what the world sees in them but what God sees in them. You have to speak life into the dead.
Ezekiel did it – God instructs Ezekiel to speak to the wind and prophesy that the breath of life will come from the four winds and inhabit these slain laying before him, bringing them to life.
Ezekiel did it and we have to do it. Speak life into your marriage. Speak life into your children. Speak life into your friends and co-workers who have dead bones. Speak life into the dry places of your life. Speak life to those suffering from this pandemic, from isolation, depression, need and want, those who are ill and those whose loved ones are ill, those who are grieving the loss of a loved one, those filled with fear and anxiety and doubts about our future.

Speak to them. Make yourself a vehicle for sharing God’s love, care and support. Help them feel God’s spirit renew their energy and their life.
You are God’s partners just like Ezekiel. You can bring life to others.
So, you see, Bob Dylan was right. The answer is “blowing in the wind.”
Speak to the wind and speak life in those dry bones. Speak life into relationships, friendships and community. Bring a message of hope, healing and love, and we can regain the joy, the love and the confidence that we seek. We can shake off even this pandemic. We can rise above it. We can find beauty in life, in each other and in our relationship with God.