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THIRD SUNDAY AFTER THE EPIPHANY

Sermon

Nehemiah 8:1-12; Luke 4:14-21

            Last Sunday night I was talking with a friend about the earthquake in Haiti .  We shared our sadness at the enormous loss of life and our common concern for the terrible destruction in an already impoverished country.

            I shared with him as well my personal connection to the earthquake – Ben Larson.  Ben was a senior at Wartburg Theological Seminary.  He was in Haiti with other Wartburg students during January to teach Lutheran theology.  He died when the St. Joseph Home he was teaching in collapsed.

            I told my friend that I mourned the loss of his promising life.  I mourned his loss for his wife and his friends.  But, most of all, I felt the loss of his parents, whom I have known since college.  When I realized that Ben was about the age of my own sons, in addition to shock and loss, I felt the kind of vulnerability that only parents can feel. 

            We talked about how frightening it is for parents who are so deeply connected to their children, but also how universal the experience of vulnerability is, that everyone has experienced vulnerability in one way or another, and that everyone tends to build walls whenever that happens.

            A few different times in the course of the conversation, my friend used the word, “kindness.”  He was suggesting that, although we do inevitably close ourselves in for protection, we are also called to open our hearts in compassion to suffering in our own lives and to suffering in the lives of others.  We are called to kindness.

            It would have been understandable for Israel to shut itself in after all it had been through.  For the nation of Israel reached the height of its power during the reign of King David.  But after his son and successor, Solomon, died, that nation split in two – the northern Kingdom, called Israel , with its capital in Samaria ; and the southern kingdom, called Judah , with its capital in Jerusalem .  The northern kingdom was eventually destroyed by the Assyrians and was never heard from again.  The southern kingdom was destroyed by the Babylonians.  Its people were taken into exile to Babylon .

            It appeared as though the descendants of Abraham and Sarah were finished.  But fifty years later, the Persians defeated the Babylonians and King Cyrus allowed the people of Israel to return to Jerusalem and rebuild their city.  This was not as easy as it sounds.  The city was extremely poor.  They had few resources.  Every attempt to rebuild the wall of the city failed.  There was corruption on the inside.  There were military attacks on the outside, especially from the Samaritans.

            At last, Nehemiah, the cupbearer of King Artaxerxes and himself a Jew, asked the permission of his master to go and aid the city.  With his own managerial skills and the support of Artaxerxes, as well as political and military maneuvering to fend off the Samarians, Nehemiah was able to accomplish rebuilding the city wall, so that it might be a safe place for people to live.

            A dedication was held, but Nehemiah knew that, if they were to survive and to thrive, they would need something more.  They would need spiritual rebuilding.

            This was something he could not do.  He was not a priest.  He was not a scribe.  In fact, because he was a eunuch, he could not even enter the temple.  So, he wrote King Artaxerxes and asked for one more favor: Please send Ezra the priest, he said, the one who knows the Word of God.

            Eight months later, Ezra arrived.  He performed the necessary sacrifices at the temple.  But Nehemiah had something more in mind.  He wanted the Torah – the books of Moses – read in the hearing of all the people.  He wanted everyone to hear about Egypt and the wilderness and Mt. Sinai .  Mostly, he wanted them to know about the covenant – their relationship with God.  “Read the books of Moses,” Nehemiah told Ezra, “for all the people to hear and interpret it so that they understand.”

            Nehemiah had a platform constructed at the Water Gate, where all people, clean and unclean could gather.  Then he ordered everyone – men and women – to come.  Ezra climbed up on the platform and read.  As he read, he and others gave the sense of the meaning, so that people may understand.

            As they heard it, the people wept.  The people mourned.  But when the reading was finished, Nehemiah said, “Do not weep.  This day is holy to the Lord your God.  Go – eat, drink, and be merry – share your food with the poor.  But do not weep, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.”

            At this service of renewal, we hear three things that are important for our own gathering.  First, because it is held at the Water Gate, all the people gather – not just those who are ritually clean, but those who are ritually unclean as well.  This included Nehemiah himself, who, as a eunuch, was not allowed to enter the temple or to make sacrifices.  So, when we gather, it is for all the people as well – men and women and children – people who are faithful and people who are not – people who are upright and people who are fallen down – people who are full of joy and people who are full of sadness.  Our gatherings are for all people.

            Second, the Word is read.  It is not only read; it is interpreted.  It may be that, by that time, no one except the scribes knew how to read and understand ancient Hebrew.  And so the reading needed some translating.  But it seems to be that the words sounded strange because they seemed to come from a far away time and a far away place.  That is true for us as well.  Yes, some Bible readings seem quite plain and straightforward.  Others seem strange and inscrutable.   Either way, it is my job to provide an interpretation as to the meaning of these ancient texts for our own lives today.

            Finally, the people respond with grief.  We don’t know why exactly they respond with tears.  We don’t know if they are full of fear or contrition or regret.  Whatever the reason, Nehemiah says, “This day is a day that is holy to God.  Do not weep, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.”  There will days of soul searching.  There will be occasions for grief.  There will be time for asking questions that seem to have no answers.  But, in order to go forward, they need to do so out of joy, out of the gladness of God.

            And so for us.  When we find our world or any part of it in shambles, we need time for grief.  We need time for soul searching.  We need time for recommitment.  But if we are to go forward, if we are seek to rebuild our lives and our world, then we will need to do so, not out of fear, but out of joy.  That is what this day is for.  It is for joy, that we may rebuild our spiritual lives by the strength of the Lord, joy for how they treat others – joy, not only for strength and celebration, but joy for opening our hearts.

            After I talked with my friend, I pondered the word, “kindness.”  I remembered that the Dalai Lama had once said, “My religion is kindness.”  When I googled the quote, one of the sites I found was an open letter he wrote on 9/11.  I’d like to read the closing paragraphs for you:

            Today the human soul asks the question: What can I do to preserve the beauty and wonder of the world and to eliminate anger and hated – and the disparity that inevitably causes it – in that part of the world which I touch?  Please seek to answer that question today, with all the magnificence that is You.

What can you do TODAY…this very moment?  A central teaching in most spiritual traditions is: What you wish to experience, provide for another.  Look to see, now, what it is you wish to experience – in your own life, and in the world.  Then see if there is another for whom you may be the source of that.

            If you wish to experience peace, provide peace for another.  If you wish to know that you are safe, cause another to know that they are safe.  If you wish to better understand seemingly incomprehensible things, help another better to understand.  If you wish to heal your own sadness or anger, seek to heal the sadness or anger of another.

            They are looking for guidance, for help, for courage, for strength, for understanding, and for assurance at this hour.  Most of all, they are looking to you for love.  My religion is very simple.  My religion is kindness.

Not out of fear or anger, but out of joy, we rebuild our lives.  Out of joy, we reconnect with God.  Out of joy, we open our hearts to others who are suffering.  For the joy of the Lord is our strength.