Grace to you and peace from God our Father and our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen
The text for this meditation is written in the 8th Chapter of the Old Testament Book of Nehemiah: Verses 1 – 10:
And all the people gathered as one man into the square before the Water Gate. And they told Ezra the scribe to bring the Book of the Law of Moses that the Lord had commanded Israel. 2 So Ezra the priest brought the Law before the assembly, both men and women and all who could understand what they heard, on the first day of the seventh month. 3 And he read from it facing the square before the Water Gate from early morning until midday, in the presence of the men and the women and those who could understand. And the ears of all the people were attentive to the Book of the Law. 4 And Ezra the scribe stood on a wooden platform that they had made for the purpose. And beside him stood Mattithiah, Shema, Anaiah, Uriah, Hilkiah, and Maaseiah on his right hand, and Pedaiah, Mishael, Malchijah, Hashum, Hashbaddanah, Zechariah, and Meshullam on his left hand. 5 And Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people, for he was above all the people, and as he opened it all the people stood. 6 And Ezra blessed the Lord, the great God, and all the people answered, “Amen, Amen,” lifting up their hands. And they bowed their heads and worshiped the Lord with their faces to the ground. 7 Also Jeshua, Bani, Sherebiah, Jamin, Akkub, Shabbethai, Hodiah, Maaseiah, Kelita, Azariah, Jozabad, Hanan, Pelaiah, the Levites, helped the people to understand the Law, while the people remained in their places. 8 They read from the book, from the Law of God, clearly, and they gave the sense, so that the people understood the reading.
9 And Nehemiah, who was the governor, and Ezra the priest and scribe, and the Levites who taught the people said to all the people, “This day is holy to the Lord your God; do not mourn or weep.” For all the people wept as they heard the words of the Law. 10 Then he said to them, “Go your way. Eat the fat and drink sweet wine and send portions to anyone who has nothing ready, for this day is holy to our Lord. And do not be grieved, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.”
The Old Testament Reading for today takes us to a remarkable and beautiful event. All the people of God are assembled and attentive as they hear read to them (The Torah of Moses or Pentateuch) the first five books of Moses of the Holy Bible (Genesis; Exodus; Leviticus; Numbers; Deuteronomy). Note: that whilst we see it as five books, the Torah was in fact considered the first book of the Hebrew Bible. Listen again and hear about this happy and holy occasion:
(v 6) Ezra blessed the Lord, the great God, and all the people answered, “Amen, Amen,” lifting up their hands. And they bowed their heads and worshiped the Lord with their faces to the ground”.
How do we explain this spontaneous delight in Moses’ words? How could the reading of the first book of the sacred Scriptures bring immediate worship and confession of the Lord as God?
Can you imagine such a reaction in our day? When the Scriptures are read in public or in worship, how do people in our day respond? Is it with the same joy and reverence? Indeed, what is our response?
Let me suggest that sacred Scripture should be as captivating and exciting as it was for Ezra’s audience. Why? Because the content of Scripture is so wonderful and so true. Here, God tells us how things really are, and through his self-disclosure, all of humanity is invited into a rich relationship with him.
For example, hear Moses’ words make the foundational and beautiful point. Reflect as you hear portions of the beginning of Moses’ Torah—the account of creation.
(Gen 1:1) “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth”.
(Gen 1:16–17). God made the two great lights—the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night—and the stars. And God set them in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth.
(Gen 1:26) Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”
(Gen 1:31) God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.
We can be assured of the very presence of God in the Book of Moses, because in contrast to this, the prevailing epics in the cultures that surrounded Moses—Egypt, Greece, Mesopotamia, Palestine, … described creation in a very different way. In their human thinking, they viewed the sun, the moon, the stars, the sea, and a host of animals as gods who controlled events on earth.
In their epics, human beings were simply not significant. The gods determined the course of history, and men and women would simply have to suffer the consequences of their supposed preferences.
As we’ve seen, Moses begins his book with a very different claim: that man and woman are the apex of creation—the very crown of God’s creative labours — not mere accidental furniture to be moved about by whim and chance. Moses composes an infinitely beautiful description of God’s loving care in shaping all of creation for the benefit of man and woman. Now the sun and the moon are good forces from God’s hand to serve humanity with alternating light and darkness. As created elements of the universe, how could they be gods who dominate creation and require the sacrifice of human beings in homage to their power?
It is written that God took special care in the formation of Adam and Eve. They alone would be made in his image. God would form Adam from the dust of the ground like a potter shaping his pot. God would breathe into Adam the very breath of life and make him a living soul.
(Gen 2:7) “The Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature”.
In similar attentive fashion, Eve would be formed from the rib of Adam into a perfect companion.
(Gen 2:21–22) So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man.
What wonderful words of reassurance for Ezra’s audience! What a wonderful word for us! All people are God’s unique creation.
Through the power of sin, Satan who seduced mankind into sinning initially, we currently live in a culture where many have re-mythologized or re-invented a false learning about the sun and moon and galaxies. Powerful and prestigious voices suggest that human beings are simply accidents. Many in our day are convinced that all of us will simply be absorbed into the cold dark cosmos and be no more. In all truth the repugnant words and images coming to us in vivid colour on TV and social media screens, the inconceivable conflict on matters of politics, health, education, human rights, personal and national relationships etc. puts us and our hope for the future in pretty much the same state of mind as those downtrodden, depressed people of God returning home from exile. We thirst for hope, we are at risk of falling into helpless despair.
In such a context, how beautiful Moses’ words are! They are reason to be attentive and full of joy.
So, with the people of Ezra’s time, it is our calling as Christians to say “Amen!” and to worship God for how wonderfully he has made us. Like the people of Jerusalem in our Old Testament reading, we are called to live before him and in faith tend the world that he created for us.
Ezra’s people, hearing God’s Word read to them that day, also learned again that God had not abandoned them, his chosen nation. Even though Adam and Eve had turned away from God into self-absorption with the will to become like God, even though by eating of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil they had chosen not to be his innocent creatures in a perfect and beautiful world, God still had not left them. In generation after generation, God had invited the people to return to life before and with him.
In the Book of Genesis Ezra’s audience heard afresh about the promise of the woman’s Seed who would reverse the curse and consequences of Adam and Eve’s rebellion. They heard how that promise continued to be God’s gracious plan of deliverance through Seth, through Shem, through Abram, and through Judah.
In the Book of Exodus. The people heard again how God had delivered their ancestors from Egyptian captivity and caused his glory to dwell with them in the tabernacle. And the Book of Leviticus tells us that the sacrificial system was instituted with its attendant priesthood to provide forgiveness for the people’s failings and sins.
Ezra’s people were also privileged to hear Moses’ invitation at the very end of his book to return to God.
It is well summarised in (Deut 30:15–16) “See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil. 16 If you obey the commandments of the Lord your God that I command you today, by loving the Lord your God, by walking in his ways, and by keeping his commandments and his statutes and his rules, then you shall live and multiply, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land that you are entering to take possession of it”.
The people could see how God had indeed given them the land just as he had promised in the Book of Joshua. How meaningful that promise was for them these centuries later. These despairing and depressed people had spent the past 70 years in exile in Babylon dreaming of one day returning to the past glory of their beloved Jerusalem only to find it a shadow of its past glory. But in the public reading of the Holy Scriptures by Ezra the Word of God spoke hope and enthusiasm into their hearts and minds. In those sacred words was the power to set them on the path to rebuild their city and regenerate their lives, and their relationship with God.
Their feelings are captured in (Ps 126: 1-3) “When the Lord restored the fortunes of Zion, we were like those who dream. Then our mouth was filled with laughter, and our tongue with shouts of joy; then they said among the nations, “The Lord has done great things for them.” The Lord has done great things for us; we are glad”.
So, we can see afresh what good news came through the reading of Moses’ Torah—Moses’ book. Again, the psalmists capture the feelings of Ezra’s faithful hearers toward this good word from the Lord in (Ps 19:7–10) “The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul; the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple; the precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes; the fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever; the rules of the Lord are true, and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb”.
Indeed, as Ezra’s people listened and worshiped, they were surrounded by gracious signs of God’s abiding presence with them: the second temple of Zion’s was built, and the walls of Jerusalem being rebuilt.
God had brought his children home after decades of exile! What a story! What a message! What wonderful and beautiful truth!
And the great thing for you and for me is that we, too, are a part of this true and wonderful story!
Our situation is not unlike theirs. We live in a culture that devalues and reduces human significance. Some of our most prestigious universities are dominated by those who regard human beings as but an accident in the aimless evolutionary process of the cosmos. The quest for power, wealth and influence that prevails nationally as well as internationally corrodes our sense of personal identity
In such a context, you and I have every reason to say “Amen! Amen!” to Moses’ Torah—to Moses’ words.
Yes, we have every reason to join Ezra’s congregation in worshiping the true God, who not only created us in a wondrous fashion but now also comes to each of us in mercy and love—in the definitive fulfilment of all his promises. He comes in the gift of his very Son, Jesus, the woman’s Seed promised ever since Adam and Eve’s sin.
The brilliance of this reality is unveiled in the Epiphany season, in which the light of Jesus’ life, death, resurrection, and ascension drives out the darkness—the darkness that reduces human beings to mere material, accidental status.
(John 8:12) “Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”
Jesus, the Second Adam, fully displayed the wonder and beauty of human nature by becoming a man. As the Second Adam, he delighted in doing his Father’s will. His life displayed a profound affection and love for every human being as he invited each one of us to repentance and life with God.
(Lk 15:10) “Just so, I tell you, there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents”
Reflect with me on that passage for one last moment. God is so invested in us and in seeking each of us in Christ that not a single one of us, not a single human being, should feel unloved or insignificant. Our repentance — our turning to God — causes rejoicing among the angels.
Moses’ words thrilled and restored the people in Ezra’s day. They thrill and restore us too, for they point us to God’s saving gift of himself in his Son. The Sacred Scriptures of Christ bring us to delight in God into eternity. Friends in Christ, in faith there always is hope, and our hope is most assuredly in the name of the Lord. Amen
The love and peace of our Great triune God that is beyond all human understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
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