Words of Life

Ezra Reads the Book of the Law, Bible Illustration 1695, public domain, courtesy of Pitts Digital Image Archive, Emory University, click the image to link.

Sermon Series “Through the Bible,” № 27, Nehemiah 8:1-3, 5-6, 8-10

All the people wept when they heard the words of the law. —Nehemiah 8:9

 Today’s Hebrew Testament text from Nehemiah records a climactic moment in the life of Israel. The Book of Nehemiah itself is the concluding climax of the work of an editor(s) known as “The Chronicler,” who assembled the books we know today as 1 & 2 Chronicles, Ezra, and Nehemiah. The Chronicler covers much of the same chronological scope as the Deuteronomistic History which precedes it, which is one reason we can move through this section of the Bible so quickly without missing too much of Israel’s history.

One famous example of the two views of a single history usually comes up in an introductory class to this part of the Bible. The Deuteronomistic History, in 2 Samuel 24, says, “Again the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and heincited David against them, saying, ‘Go, count the people of Israel and Judah’.”[1] Presumably, it would be a sin to conduct a census because it would show too much reliance on human resources, and not enough dependence on God.  But when the Chronicler records this event, the account says, “Satan stood up against Israel, and incited David to count the people of Israel.”[2] From the Chronicler’s perspective, the God who stands against sin could not be the cause of sin. Instead, the devil made him do it.

When we step back from a specific difference like this, and look at the differences as a whole, it becomes clear that the Chronicler told Israel’s history with a distinctly different emphasis. Working during the exilic period, when Israel had ceased to exist as an independent nation, the Chronicler was less concerned with preserving political history, and more concerned with proclaiming how God was at work to support the people of Israel as a faithful and obedient religious community. “The Chronicler was dominated by one central conviction: Israel was to be ‘a kingdom of priests and a holy nation’ –that is a people whose whole life was to be a ‘liturgy’ or divine service …. In Samuel-Kings, David is presented as a political leader …. But for (the Chronicler) David was primarily the one who organized Israel as a worshiping community.[3]

If one understands this emphasis, then it’s easier to appreciate major figures and events of the latter part of this history. Zerubbabel is a key leader in the rebuilding of the Temple. Nehemiah leads the charge to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. Through Ezra’s ministry, understanding of God’s covenant is restored and faith renewed.

As we enter the story in today’s text, the purpose for which these leaders have worked and waited is realized. Some semblance of worship restored, and the people respond by recommitting themselves to God’s covenant. Their emotional response is a testimony to the power of scripture, and the truth and inspiration of the right well-chosen words.

As I reflected on the truth and inspiration of well-chosen words, several thoughts came to mind.

·      I thought of a minister friend, who recently wrote about how he had sat by the bedside of a college roommate while he was dying of cancer, how he read to him Shakespeare’s sonnets, and comfort that this brought to both of them.

·      I thought how when a pastor reads a psalm at the bedside of someone in distress, as I did this week, they can’t help but feel how that reading transforms the mood of the people in the room.

·      I thought of hymns that move us in ways difficult to describe. For example, I have to be careful about selecting #265 “Jesus Shall Reign Where’er the Sun,” mainly because of the fourth verse. I sing “… the prisoners leap to loose their chains; the weary find eternal rest ….” And in my mind’s eye, I see my father dying of kidney cancer, and feel all over again the way death released him from the chains of that awful chapter of his earthly life.

The right words have that sort of power to move us, and through them God can transform us. What words have moved you in a life-transforming way?

Theologian George Lindbeck has argued that frequent hearing of the right words is essential to being a Christian. He says, “there are numberless thoughts we cannot think, sentiments we cannot have, and realities we cannot perceive unless we learn to use (our story).  To become a Christian involves learning the story of Israel and Jesus well enough to interpret and experience oneself and one’s world in its terms.”[4] Without the Word shaping us, telling us who we are and why we exist, someone or something else in the world will takes its place.

We live in a time when basic knowledge about our Christian Faith has faded all around us. Many people have almost expert knowledge about politics or sports or their favorite hobby, but know very little about religious foundations. I take as an instructive example one of our favorite game shows, Jeopardy. Perhaps you’ve noticed how some of the incredibly brilliant contestants are stumped by Bible questions that you’d answer correctly simply by having a good attendance pattern at Sunday school.

Let’s try some actual questions taken from the show, and see how you do.[5] I’ll read the clue, and you think of your response in the form of a question. I’ll even give you some options, multiple-choice style, so that you don’t have to work too hard. 

·  “This Israelite leader’s last lines in Deuteronomy 33 predict his people’s conquest of their enemies.”

o   Who is Caleb? Who is Aaron? Who is Moses? Who is Joshua?

·  “Many find this New Testament figure foretold in Malachi: ‘I will send my messenger and he shall prepare the way’.”

o   Who is Jeremiah the Prophet? Who is James the Brother? Who is Jude the Apostle? Who is John the Baptist?

·  “In the book of Matthew, to calm His disciples who are on a boat during a storm, Jesus does this.”

o   What is “walk on water”? What is “rebuke the disciples”? What is “sleep in the boat”? What is “rebuke the storm”?

·  “The passage ‘For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son’ is in this book’.”

o   What is 3 John? What is 1 John? What is John? What is 2 John?

These really aren’t “gotcha” questions; they’re not designed in a way that would be difficult to answer for anyone who has paid attention in Sunday school.  But in this new age of pandemic and political upheaval, the pattern of worship participation has changed. Many people have grown accustomed to the habit of infrequent participation. Like the community of Nehemiah and Ezra, we’re forgetting the words of our sacred story, and that can lead to a state in which we have fewer resources to cope with life’s trials and traumas, less ability to think theologically and act ethically.

What connects us together as a faith community rather than being just a collection of individuals living in the same geographical area?  In part, it is our shared experience of hearing the right well-chosen words.  It is our familiarity with, and loyalty to the common tradition we glean from the stories of Israel and Jesus. 

There’s an old hymn I sang as a child that came to me as I was finishing up this sermon. It’s rattled around in my head ever since.  The songwriter P.P. Bliss might have been thinking of today’s text, among others, as he wrote his lyrics.  It’s a simpler form of my sermon, I think. They go, in part, like this:

Sing them over again to me,
Wonderful words of life;
Let me more of their beauty see,
Wonderful words of life;
Words of life and beauty
Teach me faith and duty.

Refrain:
Beautiful words, wonderful words,
Wonderful words of life;
Beautiful words, wonderful words,
Wonderful words of life.

NOTES

[1] 2 Samuel 24:1.

 [2] 1 Chronicles 21:1.

[3] Bernhard Anderson, Understanding the Old Testament, Second Edition.

[4] George A. Lindbeck, “The Nature of Doctrine: Religion and Theology in a Post-liberal Age,” Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1984, p. 34.

[5] From “QUIZ: These Bible Questions From Jeopardy Are SO EASY!” by “Bible Potato,” https://biblepotato.com/bible_quiz/jeopardy-bible-questions/, 4 Sept. 2020, accessed 31 Aug. 2022.

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