Psalm 19: 7-10; Nehemiah 8: 1-10
by Rev. Carson Overstreet
Van Wyck Presbyterian Church
January 27, 2019
The law of the Lord is perfect,
reviving the soul;
the decrees of the Lord are sure,
making wise the simple;
the precepts of the Lord are right,
rejoicing the heart;
the commandment of the Lord is clear,
enlightening the eyes;
the fear of the Lord is pure,
enduring for ever;
the ordinances of the Lord are true
and righteous altogether.
More to be desired are they than gold,
even much fine gold;
sweeter also than honey,
and drippings of the honeycomb. - Psalm 19: 7-10
All the people gathered together into the square before the Water Gate. They told the scribe Ezra to bring the book of the law of Moses, which the Lord had given to Israel. Accordingly, the priest Ezra brought the law before the assembly, both men and women and all who could hear with understanding.
This was on the first day of the seventh month. He read from it facing the square before the Water Gate from early morning until midday, in the presence of the men and the women and those who could understand; and the ears of all the people were attentive to the book of the law.
The scribe Ezra stood on a wooden platform that had been made for the purpose; and beside him stood Mattithiah, Shema, Anaiah, Uriah, Hilkiah, and Maaseiah on his right hand; and Pedaiah, Mishael, Malchijah, Hashum, Hash-baddanah, Zechariah, and Meshullam on his left hand. And Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people, for he was standing above all the people; and when he opened it, all the people stood up. Then Ezra blessed the Lord, the great God, and all the people answered, ‘Amen, Amen’, lifting up their hands. Then they bowed their heads and worshipped the Lord with their faces to the ground. Also Jeshua, Bani, Sherebiah, Jamin, Akkub, Shabbethai, Hodiah, Maaseiah, Kelita, Azariah, Jozabad, Hanan, Pelaiah, the Levites, helped the people to understand the law, while the people remained in their places. So they read from the book, from the law of God, with interpretation. They gave the sense, so that the people understood the reading.
And Nehemiah, who was the governor, and Ezra the priest and scribe, and the Levites who taught the people said to all the people, ‘This day is holy to the Lord your God; do not mourn or weep.’ For all the people wept when they heard the words of the law. Then he said to them, ‘Go your way, eat the fat and drink sweet wine and send portions of them to those for whom nothing is prepared, for this day is holy to our Lord; and do not be grieved, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.’ - Nehemiah 8: 1-10
If someone asked you to define “home” what would your answer be? I recently asked the question and received more answers than I can share:
Home is where you kick up your boots and lay your head at night.
Home is where family is.
Home is a safe haven I can return to when life's complications are overwhelming.
Home is where I can let it all go and be unapologetically me.
Home is happiness.
Wherever there is love I am home.
For God’s people of Israel, home was Jerusalem. But home was not only the physical address where the former generations of God’s people had been raised. It was also a place where God’s people flourished in the profound presence of God’s love.
In the historical books of Ezra and Nehemiah, God’s people had come home to Jerusalem; they had returned after being held in exile for seventy years in Babylon. Coming home brought a sense of relief to return to a place they called their own. Coming home brought a sense nostalgia as the stories of past generations flooded the people’s minds.
But coming home also brought the difficult tasks of settling in and rebuilding Jerusalem. My Old Testament professor Kathleen O’Conner says coming back home to Jerusalem brought many questions of how to reestablish the people’s “identity, safety, and peace” [1].
It was one thing to rebuild Jerusalem as the home of God’s people. It was a whole other thing to recover the essence that was lost. After months of settling in and rebuilding the Spirit was mysteriously on the move. God opened the people’s eyes to see what was missing: to really be at home with God and one another the people needed to feel the sacred center of worship.
The men, women, and children gathered at the Water Gate; a space where decisions were made for the good of the whole. And so they told Ezra, Israel’s priest and scribe, to read the law – God’s Word of Moses – aloud to them. And for 6-7 hours, Ezra held the attention of every man, woman, and child who could understand.
No one was standing at the Water Gate like the comedian Jim Gaffigan saying, “Alright, let’s wrap this up…we got some sinnin’ to do!”
Instead, the sacred center of God’s Word held the people together. They became more deeply connected to God and one another as mentors helped interpret the law to the men, women, and children.
My commentary states “the people had a deep hunger for the Torah (the first five Old Testament books of the Bible); they had a deep hunger for the teachings of God because their lives needed it” [2]. It was an oral society; there were high illiteracy rates and few biblical scrolls were available. Tradition held that God’s Word was to be read in the temple of Jerusalem, which had previously been destroyed, and of course there was no temple in Babylon captivity. Therefore, hearing the Word of God read aloud had been a rarity.
In the span of those hours every man, woman and child experienced a sense of belonging as the tradition of faith embraced the people once again in God’s steadfast love. And when the “Amens” resounded the people were moved to tears. What an emotional moment suspended in time.
But the tears came for another reason too. Hearing God’s Word brought about a journey of self-reflection. When God’s people came home to God’s Word, they recalled the story of their collective past. The tears rolled down like a confession remembering they had fallen short of the glory of God. The tears stung with questions of why God had allowed certain twists and turns of life to happen to God’s chosen. The tears welled up like a collective affirmation of faith that once again God’s unmerited faithfulness had delivered them and brought them home.
Ezra and Nehemiah worked together to meet God’s people where they were. While the people needed to be embraced by the sacred center of worship, Ezra and Nehemiah gave the people a reason to rejoice in coming home to God. “Do not mourn or weep but rejoice because the joy of the Lord is your strength!” (Nehemiah 8:10).
We find joy in knowing the Word of God sustains us. It shapes our identity proclaiming we belong to God. God’s Word tells us we are created to love God with all we are, keep God’s word in our hearts, and teach our children God’s way of life when we are at home, when we are away, when we lie down, and when we rise (Deuteronomy 6: 5-7). We rejoice with a sense of awe and wonder because this gift of faith gives us roots to flourish individually and communally, and be to shaped by the creative love of God.
As we sojourn through the many twists and turns of life it does not take much these days to make us feel restless and unsettled. We come into friction with differing perspectives; we face heartbreaking parts of life that yield no answers; we have pieces of our hearts and minds that are under construction. On some days it is a daunting task to consider what it will take to reestablish a sense of identity, safety, and peace in the wider world much less within our very selves.
Saint Augustine, one of our Church Fathers and North African theologian, once said, “Our hearts are restless until they rest in God alone.” Truer words have never been spoken. The human spirit has a hunger to connect to something immensely bigger than ourselves. We each need a sacred center that narrates the purpose and meaning of life. And God’s Word is that sacred center.
When we are weak and restless, God’s Word revives the soul and rebuilds our resiliency with unconditional love (Psalm 19:7). When we feel lost, God’s Word directs the compass of our faith with the Lord’s wisdom (Psalm 19:7). When we do not know the next right step, God’s Word shines the way forward (Psalm 19:8). When God’s Word speaks into our lives our faith is moved to a place of awe and wonder (Psalm 19:9).
The writer of Proverbs says, “By wisdom a house is built and through understanding it is established. Through knowledge its rooms are filled with rare and beautiful treasures (Prov 23: 3-4).
There is no greater treasure than coming home to God. The sacred center of faith holds and binds us together as the family of God.
There is room in God’s house to let go and to let God.
We are free to just be ourselves and to discover who we are in God’s love.
There is space for personal and communal reflection to confess where we have been, to question the journey, and to affirm God’s love will never let us go.
There are opportunities to learn how to live in the faithfulness of God’s strength with the help of one another. We were never meant to do that alone.
Are you restless? Are you feeling a little lost? Are you struggling to feel at home with others or even within yourself? Then you are in the right place.
When I am spiritually restless, disconnected, and running short on hope I come home to God. Abiding in God’s Word is like coming home. The Word made flesh in Jesus Christ meets us where we are. God’s Word is a refuge for us to hide in… a strong tower to embrace us in God’s strength, reassuring us that God is still in control.
It is a joy to come home and to be embraced by our Maker, Redeemer, and Sustainer as the One who knows us fully will always lead us by grace to reveal a future with hope.
May the joy of the Lord be your strength. May God’s Spirit lead you to connect more deeply with the sacred center of God’s Word this week. Great is God’s faithfulness as we sang this morning. Abiding in God’s faithfulness is where we flourish because it is by God’s Word revealed in Jesus Christ that we have hope.
As the Spirit leads you and me to come home this week and abide more deeply in God’s Word, may our faith be renewed to go back out into this beautiful yet broken world and help someone else come home to God too.
Borrowing the words of a sister in faith, “Home is a believer’s earthbound heaven; a reflection of the very best of each of us who call it home.”
God’s Word gives us the hopeful assurance that God walks beside us and that we see Jesus Christ – the Word made flesh – in one another. And God is always at work to bring us home ….home to God, home to the family of faith, and even to bring us home to ourselves.
Amen.
Sources Referenced:
[1] Feasting on the Word, “Year C, Volume 1: Advent through Transfiguration” (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2009), p. 267, Exegetical Perspective by Kathleen O’Conner.
[2] Roger Nam, “Commentary on Nehemiah 8: 1-10” Working Preacher, January 27, 2019.
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