Psalm 19
Nehemiah 8:1-10
“Rehearing the Good News”
24 January 2016 St. Andrew’s
Military Chapel Singapore
You may be wondering why in the world I’m preaching from
Nehemiah. Well, I asked myself that same question over the last few days.
Nehemiah isn’t the most well known book in the Bible, nor do we really ever
hear sermons on this book. I know I’ve never preached on this short, yet
powerful book. Because Ezra and Nehemiah tend to get lost in the shadow of not
just the New Testament, but also the more familiar names of Isaiah, Ezekiel,
Joshua, Jeremiah, and Jonah I’m going to set a little background to this episode
in the life of Israel.
At this point in Israel’s history, they were still in exile.
Interestingly, their overlords were no longer Babylonian, but rather Persia.
Nehemiah was an attendant to the king at the time and, much like Joseph, had a
good relationship with his boss. Young Nehemiah learned through many sources
that Jerusalem was in abject disrepair and this sent him into a period of
fasting and mourning for the loss of his spiritual home. The king took notice
of how this news affected Nehemiah and gave him permission to travel to
Jerusalem and become the governor of Judea. When he arrived, Ezra was already
there as the priest and he set about taking a survey of the city and planning
for its restoration.
We join Nehemiah in this story just as he has completed
restoring the outer city wall and the return of many powerful exiles back to
Jerusalem. The restoration of that wall was a key event as the city could now
reasonably keep itself secure (or at least give the impression it was safe from
attack from outside armies). This appearance of safety is most likely the
reason for the vast influx of people back to Jerusalem and the eagerness with
which they provided money and gifts towards the work of the government and the
priests.
Today’s passage of Scripture focuses on the dedication of
the rebuilt wall. Much like any large scale building project, all of the
community was invited to the event to celebrate the accomplishment of a major
public project to thank those who performed the work, as well as those who
provided guidance and funding. Additionally, it was a chance for the community
to reflect on the importance of the wall to the life and culture of the
community. A few months ago, we experienced a similar event when the Terror
Club reopened after being closed all summer, giving us an indication of how
important that building and pool are to the heart and life of our own community
of American exiles.
But, this celebration had a twist that is rarely present in
any culture today, regardless of religion. The people specifically requested
Ezra to bring the Torah to the wall and read the law to the people. Now, we
typically see a chaplain or a pastor say a short prayer at our dedication
ceremonies, but I can honestly say I’ve never seen a community demand the
reading of Torah (or even a section of the Gospel) at a rededication ceremony.
Now, I know in our culture we’ll never really get to a point
where we read Scripture at the dedication of a public building, nor have we
ever been a society where that occurs. So, that isn’t what really struck me in
this passage. Rather, I was in awe at the reaction of the people to the reading
of Torah. Not a reading of poetry like today’s Psalm. They stayed with rapt
attention for six hours at the reading of Torah in the public square. So, in
honor of that if you’ll clear today’s schedule and turn with me to Leviticus…
Just kidding.
I know we all struggle with 20-30 minutes of reading
scripture on a regular basis, listening to sermons each week, or even short
prayers each and every day. Life gets in the way. So, six hours of Scripture in
one stretch just may be a bridge too far. I don’t think I ever did that much
Bible reading at one sitting even in seminary. And, let’s not put the culture
of 4th Century BC Israel on a high pedestal for they too had short
attention spans when it came to God. But, we have to respect hanging in there
for a reading of the law. It doesn’t say exactly what part of the Law of Moses
was spoken, but if Ezra started into Leviticus and Numbers I would have zoned
out and started playing Candy Crush on the phone.
So, what kept them there and what can we learn from this
whole story? First, there is a line in today’s Psalm that may give us a hint as
to what was happening at the Water Gate that day. In verse seven we hear, “The
law of the LORD is perfect, reviving the soul” and in verse nine we hear, “The
ordinances of the LORD are true and righteous altogether.” Now, I’m not sure
about everyone else, but I don’t tend to find rules about what I can and cannot
eat as a source of soul revival. Detailed descriptions of the tabernacle make
my eyes glaze over rather than light a fire in my eyes to renew my commitment
to God.
However, the people of Jerusalem were affected in such an
amazing way over these six hours such that they all went from there and
confessed their national sins and celebrated a rediscovered festival of the
booths. The words of Psalm 19 were a part of their religious life, so maybe
those played a part in the reaction we see in Nehemiah.
We should take from this reaction that Scripture has the
power to completely change our lives. It can help spur a complete turnaround in
our behavior, and thus the behavior of those all around us just as we see from
the residents of Jerusalem in this passage. We have probably seen evidence of
this not only in our lives, but in the lives of our wider church community. The
challenge is to cultivate a posture of reading Scripture that allows for that
possibility regardless of the book and chapter.
This means we have to take the challenge to read through all
of the Bible, even Leviticus and Numbers no matter how mundane it may seem at
first glance. Then we have to be open to letting the Spirit speak to us through
the stories we may not necessarily want to hear. All of Scripture is inspired
and has things we need to hear and digest to further our walk and journey to be
more Christ like in all aspects of our lives. There are ways to accomplish this
from using a daily lectionary that gets you through most of the Bible in two
years or one of the many apps that guide you through the Bible
(chronologically, straight through, etc.) in a year.
Another amazing thing is how scripture emotionally moves
people. We tend to not let things moves us from our ingrained stoicism. Best
not show emotions lest someone think we are unstable or that we are too happy
or too sad. Well, Scripture isn’t a neutral document so we should come away
from it moved in some way. Sometimes we’ll be overcome with joy, much like
Psalm 19 can invoke, to horror at the descriptions of genocide, to
disappointment at David over Bathsheba and Uriah, to despair at the cross, but
ultimately reassurance, confidence, relief, and a sense of hope and purpose at
the resurrection.
We need this wide range of emotions to drive our daily lives
to follow Christ. For the anger leads to justice, joy leads to compassion,
despair leads to empathy, and the confidence of resurrection leads to living a
life to follow Christ. So as we go forth today, let us leave with a renewed
enthusiasm for all that Scripture provides and provokes in our lives and how
even those passages we consider mundane and boring can guide us in a life
following Christ.
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