Epiphany 3
January 27, 2013
Nehemiah 8:1-3, 5-6, 8-10
If you were to watch any
television programs or read any news articles about the City of Detroit in recent years,
you would hear that the city is a mess.
The city itself is teetering on bankruptcy from years of bad politics
and people leaving the city in droves.
There are neighborhoods where fires break out and no one seems to care
because the homes affected are all abandoned and dilapidated. In fact, if you were to drive through some
neighborhoods in Detroit, you might wonder why
all of a sudden you were in a ghost town when you intended to travel to the
home of Motown, the Motor
City. One journalist from Time Magazine has even
said that if you were to look at the city, you would think that a natural
disaster had hit on the scale of Hurricane Katrina. But in the midst of the abandoned homes and
businesses and the general state of disrepair of the city, there is a glimmer
of hope….a renaissance of sorts is occurring in Detroit.
Young adults who grew up in this area are returning to the city bringing
their art, their music, their culinary skills, and their passion to see one of
the greatest cities in America
make a comeback.
This is the image that I have
when I think of the state of the city of Jerusalem
when Nehemiah, Ezra and their people return from exile. Nehemiah was granted permission to go on this
journey by King Atraxerxes of Persia after he
learned that the walls of the city of Jerusalem
had been destroyed and the city had been torn apart. Nehemiah was working as the King’s cupbearer
at the time and when news of the destruction of the walls of Jerusalem
came, he knew he had to do something.
Nehemiah had probably never lived in Jerusalem,
but it was still home. It was the place
that God had given to Nehemiah’s ancestors…and Nehemiah felt called to return
to the Holy city and rebuild it. And
rebuild they did. When he received
permission from the King to go to Jerusalem,
Nehemiah assembled a traveling party and after the 500 mile journey from Susa, in what is now Iran,
to Jerusalem, Nehemiah led the people in
rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem and in the
restoration of the gates around the city.
This project was completed in 52 days, even in the midst of some interference
from enemies who lived around Jerusalem.
But rebuilding the city
wasn’t enough, Nehemiah also felt that the people needed assistance to get back
on the straight and narrow in the eyes of God.
He saw how the people had strayed from the laws of Moses and had
disobeyed God’s commandments and so he assisted the priest Ezra in setting up a
revival of sorts.
On the first day of the 7th
month, which is now Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, the people of Jerusalem
gathered together by the Water Gate, which was one of the places where there
were no restrictions on who could be there…men, women, children, those who were
ritually unclean could all be in this place together. The people had made a request that Ezra bring
with him the book of the law of Moses. And
so, for about six hours, Ezra read from the Torah while the Levites circulated
through the crowd and helped the people to understand what was being spoken to
them from scripture. The people listened
intently for those six hours, and many of them began to weep and become
distressed. We don’t know exactly what
part of the law was read in those six hours, but it was something that really
hit home with the people who were gathered together that day. In the reading of the law, there was a
realization of just how far separated the people were from God.
But in the midst of their
despair, Ezra won’t have any of the sadness.
It is a time of renewal and rebuilding…a time of reconnecting with
God. It is not a time to mourn or be distressed,
for there is so much going on around them that is new. Instead it is time for them to rejoice
because of the renewal and rebuilding and reconnection with God. So go, eat the fat, drink sweet wine and
celebrate that God is giving us a chance at something new. And we see this in the reading of the Torah,
God’s gift to the people.
In the Torah we find God’s
word…yes in the Torah there are laws…but also contained within the Torah are
the stories of God’s promises to the people and how God has made good on those
promises. We hear the stories of Abraham
and Noah, of Joseph and of Moses, how God was faithful to the promises that God
made. But even more than that, we hear in the Torah of God’s faithfulness to
the people and willingness to give second chances even when the people were
unfaithful. Adam and Eve ate the fruit
from the one tree that they were told not to touch, but God remained faithful
and protected them. Cain killed his
brother out of jealousy and God remained faithful and protected him from
retribution. The people in the
wilderness turned to a golden calf, but God remained faithful. Much like when a
child disobeys a parent, there have been consequences when we have disobeyed God…but
God has remained faithful and loving…so much so that God brought his word into
our realm and made it flesh in the person of Jesus Christ.
In Jesus we see God’s word
and God’s faithfulness in action…giving sight to the blind, setting the
captives free, healing the lame…and giving of himself in our places so that we
could have a clean slate and the chance to live in a reconnected and renewed
relationship with our God. And throughout it all, God has never tried to force
us to follow orders or demanded that we do anything to receive God’s love…instead
God gives and gives and gives, waiting for us to make up our own minds as to
how to respond.
When we hear the words “the
law” in relation to scripture, particularly in the first five books of the
bible which make up the Torah, it’s easy to think only of the things that we
should and should not do…and when we screw up on one of those items, it can be
easy for guilt to set in. But the word
of God contained in the law of Moses, which was fulfilled in the Word made
flesh, are words of promise and of renewal.
There are reminders that God rejoices in God’s creation. There are reminders that our God makes good
on his promises. And there is joy which
comes from the Lord. A joy which gives
us strength in the midst of distressing and despairing times. A joy which inspires us to live lives as
God’s children. A joy which gives us the
passion to renew, rebuild, and reconnect relationships with God and one another.
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