Every time I read the passage from John that we had as our gospel reading I have to hold back a sarcastic snort. And I believe that’s what John intends his readers to do. Jesus says to the Jews who had believed in him, “If you continue in my word you are truly my disciples and you will know the truth and the truth will make you free.” They respond, “We are descendants of Abraham and have never been slaves to anyone. What do you mean by saying, ‘You will be made free’?”
“…descendants of Abraham who have never been slaves to anyone.” Yeah, no. Their whole religious and national identity originated with being enslaved by the Egyptians for 400 years! Moses is the one whom God works through to free them from slavery. Then, when they did reach the Promised Land they were always struggling to fight of forces who wanted to oppress them. When they did manage to actually make a nation under King David it didn’t last long. Within two generations they had a civil war and split apart. The northern kingdom later collapsed to the Assyrians. The southern kingdom held on but they collapsed to the Babylonians. Who, as we’ve been recently talking about in worship, carted their leaders off into exile. From there it’s a story of domination and enslavement by every Middle Eastern and European empire that arose since the Bronze age: The Babylonians, the Persians, the Greeks, the Ptolemies, and the Seleucids. They managed to get freedom from the Seleucids for a few decades before being taken over by the Romans. In other words, they’ve been enslaved by everyone!
Are they really that blind to their own history?!? We do have to note that John’s gospel often creates these scenes where Jesus and others talk past each other. The results are often comic, as is the case here. But John uses it to convey meaning. Here it brings up a bigger question. Can you be enslaved and not even know it?
Ask an American if they’re enslaved and they’ll probably say no. With the exception of those of African American ancestry, and some of Chinese ancestry, they probably don’t have a history that includes slavery at all. Many will say, “Of course I’m not enslaved. It’s a free country. I get to choose my own life path. I have freedom of speech. I get to choose my own career. I get to choose my own spouse. I get to live where I want. And all of these rights are protected by the Constitution and cannot be taken away without due process of the law.”
Technically all of that is 100% correct. And yet, they may be deeply enslaved and have no idea of it; especially when we consider enslavement to sin.
To understand enslavement to sin we have to go back to the Adam and Eve stories in Genesis. They live in the Garden of Eden and are allowed complete freedom to do whatever they want. Except for one thing. They are not allowed to eat of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. So what do they do? They eat from it! The story goes downhill from there.
While eating what they are forbidden to eat is their physical disobedience, the name of the tree is significant. Adam and Eve want to claim for themselves the knowledge of good and evil. They believe that God is holding back on them – that God has made them somehow less than whole. And if they take this one step towards full self-actualization they will be made whole. And perhaps even better they think, they’ll have been made whole on their own terms; rather than on God’s terms.
That’s the fundamental disobedience and the fundamental distrust of God that all us humans are enslaved by. We just won’t trust God has actually made us whole and we decide we want to be our own source of self-fulfillment. Everything always goes wrong from there. Our own bid for freedom ends up enslaving us.
People think they’re free to do what they want.
I believe most people do what they feel pressured to do socially so that they fit in, are acceptable, and maybe even be highly regarded. But free? Mo.
I have some friends who live in Webster. It’s a mom and a dad, three kids of middle school and elementary school age plus a dog. I’ll call them a highly successful family. Both parents have jobs that are professional, public, and prestigious. There was only one problem. Until recently they lived in a pretty basic three bedroom split level house in the suburbs. I say “until recently” because last month they moved to a much larger stately four-bedroom home in a high-end neighborhood. Why did they make this move? Was there not enough room having three kids and a mom and dad in a basic three-bedroom house? No. It was perfectly fine. It was that that house was still their starter home. It was functional but relatively modest compared to the homes their professional colleagues were moving into. And their kids felt pressure from friends because all of their friends had better houses.
Now to be fair, the dad owns his own business and serves clients of great prestige. It would not look good for his business if he had to entertain clients at his home. It would be the wrong image. So, I don’t want to paint the family in a shallow or negative way. But they are an example of people who are not really free. Their old house was fine at a functional level. It had a big back yard and suited them well. Their new house has a tiny yard but is much more impressive to look at.
Buying the new house was somewhat of a stretch for them. They got into a bidding war, paid more than the asking price, and had to make the decision of forgoing the home inspection. Meanwhile, when they put their old home on the market they did find a couple buyers. But there was no bidding war and no offers over asking price; which they were kind of counting on.
So, there’s another form of enslavement. It’s not only enslavement to needing a house that sends the right message, it’s also enslavement to the financing of it. And of course with the new house comes higher maintenance bills, higher insurance bills, and higher property taxes. All of these will keep them working and working and working.
Are they truly free? Are they self-determining their lives, or is society leveraging them into an almost enslaved position?
Of course there are much more shallow things that enslave people: having the right friends, distancing from the wrong people, having a car, clothes, and vacations that all send the message of success.
Plus, these days there’s the enslavement to youth sports. Prior to the pandemic I thought sports were getting out of hand for many people. It’s only gotten worse since then. There is great pressure for all kids to be in sports and to accel in them. Never mind that every pediatrician and youth psychologist that I’ve talked to says that a light level of youth sports is beneficial, but this level is detrimental to both physical and mental health. So… freedom? I think not. We’re destroying the fabric of our selves from childhood.
Jesus says that his disciples will know the truth and the truth will make them free. I think the first step is recognizing our own enslavement to many things. For the things I’ve listed already are just a partial list.
It is Reformation Sunday. We celebrate Martin Luther posting the 95 Theses. Those theses can give us some wisdom for our situation. The first thesis is, “When our Lord and Master Jesus Christ said, ‘Repent’, he willed the entire life of believers to be one of repentance.” Then thesis two, “This word cannot be understood as referring to the sacrament of penance, that is, confession and satisfaction, as administered by the clergy.” And we’ll roll on into thesis three, “Yet it does not mean solely inner repentance; such inner repentance is worthless unless it produces various outward mortifications of the flesh.”
Theologian David Losse says that for Luther, true repentance is a kind of truth telling that allows you to be honest about how you are deceiving yourself, or letting yourself to be deceived by the world. That at least gives you an opportunity to think and speak and act differently. Or to put it another way, to live in freedom.
We can never be free if we can never even identify the things that enslave us, and realize just how much of our lives that enslavement drains away. Recognizing that enslavement may not free us in and of itself. But it is the first step.
How much of what you put your time, your thoughts, and your money towards is really about fulfilling who God made you to be, and how much of it is about succumbing to pressures of getting acceptance or keeping up a necessary image for the world? I don’t mean this as if we’re being shallow ‘surface looks oriented’ people. I mean it as the necessities imposed upon us by society that enslave us, even if in our hearts we know it isn’t life-giving; or perhaps know it is even downright wrong.
Such freedom is not easy to attain as individuals. Part of the power of the church is that it is a community that builds itself around God’s priorities and God’s purposes for wholeness. The church isn’t perfect. But when it is good it provides a community of faith and truth.
Jesus would free us from all that binds us. Jesus wishes to give us a permanent place in God’s household. We need to recognize our enslavement and pray for God to give us perspectives and priorities that put us in his kingdom this day and every day. For that is truly wholeness of life even it if does not look at all like the way the world defines it.
Monday, October 26, 2026
Monday, October 19, 2026
October 18, 2026 Problematic Religious Fervor Ezra 9-10
What are we to make of Ezra? Last Sunday I’d warned that we’d be reading about something he does that we’ll probably disagree with. We’ll remember from last Sunday that Ezra was a skilled scribe who was deeply devoted to the religious laws. We were told that, “…the hand of the Lord his God was upon him.” Ezra led a group of Jews from Babylon to resettle in Jerusalem. It was a long and perilous journey but it went smoothly. Ezra and the group he led arrived in Jerusalem.
Somehow, we are not told how, (for the book of Ezra jumps and skips around a lot) once in Jerusalem Ezra rises to a position of power and leadership. He is informed that certain Jews have broken the law by marrying non-Jews. Ezra feels that this makes the whole of the Jewish people guilty by this breaking of the religious laws. It is not just those who did it who are guilty. A group of other officials propose to Ezra that all the foreign wives have to be divorced from their husbands and the children they have together also be separated and sent away. Ezra decides to follow through with their advice.
Biblical scholar David Clines notes this, “It is hard to fault the desire of the beleaguered postexilic community to maintain its own distinctive way of life, its religion, and its language, but it is harder still for modern readers to sympathize with the drastic solution proposed in this narrative. Hints of opposition, in the presence of non-Jewish persons even in noble families in subsequent generations,… suggest that Ezra’s decision was regarded as extreme even within the postexilic community itself.” (Harper Collins Study Bible, 1993, Pg. 714-5)
Indeed, this action of Ezra’s is problematic at many levels. Perhaps there is something inside ourselves that is racist and secretly feels it is wrong for people of different races to marry. But even if that is the case, these people are all of the same race! That can’t be Ezra’s motive.
The officials who approach Ezra with the problem cite the law about staying separate from other peoples of the region. They list: the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, and Ammonites, the Moabites, the Egyptians, and the Amorites. They are, at least in some way, correct. Deuteronomy 7:1-4 does tell them not to marry people of these nations. The reason given is that intermarriage will draw the Jewish people away from following God alone. The problem is that most all of these nations no longer exist in Ezra’s time. Their foreign religions, which were apparently active centuries before, had gone. It seems most likely that in Ezra’s time the whole area – both Jews and non-Jews were worshipping with at least some form of God that the Jews would recognize as valid.
Then there is another problem. King David – the great King David to whom God had promised a lineage of Jewish leadership forever – had at least one of his grandmothers from this list of forbidden people. In other words, according to Ezra’s decree, David would have had to have been thrown out.
This whole thing is problematic. Ezra’s actions are cruel, based on warped theology, and based on a selective reading of history.
Some of the biblical scholars I read in preparation for today point out that there may be political and social dynamics at work behind the scenes that pressured Ezra into this action. That’s possible. The book of Ezra appears to be a disjointed cobbled together account of the time period. Even if this is so, Ezra’s decision still sits wrong on many levels.
It is a sad scene indeed when all the people are commanded by Ezra to assemble in Jerusalem for the announcement of his decision. The Bible tells us the people sat in the open square in front of the temple, trembling because of the heavy rain. Scholars’ best guess is that the date is December 18, 397 B.C.E. (Interpreter’s Bible, Volume 3, Pg. 655)
People were forced to sit outside in a heavy cold December rain! Remember, they were commanded to assemble upon penalty of having all their property forfeited and they themselves banned from the community. They had no choice. Do you remember from what we read last week that before the people set out on their long journey on foot to Jerusalem from Babylon Ezra had them fast for three days! Wouldn’t you want to pack yourself full of food before you set out on a 900+ mile walk instead of half starving yourself? What kind of a person was this Ezra?!?
Inasmuch as the book of Ezra records an important part of Jewish history that is nowhere else recorded, Ezra truly has value. But as an example of leadership and faith, Ezra himself appears to be a dangerous religious fanatic. He crosses the line from strict orthodoxy to cruelty.
Perhaps it is good that the Bible gives us this example of faith. It is worth noting that nowhere in the Bible is Ezra praised or raised as an example to live by. Maybe he is a warning to us – that faith, fanatically followed and wrongly applied, can hurt a lot of people.
Again, for Ezra to reach his conclusion that all marriages to a foreigner must be ended and the spouses and children be cast out, he’s pulling the religious laws out of context and selectively choosing bits of history.
We have a significant political election coming up in a couple of weeks. If you’re like me you’re being bombarded with political ads. They’re on TV. They’re on the internet. I get phone calls and text messages. There are signs lining the roads everywhere you go. I had to go to Zion Lutheran Church in Cohocton last week. It’s on Dansville St. in Cohocton. Dansville St. is a dead end street not even a half mile long. There might be ten houses on it at most. And, sure enough, there were political signs along the road! Who’s going to see them?!?
How much of what the ads are saying, regardless of the party that they support, is only part of the truth? They feel like Ezra with his selective use of history and warped sense of the law.
Almost everything is negative. These ads are not created by accident. You know well enough that the parties have political strategists working behind the scenes to come up with whatever will work best. It appears that attacks and negativity are the strategy of the day. Even when a candidate’s ad says what he or she will do, it’s still framed in the context of making the opponent look like an imbecile.
It is always dangerous to selectively use facts to support your point of view, and to ignore those that do not support your point of view. The world is immensely complex and messy. Leadership should always make its decisions based upon the fullest and best evidence available. Indeed, when it comes to laws and putting them into action someone almost always benefits and someone gets hurt. That’s unavoidable. But it doesn’t reach the level of cruelty that widely destroys lives.
Earlier this year we read pretty much all of Matthew’s gospel during Sunday worship. We saw that Jesus took the religious laws and interpreted them in a way that made them even more stringent than they were originally. Does that make Jesus even harsher than Ezra?
That’s the contrast that teaches our faith and informs our lives. Jesus did indeed say things like, “You have heard that it was said to those of ancient times, ‘You shall not murder’… but I say to you that if you are angry with a brother or sister you will be liable to judgment…” (Matthew 5:21-22) But Jesus’ intentions were quite different than Ezra’s. Jesus’ intention was to drive all people to recognize their need for God’s grace. Jesus was pointing out that the human way of thinking pretty much always leads to harm and destruction. But someone who recognizes this tendency, and accepts the need for God’s unearnable favor (God’s grace), has a sense of humility that brings about restraint.
That is where I take issue with Ezra. His religious devotion is commendable. But he used it to give himself the moral high ground and bluntly attacked all who disagreed.
Regardless of the outcome of the upcoming elections, and regardless of our nation’s laws and policies, our devotion is to the way Jesus calls us to live. That is to first recognize our own limitations, flaws, and weaknesses; and then humbly work constructively from there. That is a way of life that is unlikely to make us rich or make us powerful, but it is the way God’s love is made real in this world.
Somehow, we are not told how, (for the book of Ezra jumps and skips around a lot) once in Jerusalem Ezra rises to a position of power and leadership. He is informed that certain Jews have broken the law by marrying non-Jews. Ezra feels that this makes the whole of the Jewish people guilty by this breaking of the religious laws. It is not just those who did it who are guilty. A group of other officials propose to Ezra that all the foreign wives have to be divorced from their husbands and the children they have together also be separated and sent away. Ezra decides to follow through with their advice.
Biblical scholar David Clines notes this, “It is hard to fault the desire of the beleaguered postexilic community to maintain its own distinctive way of life, its religion, and its language, but it is harder still for modern readers to sympathize with the drastic solution proposed in this narrative. Hints of opposition, in the presence of non-Jewish persons even in noble families in subsequent generations,… suggest that Ezra’s decision was regarded as extreme even within the postexilic community itself.” (Harper Collins Study Bible, 1993, Pg. 714-5)
Indeed, this action of Ezra’s is problematic at many levels. Perhaps there is something inside ourselves that is racist and secretly feels it is wrong for people of different races to marry. But even if that is the case, these people are all of the same race! That can’t be Ezra’s motive.
The officials who approach Ezra with the problem cite the law about staying separate from other peoples of the region. They list: the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, and Ammonites, the Moabites, the Egyptians, and the Amorites. They are, at least in some way, correct. Deuteronomy 7:1-4 does tell them not to marry people of these nations. The reason given is that intermarriage will draw the Jewish people away from following God alone. The problem is that most all of these nations no longer exist in Ezra’s time. Their foreign religions, which were apparently active centuries before, had gone. It seems most likely that in Ezra’s time the whole area – both Jews and non-Jews were worshipping with at least some form of God that the Jews would recognize as valid.
Then there is another problem. King David – the great King David to whom God had promised a lineage of Jewish leadership forever – had at least one of his grandmothers from this list of forbidden people. In other words, according to Ezra’s decree, David would have had to have been thrown out.
This whole thing is problematic. Ezra’s actions are cruel, based on warped theology, and based on a selective reading of history.
Some of the biblical scholars I read in preparation for today point out that there may be political and social dynamics at work behind the scenes that pressured Ezra into this action. That’s possible. The book of Ezra appears to be a disjointed cobbled together account of the time period. Even if this is so, Ezra’s decision still sits wrong on many levels.
It is a sad scene indeed when all the people are commanded by Ezra to assemble in Jerusalem for the announcement of his decision. The Bible tells us the people sat in the open square in front of the temple, trembling because of the heavy rain. Scholars’ best guess is that the date is December 18, 397 B.C.E. (Interpreter’s Bible, Volume 3, Pg. 655)
People were forced to sit outside in a heavy cold December rain! Remember, they were commanded to assemble upon penalty of having all their property forfeited and they themselves banned from the community. They had no choice. Do you remember from what we read last week that before the people set out on their long journey on foot to Jerusalem from Babylon Ezra had them fast for three days! Wouldn’t you want to pack yourself full of food before you set out on a 900+ mile walk instead of half starving yourself? What kind of a person was this Ezra?!?
Inasmuch as the book of Ezra records an important part of Jewish history that is nowhere else recorded, Ezra truly has value. But as an example of leadership and faith, Ezra himself appears to be a dangerous religious fanatic. He crosses the line from strict orthodoxy to cruelty.
Perhaps it is good that the Bible gives us this example of faith. It is worth noting that nowhere in the Bible is Ezra praised or raised as an example to live by. Maybe he is a warning to us – that faith, fanatically followed and wrongly applied, can hurt a lot of people.
Again, for Ezra to reach his conclusion that all marriages to a foreigner must be ended and the spouses and children be cast out, he’s pulling the religious laws out of context and selectively choosing bits of history.
We have a significant political election coming up in a couple of weeks. If you’re like me you’re being bombarded with political ads. They’re on TV. They’re on the internet. I get phone calls and text messages. There are signs lining the roads everywhere you go. I had to go to Zion Lutheran Church in Cohocton last week. It’s on Dansville St. in Cohocton. Dansville St. is a dead end street not even a half mile long. There might be ten houses on it at most. And, sure enough, there were political signs along the road! Who’s going to see them?!?
How much of what the ads are saying, regardless of the party that they support, is only part of the truth? They feel like Ezra with his selective use of history and warped sense of the law.
Almost everything is negative. These ads are not created by accident. You know well enough that the parties have political strategists working behind the scenes to come up with whatever will work best. It appears that attacks and negativity are the strategy of the day. Even when a candidate’s ad says what he or she will do, it’s still framed in the context of making the opponent look like an imbecile.
It is always dangerous to selectively use facts to support your point of view, and to ignore those that do not support your point of view. The world is immensely complex and messy. Leadership should always make its decisions based upon the fullest and best evidence available. Indeed, when it comes to laws and putting them into action someone almost always benefits and someone gets hurt. That’s unavoidable. But it doesn’t reach the level of cruelty that widely destroys lives.
Earlier this year we read pretty much all of Matthew’s gospel during Sunday worship. We saw that Jesus took the religious laws and interpreted them in a way that made them even more stringent than they were originally. Does that make Jesus even harsher than Ezra?
That’s the contrast that teaches our faith and informs our lives. Jesus did indeed say things like, “You have heard that it was said to those of ancient times, ‘You shall not murder’… but I say to you that if you are angry with a brother or sister you will be liable to judgment…” (Matthew 5:21-22) But Jesus’ intentions were quite different than Ezra’s. Jesus’ intention was to drive all people to recognize their need for God’s grace. Jesus was pointing out that the human way of thinking pretty much always leads to harm and destruction. But someone who recognizes this tendency, and accepts the need for God’s unearnable favor (God’s grace), has a sense of humility that brings about restraint.
That is where I take issue with Ezra. His religious devotion is commendable. But he used it to give himself the moral high ground and bluntly attacked all who disagreed.
Regardless of the outcome of the upcoming elections, and regardless of our nation’s laws and policies, our devotion is to the way Jesus calls us to live. That is to first recognize our own limitations, flaws, and weaknesses; and then humbly work constructively from there. That is a way of life that is unlikely to make us rich or make us powerful, but it is the way God’s love is made real in this world.
Monday, October 12, 2026
October 11, 2026 Faith and Uncertainty Ezra 7-8
When I was a kid I wanted to have faith the way it seemed biblical heroes did. They seemed to have perfect confidence in God’s deliverance and acted with the same complete confidence. In the story of David and Goliath David seems completely certain he will take down Goliath. Goliath was reportedly a huge warrior. He is strong, skilled, and well-armed with both offensive and defensive weapons. By contrast David is a boy so puny and weak that when they put armor on him he couldn’t walk because of the weight. So David sets it aside. He grabs his sling and five small stones and goes to face Goliath. Goliath disdained David for his youth but David says to him, “You come to me with sword and spear and javelin; but I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. This very day the Lord will deliver you into my hand…” (1 Samuel 17:45-46a) Then David walked towards him, puts a stone in his sling and with one shot takes Goliath down with a hit on his forehead. David prevails.
Or Daniel in the lion’s den. Daniel is a Jew living in Persia who has arisen to great power. But a plot is hatched against him by those jealous of his power, and his punishment is execution by lions. He’s thrown into a den of ravenous lions and sealed in by a stone. The next morning, the king, who didn’t want Daniel to be hurt but had no choice because of the nature of the plot, checks on Daniel. Daniel is perfectly fine and says, while still in the midst of the lions, “My God sent his angel and shut the lions’ mouths so that they would not hurt me, because I was found blameless before him.” (Daniel 6:22) He seems to not be anxious at all, knowing that God would supernaturally protect him. And if he did have any doubts, it is clear that he is blameless before God. Again, a great example of faith.
Or Abraham, who at 70 years of age is called by God to pack up and move to an unknown place to be revealed in the future. And so, without any real doubts or questions about details, Abraham packs up his belongings and takes his whole family to move who knows where.
There are many more such stories; people who seem to have absolutely perfect confidence in God and trust God completely and without doubt. They seem completely unconcerned about insurmountable problems or deadly situations. They go in holding their head high and without a drop of sweat on their foreheads.
Yes, I wanted to have faith like that. I thought all the people in the Bible had faith like that. Or at least all the good people in the Bible. For the bad people lacked faith and bad things happened to them pretty quickly. In the case of Daneil in the lion’s den, immediately after Daniel is pulled out those who plotted to have him killed are rounded up. They are thrown into the den of lions and the lions kill them before they even reach the ground.
Somehow I never heard the story of Ezra that we read today. Ezra is described as deeply faith-filled man. Our reading of Ezra 7 said he was a scribe skilled in the law of Moses that the Lord the God of Israel had given. (Ezra 7:6) He is later described as, “…having set his heart to study the law of the Lord and to do it, and to teach the statutes and ordinances in Israel.” (Ezra 7:10)
You probably know that the statutes and ordinances are lengthy and tedious. Many people commit to reading the Bible. They start in Genesis and get through it okay. Exodus gets a bit tedious but people plow through. Then they reach Leviticus and Numbers and they give up. This is the stuff that Ezra seems to want to dwell with. So I’d say he is a person of impressive faith.
We learn that he feels called by God to leave Babylon and return to Israel. He will lead a large group of others to do the same. It appears that not all of the Jews held captive in Babylon left the moment they were allowed. Some did. Some stayed permanently. But there were several waves of people who migrated back over time. Ezra led one such bunch.
Given Ezra’s faith and commitment I’d expect him to lead with the certainty of people like Abraham, Daniel, and David. He’d just take charge, and knowing that God was with him, would confidently lead people on the 900-mile journey back to the Promised Land.
But he does something that feels much more like the kind of faith I’d be likely to have. He trusts God. He believes he’s doing the right thing. He’s not so afraid that he doesn’t act. But he’s not 100% perfectly confident either. We read him saying before they set out, “Then I proclaimed a fast there, at the river Ahava, that we might fast before our God, to seek from him a safe journey for ourselves, our children, and all our possessions. For I was ashamed to ask the king for a band of soldiers and cavalry to protect us against the enemy on our way, since we had told the king that the hand of our God is gracious to all who seek him, but his power and his wrath are against all who forsake him.” (Ezra 8:21-23)
So, Ezra’s at least a little anxious. He knows God’s promises. He wants to trust God, and he ultimately does, but he’s still unsure. If he asks the king for protection, then is he not trusting God fully? …especially after he’s assured the Persian king that God would protect them. So his faith in God has back him into an uneasy situation. He wants to fully trust God, but he’d also really like to have some earthly protection with him too.
I think our faith can relate to feelings like these. Perhaps people like Abraham, David, and Daniel also felt the same way. The Bible doesn’t say. But at least some of the biblical heroes reveal they had some faith struggles. We aren’t alone, and we aren’t lacking in faith when we feel the way we often feel. We want a bit more certainty from God.
Ezra had additional reason to be worried. He not only was responsible for safely leading what was presumably a large group of people on a 900 plus mile journey. He also had enormous wealth entrusted to him. The text of Ezra says 650 talents of silver and one hundred silver vessels worth an unspecified number of talents. Plus 100 talents of gold and 20 gold bowls worth a 1000 darics.
Assuming you don’t regularly do business in currency like talents and darics, let’s make a translation. The amounts work out to 19 tons of silver and 3 tons of gold – all intended to be used to adorn the temple. At the current price of these metals, I calculate that to be $35,872,000 in silver and $389,592,000 in gold. That’s a grand total of $334,464,000 worth of value Ezra is responsible for safely transporting on a 900 plus mile trip on foot. No wonder he was thinking it would be best to have an armed guard with him!
Now, every biblical scholar I consulted says these amounts must be hugely exaggerated, or else the amounts are erroneous. There’s no way the Persians were going to send a bunch of Jews out of Babylon with 22 tons of precious metals. They may have been allowed to take some, but nowhere near that much. Regardless of the actual amount, it is a significant enough sum that it had to be kept secret. The group of travelers would be a target for every band of marauders and thieves in the region.
All of this adds to the stress Ezra felt as he kept his trust in God alone.
Do we sometimes find ourselves willing to trust God in something, but wishing there wasn’t so much value on the line? We may easily be willing to trust God in many things. But when it’s a life and death situation, or when the lives and futures of other people are on the line, we may tremble at the prospect.
And how many times have people prayed to God in near terror for the life of a loved one who has been injured or who needs delicate surgery? How many times have our hearts and motives been absolutely pure and selfless as we come to God with things, and find those prayers are not answered?
Forget asking for supernatural protection, how many times do we ask for something good and reasonable and well within the normal processes of life, but they don’t work out?
Things worked out for Ezra’s journey. But he appears to have been anxious ahead of time. We should not feel bad or weak when our fears creep deeply into our faith.
One of the things about faith that Martin Luther would bring up is the constant battle we face with doubts and a lack of trust with God. Luther would say that the ability to trust God at all is an act of grace, and that there is no way whatsoever that a human can actually trust God on the strength of his or her own will.
God is not stingy with things like love and like inspiring trust in him. But there are many things that surround us every moment of every day that challenge that trust. We shouldn’t feel bad when we fail. We know that God’s grace continues to come to us.
Next week we’re going to find Ezra doing something that we’ll think is truly wrong and offensive, but Ezra thought it was essential for faithfulness. No matter how hard we try, our faith will not be perfect, and we will not be in perfect agreement with other people of faith. But the point is to keep turning to God in trust, and trusting that God will continue to hold onto us.
Or Daniel in the lion’s den. Daniel is a Jew living in Persia who has arisen to great power. But a plot is hatched against him by those jealous of his power, and his punishment is execution by lions. He’s thrown into a den of ravenous lions and sealed in by a stone. The next morning, the king, who didn’t want Daniel to be hurt but had no choice because of the nature of the plot, checks on Daniel. Daniel is perfectly fine and says, while still in the midst of the lions, “My God sent his angel and shut the lions’ mouths so that they would not hurt me, because I was found blameless before him.” (Daniel 6:22) He seems to not be anxious at all, knowing that God would supernaturally protect him. And if he did have any doubts, it is clear that he is blameless before God. Again, a great example of faith.
Or Abraham, who at 70 years of age is called by God to pack up and move to an unknown place to be revealed in the future. And so, without any real doubts or questions about details, Abraham packs up his belongings and takes his whole family to move who knows where.
There are many more such stories; people who seem to have absolutely perfect confidence in God and trust God completely and without doubt. They seem completely unconcerned about insurmountable problems or deadly situations. They go in holding their head high and without a drop of sweat on their foreheads.
Yes, I wanted to have faith like that. I thought all the people in the Bible had faith like that. Or at least all the good people in the Bible. For the bad people lacked faith and bad things happened to them pretty quickly. In the case of Daneil in the lion’s den, immediately after Daniel is pulled out those who plotted to have him killed are rounded up. They are thrown into the den of lions and the lions kill them before they even reach the ground.
Somehow I never heard the story of Ezra that we read today. Ezra is described as deeply faith-filled man. Our reading of Ezra 7 said he was a scribe skilled in the law of Moses that the Lord the God of Israel had given. (Ezra 7:6) He is later described as, “…having set his heart to study the law of the Lord and to do it, and to teach the statutes and ordinances in Israel.” (Ezra 7:10)
You probably know that the statutes and ordinances are lengthy and tedious. Many people commit to reading the Bible. They start in Genesis and get through it okay. Exodus gets a bit tedious but people plow through. Then they reach Leviticus and Numbers and they give up. This is the stuff that Ezra seems to want to dwell with. So I’d say he is a person of impressive faith.
We learn that he feels called by God to leave Babylon and return to Israel. He will lead a large group of others to do the same. It appears that not all of the Jews held captive in Babylon left the moment they were allowed. Some did. Some stayed permanently. But there were several waves of people who migrated back over time. Ezra led one such bunch.
Given Ezra’s faith and commitment I’d expect him to lead with the certainty of people like Abraham, Daniel, and David. He’d just take charge, and knowing that God was with him, would confidently lead people on the 900-mile journey back to the Promised Land.
But he does something that feels much more like the kind of faith I’d be likely to have. He trusts God. He believes he’s doing the right thing. He’s not so afraid that he doesn’t act. But he’s not 100% perfectly confident either. We read him saying before they set out, “Then I proclaimed a fast there, at the river Ahava, that we might fast before our God, to seek from him a safe journey for ourselves, our children, and all our possessions. For I was ashamed to ask the king for a band of soldiers and cavalry to protect us against the enemy on our way, since we had told the king that the hand of our God is gracious to all who seek him, but his power and his wrath are against all who forsake him.” (Ezra 8:21-23)
So, Ezra’s at least a little anxious. He knows God’s promises. He wants to trust God, and he ultimately does, but he’s still unsure. If he asks the king for protection, then is he not trusting God fully? …especially after he’s assured the Persian king that God would protect them. So his faith in God has back him into an uneasy situation. He wants to fully trust God, but he’d also really like to have some earthly protection with him too.
I think our faith can relate to feelings like these. Perhaps people like Abraham, David, and Daniel also felt the same way. The Bible doesn’t say. But at least some of the biblical heroes reveal they had some faith struggles. We aren’t alone, and we aren’t lacking in faith when we feel the way we often feel. We want a bit more certainty from God.
Ezra had additional reason to be worried. He not only was responsible for safely leading what was presumably a large group of people on a 900 plus mile journey. He also had enormous wealth entrusted to him. The text of Ezra says 650 talents of silver and one hundred silver vessels worth an unspecified number of talents. Plus 100 talents of gold and 20 gold bowls worth a 1000 darics.
Assuming you don’t regularly do business in currency like talents and darics, let’s make a translation. The amounts work out to 19 tons of silver and 3 tons of gold – all intended to be used to adorn the temple. At the current price of these metals, I calculate that to be $35,872,000 in silver and $389,592,000 in gold. That’s a grand total of $334,464,000 worth of value Ezra is responsible for safely transporting on a 900 plus mile trip on foot. No wonder he was thinking it would be best to have an armed guard with him!
Now, every biblical scholar I consulted says these amounts must be hugely exaggerated, or else the amounts are erroneous. There’s no way the Persians were going to send a bunch of Jews out of Babylon with 22 tons of precious metals. They may have been allowed to take some, but nowhere near that much. Regardless of the actual amount, it is a significant enough sum that it had to be kept secret. The group of travelers would be a target for every band of marauders and thieves in the region.
All of this adds to the stress Ezra felt as he kept his trust in God alone.
Do we sometimes find ourselves willing to trust God in something, but wishing there wasn’t so much value on the line? We may easily be willing to trust God in many things. But when it’s a life and death situation, or when the lives and futures of other people are on the line, we may tremble at the prospect.
And how many times have people prayed to God in near terror for the life of a loved one who has been injured or who needs delicate surgery? How many times have our hearts and motives been absolutely pure and selfless as we come to God with things, and find those prayers are not answered?
Forget asking for supernatural protection, how many times do we ask for something good and reasonable and well within the normal processes of life, but they don’t work out?
Things worked out for Ezra’s journey. But he appears to have been anxious ahead of time. We should not feel bad or weak when our fears creep deeply into our faith.
One of the things about faith that Martin Luther would bring up is the constant battle we face with doubts and a lack of trust with God. Luther would say that the ability to trust God at all is an act of grace, and that there is no way whatsoever that a human can actually trust God on the strength of his or her own will.
God is not stingy with things like love and like inspiring trust in him. But there are many things that surround us every moment of every day that challenge that trust. We shouldn’t feel bad when we fail. We know that God’s grace continues to come to us.
Next week we’re going to find Ezra doing something that we’ll think is truly wrong and offensive, but Ezra thought it was essential for faithfulness. No matter how hard we try, our faith will not be perfect, and we will not be in perfect agreement with other people of faith. But the point is to keep turning to God in trust, and trusting that God will continue to hold onto us.
Monday, October 5, 2026
October 4, 2026 Right from Whose Perspective? Ezra 4-6
Lutherans believe that the Bible is inspired by God and is the ultimate authority in all matters of faith and doctrine. That’s loaded statement, however, because it can be interpreted very broadly. It also doesn’t offer us a whole lot of help with the passage we read from Ezra 4-6 today.
There’s a major problem with these chapters. They depict the ancient Jews running into problems as they try to rebuild the temple after returning from decades of exile in Babylon. It’s late in the 6th century B.C.E. The returned exiles have cleared the temple site of rubble and relayed the foundation. We read about that last Sunday. Now they’re building above ground and the work is clearly noticeable. Ezra tells us that “adversaries” of the Jews heard of this work. The text says that the adversaries are people who were brought to the land by the Assyrians a long time before. Indeed, other historical sources agree that about 150 years before the Assyrians did import colonists from other parts of their empire to settle in northern Israel. These people would not have been Jews and they would not have believed what Jews believed.
Interestingly, however, these non-Jewish people offer to help build the temple. Why? Why would you offer to help Jews build their holiest building in their holiest city if you don’t live by Jewish religious beliefs? Ezra calls them “adversaries.” If they were adversaries, then maybe their offer to help was intended for sabotage. Or perhaps it was a genuine offer; but these non-Jews felt that by offering to help they would be able to use the temple for their religious beliefs too. In a time and place where many religions mixed regularly that may have been acceptable to some. But for the ancient Jews their religion needed to remain pure and uncompromised. Some biblical scholars theorize that perhaps these adversaries were actually in power in area and they were hoping to increase their influence, or at least not have their influenced decreased, by offering to help with the temple.
Whatever was the case, the Jews rejected their offer. We’re told that the adversaries then discouraged the people of Judah, they made them afraid, and they bribed officials to frustrate the Jews’ plans. They sound like a pretty immoral bunch. There’s no wonder you wouldn’t want to work with them! That is certainly what Ezra wants to depict them as.
The adversaries are successful. Work on the temple stops. It stops for about 17 years. Remember that the whole region was ruled by the Persians at this time. Persian King Cyrus, who allowed the Jews to rebuild dies. Persia goes into turmoil. Within a couple years Darius arises to rule Persia. There is much confusion as to who is trustworthy and who is not. Given the instability and the question of loyalties we can understand why Ezra records in chapter 5 that Persian officials demanded proof for permission to rebuild the temple, and they wanted the names of those who were leading it so as to hold them accountable if it turns out they are being subversive.
But, with determination and patience, the correct documentation is found and work on the temple resumes. It is completed. As Ezra tells it, it was a lengthy and difficult process. But it was completed eventually. Ezra’s story is one of faithfulness, perseverance, commitment, and love of God that saw the massive project to its completion. It’s a great story and it can make for a great sermon.
But that story has a big problem.
Ezra isn’t the only part of the Bible that tells us about this time period. And Ezra isn’t the only part of the Bible that tells us about the delay. Ezra 5 even mentions two of the other biblical witnesses to this time period. They are the prophets Haggai and Zechariah. So we can very easily turn to the writings of those prophets and learn more from them.
The problem is, that their version of the delay in building the temple is almost the complete opposite of Ezra’s version.
This is something that is both puzzling and fascinating about our scripture. It frequently contradicts itself, and doesn’t seem at all bothered by the contradiction. I’ll return to that at the end of the sermon. Before that we want to look at the contradiction.
Remember that Ezra paints the returning Jews and their endeavors in a positive light. He depicts them as dedicated and faithful. They are good people with the right priorities who are overcoming practical and political obstacles in carrying out the will of God.
What does Haggai say? Haggai 1:1 starts off saying, “In the second year of King Darius in the sixth month, on the first day of the month, the word of the Lord came by the prophet Haggai to Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah.” In other words, Haggai is precisely describing the exact same people at the exact same time. From what we read in Ezra, we’d expect Haggai to say something like, “God is pleased with your diligence and your commitment to rebuilding the temple.” But what does Haggai say? “Thus says the Lord of hosts: These people say the time has not yet come to rebuild the Lord’s house.” And, “Is it a time for you yourselves to live in paneled houses, while this [temple] lies in ruins?” And then Haggai goes on to rip into the people for their wrong priorities.
As Haggai tells it, the Jewish leaders have the wrong priorities. They’ve focused on enriching themselves first, building themselves nice houses and comfortable lives, and they’ve ignored the work of the temple. Therefore, God is punishing them for their continued lack of faithfulness.
So which is it? Was the construction of the temple delayed because the Jewish leadership ran into fierce opposition, or was the construction of the temple delayed because the Jewish leadership was self-centered and basically lazy?
Ezra gives one story. Haggai gives another. Both are scripture; the ultimate authority in faith and doctrine.
I tend to believe Haggai more. Ezra frequently overlooks rough patches and puts a positive spin on things. And yet, Ezra does reference a number of things that can be verified by other independent historical sources. So you can’t just dismiss Ezra as wrong. From my own research I believe Ezra is correct in that there was official opposition from non-Jews to the reconstruction of the temple. Its construction was forced to cease for years. But then the people became complacent and stopped caring. They needed to be goaded to get back to work.
If that is the case, then we can understand the contradiction and learn from it. How many times do we start a task with commitment, but then the commitment wanes as time goes on?
How many times do we do things with mixed motives? The public face we put on something is virtuous, but there is a hidden benefit for us? Was the construction of the temple really about devotion to God for those Jewish leaders or was it mixed with motives of power and influence? When the promised benefits ceased, did the motive evaporate.
Proverbs 21:2 famously says, “All deeds are right in the eyes of the doer, but the Lord weighs the heart.”
Mark Oldenburg, my one seminary professor, said that we usually decide that we want to do something, then we invent a theology to justify it. How often do we want to do something, and then invent a morality to allow it?
“All deeds are right in the eyes of the doer.”
Earlier I promised that I’d wrap up with the way the scripture sometimes outright contradicts itself; and it doesn’t seem to be bothered by the contradiction at all. The Bible does that all over the place.
There’s a big part of me that wants the Bible to give me clear and specific answers to all questions. I want clear and specific advice for all situations. I want life to be able to be divided into good and bad, right and wrong. And then I will do what is good and right. (Or at least I tell myself that I will to do what is good and right. I’m probably lying to myself!) But the Bible does not give oversimplified answers to the all too complicated questions and problems of life.
I believe the Bible is inspired by God, and probably more deeply inspired by God than we may be ready to admit. For God has given us a collection of writings that, instead of giving absolute answers, gives us a framework for faithfully struggling with problems.
Haggai and Ezra flat out disagree with each other. Perhaps that’s unsettling, but their contradictions helps us to explore their own issues, and wrestle with our own issues in ways that are informed by faith.
I do not believe God has a scoreboard of the right and wrong things we have done. I do believe God will join us in the messy struggles of mixed motives and unclear answers, and then lead us faithfully forward.
Ultimately there is only one truth. That is the love of God as revealed to us in Jesus Christ. For Jesus is our friend, our Lord, and our Savior. Things done faithfully in Jesus’ name, even if we falter and struggle, are still things truly done for the glory of God.
There’s a major problem with these chapters. They depict the ancient Jews running into problems as they try to rebuild the temple after returning from decades of exile in Babylon. It’s late in the 6th century B.C.E. The returned exiles have cleared the temple site of rubble and relayed the foundation. We read about that last Sunday. Now they’re building above ground and the work is clearly noticeable. Ezra tells us that “adversaries” of the Jews heard of this work. The text says that the adversaries are people who were brought to the land by the Assyrians a long time before. Indeed, other historical sources agree that about 150 years before the Assyrians did import colonists from other parts of their empire to settle in northern Israel. These people would not have been Jews and they would not have believed what Jews believed.
Interestingly, however, these non-Jewish people offer to help build the temple. Why? Why would you offer to help Jews build their holiest building in their holiest city if you don’t live by Jewish religious beliefs? Ezra calls them “adversaries.” If they were adversaries, then maybe their offer to help was intended for sabotage. Or perhaps it was a genuine offer; but these non-Jews felt that by offering to help they would be able to use the temple for their religious beliefs too. In a time and place where many religions mixed regularly that may have been acceptable to some. But for the ancient Jews their religion needed to remain pure and uncompromised. Some biblical scholars theorize that perhaps these adversaries were actually in power in area and they were hoping to increase their influence, or at least not have their influenced decreased, by offering to help with the temple.
Whatever was the case, the Jews rejected their offer. We’re told that the adversaries then discouraged the people of Judah, they made them afraid, and they bribed officials to frustrate the Jews’ plans. They sound like a pretty immoral bunch. There’s no wonder you wouldn’t want to work with them! That is certainly what Ezra wants to depict them as.
The adversaries are successful. Work on the temple stops. It stops for about 17 years. Remember that the whole region was ruled by the Persians at this time. Persian King Cyrus, who allowed the Jews to rebuild dies. Persia goes into turmoil. Within a couple years Darius arises to rule Persia. There is much confusion as to who is trustworthy and who is not. Given the instability and the question of loyalties we can understand why Ezra records in chapter 5 that Persian officials demanded proof for permission to rebuild the temple, and they wanted the names of those who were leading it so as to hold them accountable if it turns out they are being subversive.
But, with determination and patience, the correct documentation is found and work on the temple resumes. It is completed. As Ezra tells it, it was a lengthy and difficult process. But it was completed eventually. Ezra’s story is one of faithfulness, perseverance, commitment, and love of God that saw the massive project to its completion. It’s a great story and it can make for a great sermon.
But that story has a big problem.
Ezra isn’t the only part of the Bible that tells us about this time period. And Ezra isn’t the only part of the Bible that tells us about the delay. Ezra 5 even mentions two of the other biblical witnesses to this time period. They are the prophets Haggai and Zechariah. So we can very easily turn to the writings of those prophets and learn more from them.
The problem is, that their version of the delay in building the temple is almost the complete opposite of Ezra’s version.
This is something that is both puzzling and fascinating about our scripture. It frequently contradicts itself, and doesn’t seem at all bothered by the contradiction. I’ll return to that at the end of the sermon. Before that we want to look at the contradiction.
Remember that Ezra paints the returning Jews and their endeavors in a positive light. He depicts them as dedicated and faithful. They are good people with the right priorities who are overcoming practical and political obstacles in carrying out the will of God.
What does Haggai say? Haggai 1:1 starts off saying, “In the second year of King Darius in the sixth month, on the first day of the month, the word of the Lord came by the prophet Haggai to Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah.” In other words, Haggai is precisely describing the exact same people at the exact same time. From what we read in Ezra, we’d expect Haggai to say something like, “God is pleased with your diligence and your commitment to rebuilding the temple.” But what does Haggai say? “Thus says the Lord of hosts: These people say the time has not yet come to rebuild the Lord’s house.” And, “Is it a time for you yourselves to live in paneled houses, while this [temple] lies in ruins?” And then Haggai goes on to rip into the people for their wrong priorities.
As Haggai tells it, the Jewish leaders have the wrong priorities. They’ve focused on enriching themselves first, building themselves nice houses and comfortable lives, and they’ve ignored the work of the temple. Therefore, God is punishing them for their continued lack of faithfulness.
So which is it? Was the construction of the temple delayed because the Jewish leadership ran into fierce opposition, or was the construction of the temple delayed because the Jewish leadership was self-centered and basically lazy?
Ezra gives one story. Haggai gives another. Both are scripture; the ultimate authority in faith and doctrine.
I tend to believe Haggai more. Ezra frequently overlooks rough patches and puts a positive spin on things. And yet, Ezra does reference a number of things that can be verified by other independent historical sources. So you can’t just dismiss Ezra as wrong. From my own research I believe Ezra is correct in that there was official opposition from non-Jews to the reconstruction of the temple. Its construction was forced to cease for years. But then the people became complacent and stopped caring. They needed to be goaded to get back to work.
If that is the case, then we can understand the contradiction and learn from it. How many times do we start a task with commitment, but then the commitment wanes as time goes on?
How many times do we do things with mixed motives? The public face we put on something is virtuous, but there is a hidden benefit for us? Was the construction of the temple really about devotion to God for those Jewish leaders or was it mixed with motives of power and influence? When the promised benefits ceased, did the motive evaporate.
Proverbs 21:2 famously says, “All deeds are right in the eyes of the doer, but the Lord weighs the heart.”
Mark Oldenburg, my one seminary professor, said that we usually decide that we want to do something, then we invent a theology to justify it. How often do we want to do something, and then invent a morality to allow it?
“All deeds are right in the eyes of the doer.”
Earlier I promised that I’d wrap up with the way the scripture sometimes outright contradicts itself; and it doesn’t seem to be bothered by the contradiction at all. The Bible does that all over the place.
There’s a big part of me that wants the Bible to give me clear and specific answers to all questions. I want clear and specific advice for all situations. I want life to be able to be divided into good and bad, right and wrong. And then I will do what is good and right. (Or at least I tell myself that I will to do what is good and right. I’m probably lying to myself!) But the Bible does not give oversimplified answers to the all too complicated questions and problems of life.
I believe the Bible is inspired by God, and probably more deeply inspired by God than we may be ready to admit. For God has given us a collection of writings that, instead of giving absolute answers, gives us a framework for faithfully struggling with problems.
Haggai and Ezra flat out disagree with each other. Perhaps that’s unsettling, but their contradictions helps us to explore their own issues, and wrestle with our own issues in ways that are informed by faith.
I do not believe God has a scoreboard of the right and wrong things we have done. I do believe God will join us in the messy struggles of mixed motives and unclear answers, and then lead us faithfully forward.
Ultimately there is only one truth. That is the love of God as revealed to us in Jesus Christ. For Jesus is our friend, our Lord, and our Savior. Things done faithfully in Jesus’ name, even if we falter and struggle, are still things truly done for the glory of God.
Wednesday, September 30, 2026
September 27, 2026 Forgiveness and Fresh Starts Ezra 3
There are many computer games where if you fail you just start over. You get a fresh and new attempt. In some computer games, you the player are not given the information you need to succeed. The idea is that you fail multiple times and start over. But each time you fail you learn something that you can apply in the future, and hopefully succeed.
I lack the eye-hand coordination for action games on computers. And in general I don’t find computer games to be all that fulfilling. But years ago there was a popular computer game I actually liked. It was called Civilization. I know it is still available but I haven’t played it in years.
The game starts off with the computer creating a world with land, oceans, rivers, mountains, forests, swamps and the like. The player is the leader of a civilization. The computer plops you somewhere in this world. It is your job to develop the civilization by building cities and infrastructure, by making scientific discoveries, and by managing resources. As you do this there are also several other civilizations that are forming. All the civilizations are competing. There are wars and conquests, trade, scientific advancement, and the economy to manage. Resources may fail or be captured. The ultimate goal is to rule the world. The competitors were usually pretty ruthless. If at the beginning you find that the computer has located you on a tiny island, or in a swamp, or someplace too inhospitable, you’re going to have a rough time of it. You just won’t develop fast enough and some other civilization with conquer you. If you realize it’s a hopeless case, or you can tell that your demise is immanent, you can just quit. You erase the game and start over.
I never got very good at the game. I never managed to win at the difficult levels. To the extent that the game is realistic I guess that means I’d make a poor leader of a civilization! My point though, is that you could just quit and start over with a clean slate. All the old mistakes were wiped away and you could start fresh and new.
It would be nice if real life were the same way. It would be nice if life gave you a number of “do-overs”. Perhaps you made a mistake, or you tried something that failed, and you wish you could just easily erase it and begin again; this time hopefully wiser.
But life isn’t often that way. Most of the time you’re stuck with dealing with your own messes. Actions have consequences after all. It may take a long time to recover from some things.
But sometimes life does give you a chance at a fresh start. Many people emigrating to America feel that way. America itself felt that way in its early decades. It was a new country in a new land with a new form of government. Its leaders wanted to learn from the mistakes of Europe and keep the place good and pure. It was a wonderful desire. But humans being humans, we did what we always do. We make a mess of things.
I believe the Jewish people that we read about in Ezra 3 felt like they had a clean slate to make a new beginning. You’ll remember from last week that early in the 6th century B.C. the Babylonians had conquered Jerusalem and destroyed it. They had taken many of the leading Jewish citizens to live in exile in Babylon. Many of the Jews enculturated to Babylon. But many held fast to their faith and distinct identity. When the Babylonian empire collapsed quite quickly about 50 years later, the new rulers, the Persians, allowed Jews to return and rebuild if they wanted. So last week we read about the first wave packing up and heading back to their homeland.
This week the story picks up with their arrival and initial resettlement. It must be said that the book of Ezra gives an idealized view of how things went. Other biblical books, like Haggai, say that there were actually a lot of major problems. So, let’s remember that while Ezra is a fairly reliable historical source, it isn’t giving the whole picture of the problems. It’s just telling the successes.
One of the first things they do is to reestablish the religious rituals at the altar. When the Babylonians burnt Jerusalem and knocked over its walls and buildings, they didn’t absolutely destroy everything. Quite likely the massive altar outside the temple sustained little damage. It probably didn’t take a whole lot of work to get it operating again. So we learn that the daily sacrifices and holiday rituals are quickly resumed. The fresh start is happening! They have learned from their mistakes. This time they will be a more faithful people in both heart and action.
Ezra does tell us that there were threats to what they were doing. The neighboring peoples were not pleased, but the Jews felt that God would protect them if they quickly returned to doing the right things.
Then with the altar functioning it was time to turn to the temple. Who knows what shape the remnant of the temple was in. The foundation was probably still there, but it needed to be cleared and repaired. As we read, Ezra 3 tells us there was both loud cheering and loud lamentation from the people as the work on the temple began again.
That’s where we leave the story for this week. Next week we’re going to find that the construction of the temple runs into serious problems, but that’s for next week. We’re just sticking with what we learn from Ezra 3.
Ezra 3 really is a story of hope and opportunity. God was giving them a chance to start again. They were committed to being good and living the right way.
If you’ve had opportunities to start something over in life, at the moment you start over you may be telling yourself that you’re not going to repeat the mistakes of the past. You tell yourself that you’ve learned. Or you tell yourself that you have improved. Perhaps you have committed to being morally better.
I have worked with any number of people over the years who have made a mistake and they are now promising to do better. It’s happened enough that I’ve started telling people that I fully believe that right now they are committed to being better. But time will tell. As time goes by with they truly stay better, or will they slip back into old habits?
Anyone who’s worked through an addiction recovery program knows that recovery is often very very hard. It takes more than just a lot of will power. It’ll probably require separating from old friends and old habits. Old friends and old habits will surely drag you back. It may require a change of job, change of community, and different dynamics with family and friends.
And anyone who has gone through that will probably also talk about setbacks, and many failed attempts. Once in a while I’m here on a Wednesday evening when there are AA meetings. I overhear the conversations and presentations sometimes. Failure is more common than not.
Actions have consequences. Life does not often give us a clean slate to start again. And when we do get to have a new try, we all too easily make mistakes.
Fortunately for us, our God knows how prone to failure we are. We start every worship service with a confession of sins. There’s a good reason for that. It’s about the only dependable uniting thing that we have among us! And so we start worship not by saying, “God, look how good we’ve been. Look how clean and pure we are. We have a right to worship you and have your love.” Instead, we say, “Well God, you forgave us. You gave us a clean slate, but we managed to make a mess of it. Please forgive us and accept our worship.”
If we thought we were sin-free we’d come to God with arrogance and a sense of entitlement. When we come to God knowing that our fears, our self-centered desires, and our tendency to not fully trust God, have bested us again; then we come with honesty and humility.
At this point in Ezra everything seems to be going well. I said earlier that Ezra tends to gloss over the messy bits. But it doesn’t gloss over all of them. Late in the book we’ll meet Ezra himself feeling ashamed before God for the failings of his leadership. Despite a clean slate, it had become messy fast.
Rejoice when life gives you a chance to start again fresh with something. Do your best with it. With wisdom from the past your chances of success have improved significantly.
And also know that as life goes on, the newness gets tarnished, new mistakes are made, and things get complicated. But we repeatedly turn to God for forgiveness, fresh beginnings, and new hope. Those who approach God with humility receive what they seek. God’s forgiveness is abundant. And God’s support is with us always.
I lack the eye-hand coordination for action games on computers. And in general I don’t find computer games to be all that fulfilling. But years ago there was a popular computer game I actually liked. It was called Civilization. I know it is still available but I haven’t played it in years.
The game starts off with the computer creating a world with land, oceans, rivers, mountains, forests, swamps and the like. The player is the leader of a civilization. The computer plops you somewhere in this world. It is your job to develop the civilization by building cities and infrastructure, by making scientific discoveries, and by managing resources. As you do this there are also several other civilizations that are forming. All the civilizations are competing. There are wars and conquests, trade, scientific advancement, and the economy to manage. Resources may fail or be captured. The ultimate goal is to rule the world. The competitors were usually pretty ruthless. If at the beginning you find that the computer has located you on a tiny island, or in a swamp, or someplace too inhospitable, you’re going to have a rough time of it. You just won’t develop fast enough and some other civilization with conquer you. If you realize it’s a hopeless case, or you can tell that your demise is immanent, you can just quit. You erase the game and start over.
I never got very good at the game. I never managed to win at the difficult levels. To the extent that the game is realistic I guess that means I’d make a poor leader of a civilization! My point though, is that you could just quit and start over with a clean slate. All the old mistakes were wiped away and you could start fresh and new.
It would be nice if real life were the same way. It would be nice if life gave you a number of “do-overs”. Perhaps you made a mistake, or you tried something that failed, and you wish you could just easily erase it and begin again; this time hopefully wiser.
But life isn’t often that way. Most of the time you’re stuck with dealing with your own messes. Actions have consequences after all. It may take a long time to recover from some things.
But sometimes life does give you a chance at a fresh start. Many people emigrating to America feel that way. America itself felt that way in its early decades. It was a new country in a new land with a new form of government. Its leaders wanted to learn from the mistakes of Europe and keep the place good and pure. It was a wonderful desire. But humans being humans, we did what we always do. We make a mess of things.
I believe the Jewish people that we read about in Ezra 3 felt like they had a clean slate to make a new beginning. You’ll remember from last week that early in the 6th century B.C. the Babylonians had conquered Jerusalem and destroyed it. They had taken many of the leading Jewish citizens to live in exile in Babylon. Many of the Jews enculturated to Babylon. But many held fast to their faith and distinct identity. When the Babylonian empire collapsed quite quickly about 50 years later, the new rulers, the Persians, allowed Jews to return and rebuild if they wanted. So last week we read about the first wave packing up and heading back to their homeland.
This week the story picks up with their arrival and initial resettlement. It must be said that the book of Ezra gives an idealized view of how things went. Other biblical books, like Haggai, say that there were actually a lot of major problems. So, let’s remember that while Ezra is a fairly reliable historical source, it isn’t giving the whole picture of the problems. It’s just telling the successes.
One of the first things they do is to reestablish the religious rituals at the altar. When the Babylonians burnt Jerusalem and knocked over its walls and buildings, they didn’t absolutely destroy everything. Quite likely the massive altar outside the temple sustained little damage. It probably didn’t take a whole lot of work to get it operating again. So we learn that the daily sacrifices and holiday rituals are quickly resumed. The fresh start is happening! They have learned from their mistakes. This time they will be a more faithful people in both heart and action.
Ezra does tell us that there were threats to what they were doing. The neighboring peoples were not pleased, but the Jews felt that God would protect them if they quickly returned to doing the right things.
Then with the altar functioning it was time to turn to the temple. Who knows what shape the remnant of the temple was in. The foundation was probably still there, but it needed to be cleared and repaired. As we read, Ezra 3 tells us there was both loud cheering and loud lamentation from the people as the work on the temple began again.
That’s where we leave the story for this week. Next week we’re going to find that the construction of the temple runs into serious problems, but that’s for next week. We’re just sticking with what we learn from Ezra 3.
Ezra 3 really is a story of hope and opportunity. God was giving them a chance to start again. They were committed to being good and living the right way.
If you’ve had opportunities to start something over in life, at the moment you start over you may be telling yourself that you’re not going to repeat the mistakes of the past. You tell yourself that you’ve learned. Or you tell yourself that you have improved. Perhaps you have committed to being morally better.
I have worked with any number of people over the years who have made a mistake and they are now promising to do better. It’s happened enough that I’ve started telling people that I fully believe that right now they are committed to being better. But time will tell. As time goes by with they truly stay better, or will they slip back into old habits?
Anyone who’s worked through an addiction recovery program knows that recovery is often very very hard. It takes more than just a lot of will power. It’ll probably require separating from old friends and old habits. Old friends and old habits will surely drag you back. It may require a change of job, change of community, and different dynamics with family and friends.
And anyone who has gone through that will probably also talk about setbacks, and many failed attempts. Once in a while I’m here on a Wednesday evening when there are AA meetings. I overhear the conversations and presentations sometimes. Failure is more common than not.
Actions have consequences. Life does not often give us a clean slate to start again. And when we do get to have a new try, we all too easily make mistakes.
Fortunately for us, our God knows how prone to failure we are. We start every worship service with a confession of sins. There’s a good reason for that. It’s about the only dependable uniting thing that we have among us! And so we start worship not by saying, “God, look how good we’ve been. Look how clean and pure we are. We have a right to worship you and have your love.” Instead, we say, “Well God, you forgave us. You gave us a clean slate, but we managed to make a mess of it. Please forgive us and accept our worship.”
If we thought we were sin-free we’d come to God with arrogance and a sense of entitlement. When we come to God knowing that our fears, our self-centered desires, and our tendency to not fully trust God, have bested us again; then we come with honesty and humility.
At this point in Ezra everything seems to be going well. I said earlier that Ezra tends to gloss over the messy bits. But it doesn’t gloss over all of them. Late in the book we’ll meet Ezra himself feeling ashamed before God for the failings of his leadership. Despite a clean slate, it had become messy fast.
Rejoice when life gives you a chance to start again fresh with something. Do your best with it. With wisdom from the past your chances of success have improved significantly.
And also know that as life goes on, the newness gets tarnished, new mistakes are made, and things get complicated. But we repeatedly turn to God for forgiveness, fresh beginnings, and new hope. Those who approach God with humility receive what they seek. God’s forgiveness is abundant. And God’s support is with us always.
Tuesday, September 22, 2026
September 20, 2026 Quiet Guidance Ezra 1
The book is named Ezra, but we don’t meet him in chapter one. Instead, we meet a man very important to Jewish history, but he barely gets any mention. That man is Sheshbazzar.
Sheshbazzar is described as the “prince of Judah.” (Ezra 1:8) We don’t know what that means. Was he truly a prince of some sort? Maybe. Most likely it simply meant that he was the chief or leader. Outside of Ezra 1 the only other time he shows up in scripture is Ezra 5:14. There he is described as a “governor” overseeing the construction of the foundation of the temple. Whatever the case, Sheshbazzar carried a heavy responsibility.
We have to remember back several decades to the time when the Babylonian Empire conquered Jerusalem. That was the year 597. The southern kingdom of Judah was the only remaining remnant of the nation ruled by kings David and Solomon centuries earlier. Several empires and come and gone threatening the tiny nation. It was often a vassal state or puppet kingdom, but it had always managed some bit of independence. It was ruled by a descendent of David and the temple still stood.
But then it was finally conquered by the Babylonians. The didn’t destroy it initially though. They captured the king, King Jehoiachin, and deported him along with the leading citizens to Babylon. They also carried off all the treasures and all the holy vessels and tools used in the temple. Things looked bleak, but the city still stood. The temple still stood. And the Babylonians appointed a new king, who was still in the blood line of David. The prophet Jeremiah encouraged the king and the remaining Jewish people to accept being dominated by the Babylonians. But they didn’t. Ten years later they rebelled. The Babylonian forces returned. And this time they burnt and destroyed the city and its temple. The leader they appointed was not in the line of David.
All was lost. God had promised that there would always be a king in the blood line of David ruling the Jews, and that the temple building would stand forever. Both of those promises had failed.
Now what?
Some Jews remained in the rubble. Many moved to Egypt. Some went to Babylon. I think it is safe to say it was the darkest time in all of Jewish history.
But the prophet Jeremiah had predicted there would be a restoration, that God would raise up a remnant and start again. Jeremiah said they would be subjected to the Babylonians for seventy years.
Jeremiah’s prediction was correct, although his timing was a bit off. It was sixty years later that the vast and powerful Babylonian Empire collapsed. The Persians conquered it. King Cyrus of Persia allows the Jews in exile in Babylon to return to Jerusalem and rebuild it. That’s where the book of Ezra begins.
Ezra quotes Cyrus as saying, “The Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and he has charged me to build him a house at Jerusalem in Judah.” (Ezra 1:2) That’s probably more flourish than fact, for Cyrus’ religious views are complex. Elsewhere Cyrus said that Marduk, the god of Babylon, had chosen him and declared him to be ruler of all the world. Whatever the case, Cyrus knew how to establish control across his new empire. If there was a discontent Jewish population exiled in Babylon, and they wanted to return to their homeland, which was also controlled by Cyrus, then he was more than willing to let them do that. Many ancient empires ran that way.
So that brings us to Sheshbazzar. He is charged with leading the Jews who want to return, back to Jerusalem. They can rebuild the city and the temple. Remember those holy temple objects the Babylonians carted off in 597? They are entrusted to Sheshbazzar to take back.
How precious those object must have been to them! They were the only objects linking the past, with all of its promises from God, to the present and future. The temple was gone, but these old artifacts could return to service in the rebuilt temple.
But Sheshbazzar’s task was hardly limited to just that. Jerusalem is 500 miles from Babylon as the crow flies. The normal route of the time is some 900 miles. How do you lead thousands of people and all their belongings safely over such a distance?
We’re not going to read it in worship, but Ezra 2 gives us a list of the families and tribes that returned. I encourage you to read it at home sometime between this week and next. The whole company numbered 42,360. Moving so many is quite a logistical task!
And there are more complications. Not all of the Jews who had been deported to Babylon wanted to return. Remember, they had been there for 60 years. Almost none of the original exiles were still alive. A couple generations had gone by. Though their religious leaders had encouraged them to remain distinct and separate from the Babylonians, many of them had settled in and embraced life in Babylon. There were certainly intermarriages. The name Sheshbazzar is actually not a Jewish name. It is a Babylonian name referring to the god Shamash. How do you lead a people to their homeland and the restoration of their religion when you yourself are named after a foreign god?
So, only those who want to leave their established life in Babylon to return to the barren and abandoned place of Jerusalem actually follow Sheshbazzar on the (probably) 900 mile journey back.
How would you handle that? Would you pick up and leave an established life in order to go on an arduous journey to a barren place, as see it as a religious task? The story in the book of Ezra is one where God works through both national leaders, like King Cyrus of Persia, and the hearts of ordinary people, in order to bring about God’s will. We see this same idea at work in what St. Paul wrote to the church in Philippi centuries later. He wrote, “Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who is at work in you, enabling you both to will and to work for his good pleasure.” Said differently, it is God’s inspiration and direction within us, yet also allowing our own freedom, to do God’s work… or not.
Carrying this challenge and promise from God was Sheshbazzar.
Biblical scholar Ralph Klein makes this interesting observation about him:
“Sheshbazzar, the leader of this returning group, was no Moses. Whether appointed by the king or elected by the people, he had achieved leadership and responsibility. He was the person responsible for receiving the temple vessels and carrying them home, and his tasks included initial work on the temple. But Sheshbazzar never makes a speech in the Bible, apparently delivered no law or performed any miracle. We do not even know how his career ended. And yet, without him, would the community in Judah have ever restarted at all? Such nondescript leadership is often significant for the people of God today. Each week Christians gather in congregations across the land, without fanfare or public notice, and then go forth into ministry in daily life to turn the other cheek, to care for the lonely and the marginalized, to forgive as they have been forgiven, to love their enemies.” (New Interpreter’s Bible, Volume 3, Pg. 681)
That is what we learn from the work of Sheshbazzar. He had no extraordinary powers. He did nothing new or innovative. He did not try to leave his mark or do anything spectacular. He simply heard the call of God, accepted the enormous task and responsibility, and went steadily forward with it.
I’ve preached this many times before, and Sheshbazzar is another example of it. Do not think you have to be famous, rich, powerful, or remarkable in any way in order for God to do important things through you. It simply takes acceptance and perseverance. As Christians we do not have a literal homeland we have been exiled from, but heaven is our home. We are making the long arduous journey through life. God is at work in us, enabling us to both will and to work for his good pleasure. We want to accept God’s call, even if it is to adventures we do not expect and that call us out of long-established lives, and work for God’s purpose.
Sheshbazzar is described as the “prince of Judah.” (Ezra 1:8) We don’t know what that means. Was he truly a prince of some sort? Maybe. Most likely it simply meant that he was the chief or leader. Outside of Ezra 1 the only other time he shows up in scripture is Ezra 5:14. There he is described as a “governor” overseeing the construction of the foundation of the temple. Whatever the case, Sheshbazzar carried a heavy responsibility.
We have to remember back several decades to the time when the Babylonian Empire conquered Jerusalem. That was the year 597. The southern kingdom of Judah was the only remaining remnant of the nation ruled by kings David and Solomon centuries earlier. Several empires and come and gone threatening the tiny nation. It was often a vassal state or puppet kingdom, but it had always managed some bit of independence. It was ruled by a descendent of David and the temple still stood.
But then it was finally conquered by the Babylonians. The didn’t destroy it initially though. They captured the king, King Jehoiachin, and deported him along with the leading citizens to Babylon. They also carried off all the treasures and all the holy vessels and tools used in the temple. Things looked bleak, but the city still stood. The temple still stood. And the Babylonians appointed a new king, who was still in the blood line of David. The prophet Jeremiah encouraged the king and the remaining Jewish people to accept being dominated by the Babylonians. But they didn’t. Ten years later they rebelled. The Babylonian forces returned. And this time they burnt and destroyed the city and its temple. The leader they appointed was not in the line of David.
All was lost. God had promised that there would always be a king in the blood line of David ruling the Jews, and that the temple building would stand forever. Both of those promises had failed.
Now what?
Some Jews remained in the rubble. Many moved to Egypt. Some went to Babylon. I think it is safe to say it was the darkest time in all of Jewish history.
But the prophet Jeremiah had predicted there would be a restoration, that God would raise up a remnant and start again. Jeremiah said they would be subjected to the Babylonians for seventy years.
Jeremiah’s prediction was correct, although his timing was a bit off. It was sixty years later that the vast and powerful Babylonian Empire collapsed. The Persians conquered it. King Cyrus of Persia allows the Jews in exile in Babylon to return to Jerusalem and rebuild it. That’s where the book of Ezra begins.
Ezra quotes Cyrus as saying, “The Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and he has charged me to build him a house at Jerusalem in Judah.” (Ezra 1:2) That’s probably more flourish than fact, for Cyrus’ religious views are complex. Elsewhere Cyrus said that Marduk, the god of Babylon, had chosen him and declared him to be ruler of all the world. Whatever the case, Cyrus knew how to establish control across his new empire. If there was a discontent Jewish population exiled in Babylon, and they wanted to return to their homeland, which was also controlled by Cyrus, then he was more than willing to let them do that. Many ancient empires ran that way.
So that brings us to Sheshbazzar. He is charged with leading the Jews who want to return, back to Jerusalem. They can rebuild the city and the temple. Remember those holy temple objects the Babylonians carted off in 597? They are entrusted to Sheshbazzar to take back.
How precious those object must have been to them! They were the only objects linking the past, with all of its promises from God, to the present and future. The temple was gone, but these old artifacts could return to service in the rebuilt temple.
But Sheshbazzar’s task was hardly limited to just that. Jerusalem is 500 miles from Babylon as the crow flies. The normal route of the time is some 900 miles. How do you lead thousands of people and all their belongings safely over such a distance?
We’re not going to read it in worship, but Ezra 2 gives us a list of the families and tribes that returned. I encourage you to read it at home sometime between this week and next. The whole company numbered 42,360. Moving so many is quite a logistical task!
And there are more complications. Not all of the Jews who had been deported to Babylon wanted to return. Remember, they had been there for 60 years. Almost none of the original exiles were still alive. A couple generations had gone by. Though their religious leaders had encouraged them to remain distinct and separate from the Babylonians, many of them had settled in and embraced life in Babylon. There were certainly intermarriages. The name Sheshbazzar is actually not a Jewish name. It is a Babylonian name referring to the god Shamash. How do you lead a people to their homeland and the restoration of their religion when you yourself are named after a foreign god?
So, only those who want to leave their established life in Babylon to return to the barren and abandoned place of Jerusalem actually follow Sheshbazzar on the (probably) 900 mile journey back.
How would you handle that? Would you pick up and leave an established life in order to go on an arduous journey to a barren place, as see it as a religious task? The story in the book of Ezra is one where God works through both national leaders, like King Cyrus of Persia, and the hearts of ordinary people, in order to bring about God’s will. We see this same idea at work in what St. Paul wrote to the church in Philippi centuries later. He wrote, “Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who is at work in you, enabling you both to will and to work for his good pleasure.” Said differently, it is God’s inspiration and direction within us, yet also allowing our own freedom, to do God’s work… or not.
Carrying this challenge and promise from God was Sheshbazzar.
Biblical scholar Ralph Klein makes this interesting observation about him:
“Sheshbazzar, the leader of this returning group, was no Moses. Whether appointed by the king or elected by the people, he had achieved leadership and responsibility. He was the person responsible for receiving the temple vessels and carrying them home, and his tasks included initial work on the temple. But Sheshbazzar never makes a speech in the Bible, apparently delivered no law or performed any miracle. We do not even know how his career ended. And yet, without him, would the community in Judah have ever restarted at all? Such nondescript leadership is often significant for the people of God today. Each week Christians gather in congregations across the land, without fanfare or public notice, and then go forth into ministry in daily life to turn the other cheek, to care for the lonely and the marginalized, to forgive as they have been forgiven, to love their enemies.” (New Interpreter’s Bible, Volume 3, Pg. 681)
That is what we learn from the work of Sheshbazzar. He had no extraordinary powers. He did nothing new or innovative. He did not try to leave his mark or do anything spectacular. He simply heard the call of God, accepted the enormous task and responsibility, and went steadily forward with it.
I’ve preached this many times before, and Sheshbazzar is another example of it. Do not think you have to be famous, rich, powerful, or remarkable in any way in order for God to do important things through you. It simply takes acceptance and perseverance. As Christians we do not have a literal homeland we have been exiled from, but heaven is our home. We are making the long arduous journey through life. God is at work in us, enabling us to both will and to work for his good pleasure. We want to accept God’s call, even if it is to adventures we do not expect and that call us out of long-established lives, and work for God’s purpose.
Tuesday, September 8, 2026
September 6, 2026 Discipline Hebrews 12
What does society tell us we were created to be? Does it tell us anything? Are we told we’re the product of our parents’ choices? Or perhaps we are an unintended accident or conceived in an act of violence? (Many youth and young adults are taught that we’re nothing more than the product of western norms and culture, and that we bear all the privileges, arrogance, and biases of it.) Are we told that in order to live a fulfilled life we should maximize our earning potential, and then strategically use our abilities to get the most comforts and conveniences possible?
Are we told that what we really are is whatever other people perceive us to be? Thus, the appearances we make in the world with our car and our clothes and our choices are of supreme importance.
Or are we whatever our economic and political views are? Are we driven to fit in with the views of those around us so that we get a sense of belonging?
Are we told that our value lies in our educational attainments, or our net worth, or our job performance in the last year?
These are all powerful forces that pull on our lives, and in many cases, can rule our lives. But none of them are true.
In Jeremiah 1:5 God says to the prophet, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you. I appointed you a prophet to the nations.” Those were probably both comforting and frustrating words for Jeremiah. If you know his life at all you know it was not an easy one. He often railed against God for what God pushed him to do. But he did it anyway.
The thing is, those words go for more than just Jeremiah. They go for all of us as well. I do not mean that we were all created to be prophets to the nations. That was Jeremiah’s role. Possibly it is yours, but I do not know. What does go for all of us is the truth that before we were even conceived God knew us. God created us with purpose and for purpose. I’ve preached many times that we are not accidents and we are not junk. God created us good. God invites us to do meaningful and important things.
This is all good news! But it is not automatic. For if you want to do something important and meaningful it is going to require endurance and discipline, and a lot of them!
Hebrews 12 is a chapter about just those things. Last week we read Hebrews 11. There we found a list of heroes of the faith: Abel, Noah, Abraham, Moses, Samuel, David, and the prophets. None of them had easy. They all endured trials and tribulations. Through endurance they developed discipline which kept their faith centered on God. Now Hebrews 12 adds Jesus to the list. But before Jesus was added we read, “Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us.” (Hebrews 12:1) It then goes on, “…looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith.”
We’re to get the image of all of us being in an Olympic style race, running alongside each other and great heroes of the faith, with Jesus ahead of us and drawing us forward. The idea is not that only one person gets to win, or that only three people will get first, second, and third place medals, but that we are all striving towards God’s promised future.
If you’re going to be an athlete it takes discipline and focus. It may mean months and years of regular training. It means straining yourself and pushing the limits. No one ever was sitting in the stands in the Olympics eating a hot dog with one hand and a beverage in the other, and then decided to set them down, walk out onto the track, and run in the race and win. That’s not how it’s done.
Our society today does not like discipline. That goes for pretty much all times and places. The author of Hebrews knew the readers didn’t like discipline. He wrote, “Now discipline always seems painful rather than pleasant a the time.” Of course. Humans would rather indulge and have fun. And we do need to indulge and have some fun at times. But God made you with purpose and for purpose. You’ll never achieve that purpose without discipline.
Think over life. There is nothing – nothing – worth having that came easily. The things we value the most are the things we’ve worked and struggled the hardest to obtain. People who have big wins in the lottery or have a sudden great inheritance almost never fully appreciate what they have received. Many of them squander it. Few have fulfilled lives.
God disciplines us for our own effectiveness. Hebrews uses the example of parents disciplining their children. Even something as simple as telling a child they cannot have a snack before dinner is discipline. The child is hungry. He or she wants food. Not getting food is painful. The parent does not (or should not) enjoy causing the pain. But the parent knows the discipline of not indulging every time a child is hungry teaches a child to know satisfaction when they do it. It also teaches that you should eat healthy things and healthy amounts. No parent truly loves a child that indulges the child in everything.
I do want to make the same aside Hebrews does in all of this and note that while parental discipline is the example used for God’s discipline, not all parental discipline is perfect. The author wrote, “[Parents] disciplined us for a short time as seemed best to them…” Indeed, parents don’t know their children perfectly. Discipline may go awry, or some parents may be abusive. But the image still works. God disciplines us.
It seems that in many areas of society, especially the social sciences, there is a division being made between victims and oppressors. Oppressors especially are: male, white, heterosexual, and in leadership. Victims are: female, colored, homosexual, and disabled. The more qualities you have in one category or the other the more you are oppressor or victim. And much of current social science teaches that it is the victims who have the highest morality. And oppressors are incapable of moral deliberation because of their privileges.
I don’t want to get too political with all of this, because it quickly becomes that, but the whole notion of splitting humanity into victims and oppressors, with victims having morality and the oppressors being incapable of morality is both inaccurate and unhelpful.
Many young adults have been taught to see themselves as victims. They are to look for traumas and abuses in their past from their communities or their parents or their peer groups. They are told that these abuses are the defining characteristics of their lives. This approach is also inaccurate and unhelpful.
You are made by God with purpose and for purpose. If you define yourself as a victim then you are letting your abuser be your definer. While it is true that severe abuse and trauma impacts a person’s development, those things do not define a person. Nor do they give them moral high ground over others.
When abuses and traumas occur, our faith takes us to Romans 8:28. “We know that all things work together for good for those who love God.” Or it can be translated, “in all things God works for good.” And remember how the passage continues, “We know that all things work together for good for those who love God… who are called according to his purpose.” There we have that word purpose just like we had in Jeremiah.
Hebrews 12 told us, “Therefore lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees, and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint but rather be healed.”
That is an attitude that stays true to God’s purpose. Life was not meant to be easy. It was meant to be meaningful. Without discipline life has no meaning.
This does not mean that you should put a smile on your face every time something hurts. This does not mean that you should see all of life’s hardships as God’s discipline for you. But it does mean that with your faith set on God’s purposes, all things will build you.
Rejoice with God when life is easy and good. Accept that God is with you always, even when things are hard. And that in order for you to have a purposeful life, endurance and discipline will be necessary. The joy of the fulfillment of God’s promises awaits.
Are we told that what we really are is whatever other people perceive us to be? Thus, the appearances we make in the world with our car and our clothes and our choices are of supreme importance.
Or are we whatever our economic and political views are? Are we driven to fit in with the views of those around us so that we get a sense of belonging?
Are we told that our value lies in our educational attainments, or our net worth, or our job performance in the last year?
These are all powerful forces that pull on our lives, and in many cases, can rule our lives. But none of them are true.
In Jeremiah 1:5 God says to the prophet, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you. I appointed you a prophet to the nations.” Those were probably both comforting and frustrating words for Jeremiah. If you know his life at all you know it was not an easy one. He often railed against God for what God pushed him to do. But he did it anyway.
The thing is, those words go for more than just Jeremiah. They go for all of us as well. I do not mean that we were all created to be prophets to the nations. That was Jeremiah’s role. Possibly it is yours, but I do not know. What does go for all of us is the truth that before we were even conceived God knew us. God created us with purpose and for purpose. I’ve preached many times that we are not accidents and we are not junk. God created us good. God invites us to do meaningful and important things.
This is all good news! But it is not automatic. For if you want to do something important and meaningful it is going to require endurance and discipline, and a lot of them!
Hebrews 12 is a chapter about just those things. Last week we read Hebrews 11. There we found a list of heroes of the faith: Abel, Noah, Abraham, Moses, Samuel, David, and the prophets. None of them had easy. They all endured trials and tribulations. Through endurance they developed discipline which kept their faith centered on God. Now Hebrews 12 adds Jesus to the list. But before Jesus was added we read, “Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us.” (Hebrews 12:1) It then goes on, “…looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith.”
We’re to get the image of all of us being in an Olympic style race, running alongside each other and great heroes of the faith, with Jesus ahead of us and drawing us forward. The idea is not that only one person gets to win, or that only three people will get first, second, and third place medals, but that we are all striving towards God’s promised future.
If you’re going to be an athlete it takes discipline and focus. It may mean months and years of regular training. It means straining yourself and pushing the limits. No one ever was sitting in the stands in the Olympics eating a hot dog with one hand and a beverage in the other, and then decided to set them down, walk out onto the track, and run in the race and win. That’s not how it’s done.
Our society today does not like discipline. That goes for pretty much all times and places. The author of Hebrews knew the readers didn’t like discipline. He wrote, “Now discipline always seems painful rather than pleasant a the time.” Of course. Humans would rather indulge and have fun. And we do need to indulge and have some fun at times. But God made you with purpose and for purpose. You’ll never achieve that purpose without discipline.
Think over life. There is nothing – nothing – worth having that came easily. The things we value the most are the things we’ve worked and struggled the hardest to obtain. People who have big wins in the lottery or have a sudden great inheritance almost never fully appreciate what they have received. Many of them squander it. Few have fulfilled lives.
God disciplines us for our own effectiveness. Hebrews uses the example of parents disciplining their children. Even something as simple as telling a child they cannot have a snack before dinner is discipline. The child is hungry. He or she wants food. Not getting food is painful. The parent does not (or should not) enjoy causing the pain. But the parent knows the discipline of not indulging every time a child is hungry teaches a child to know satisfaction when they do it. It also teaches that you should eat healthy things and healthy amounts. No parent truly loves a child that indulges the child in everything.
I do want to make the same aside Hebrews does in all of this and note that while parental discipline is the example used for God’s discipline, not all parental discipline is perfect. The author wrote, “[Parents] disciplined us for a short time as seemed best to them…” Indeed, parents don’t know their children perfectly. Discipline may go awry, or some parents may be abusive. But the image still works. God disciplines us.
It seems that in many areas of society, especially the social sciences, there is a division being made between victims and oppressors. Oppressors especially are: male, white, heterosexual, and in leadership. Victims are: female, colored, homosexual, and disabled. The more qualities you have in one category or the other the more you are oppressor or victim. And much of current social science teaches that it is the victims who have the highest morality. And oppressors are incapable of moral deliberation because of their privileges.
I don’t want to get too political with all of this, because it quickly becomes that, but the whole notion of splitting humanity into victims and oppressors, with victims having morality and the oppressors being incapable of morality is both inaccurate and unhelpful.
Many young adults have been taught to see themselves as victims. They are to look for traumas and abuses in their past from their communities or their parents or their peer groups. They are told that these abuses are the defining characteristics of their lives. This approach is also inaccurate and unhelpful.
You are made by God with purpose and for purpose. If you define yourself as a victim then you are letting your abuser be your definer. While it is true that severe abuse and trauma impacts a person’s development, those things do not define a person. Nor do they give them moral high ground over others.
When abuses and traumas occur, our faith takes us to Romans 8:28. “We know that all things work together for good for those who love God.” Or it can be translated, “in all things God works for good.” And remember how the passage continues, “We know that all things work together for good for those who love God… who are called according to his purpose.” There we have that word purpose just like we had in Jeremiah.
Hebrews 12 told us, “Therefore lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees, and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint but rather be healed.”
That is an attitude that stays true to God’s purpose. Life was not meant to be easy. It was meant to be meaningful. Without discipline life has no meaning.
This does not mean that you should put a smile on your face every time something hurts. This does not mean that you should see all of life’s hardships as God’s discipline for you. But it does mean that with your faith set on God’s purposes, all things will build you.
Rejoice with God when life is easy and good. Accept that God is with you always, even when things are hard. And that in order for you to have a purposeful life, endurance and discipline will be necessary. The joy of the fulfillment of God’s promises awaits.
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