The word of God called Lazarus out of his tomb of death. When the Word is proclaimed, new life is created, and the heavy stone of walking death is taken from our necks. But we are afraid to have the stone of death removed from around our necks, because death stinks. That's what they said about Lazarus. It's been four days, Lord, he stinks.
Death does stink.
Ezekiel stood in that valley, littered with dry bones. When Ezekiel had his vision, Israel was in exile, they had lost a war. This valley of dry bones is the remnants of a battleground where the Babylonian army slaughtered Israelite soldiers. Some of you have been in battle, you know the stink of thousands of bodies rotting after it's all over. The people of Nicaragua and Guatemala know the smell of more rotting bodies than there are workers to bury them.