A Matter of Interpretation

 

Text:  Nehemiah 8:1-3, 5-6, 8-10

Theme:  "A Matter of Interpretation"

3rd Sunday after the Epiphany

January 27, 2013

First Presbyterian Church

Denton, Texas

Rev. Paul R. Dunklau

 

+In the Name of Jesus+

 

¹ All the people came together as one in the square before the Water Gate. They told Ezra the teacher of the Law to bring out the Book of the Law of Moses, which the Lord had commanded for Israel.

² So on the first day of the seventh month Ezra the priest brought the Law before the assembly, which was made up of men and women and all who were able to understand. ³ He read it aloud from daybreak till noon as he faced the square before the Water Gate in the presence of the men, women and others who could understand. And all the people listened attentively to the Book of the Law.

⁵ Ezra opened the book. All the people could see him because he was standing above them; and as he opened it, the people all stood up. ⁶ Ezra praised the Lord, the great God; and all the people lifted their hands and responded, “Amen! Amen!” Then they bowed down and worshiped the Lord with their faces to the ground.

⁸ They read from the Book of the Law of God, making it clear^[a] and giving the meaning so that the people understood what was being read.

⁹ Then Nehemiah the governor, Ezra the priest and teacher of the Law, and the Levites who were instructing the people said to them all, “This day is holy to the Lord your God. Do not mourn or weep.” For all the people had been weeping as they listened to the words of the Law.

¹⁰ Nehemiah said, “Go and enjoy choice food and sweet drinks, and send some to those who have nothing prepared. This day is holy to our Lord. Do not grieve, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.”

It was a long worship service -- so long, in fact, that it could never happen today in our age of instant everything.    They read the Laws of God -- and interpreted the Laws of God -- from daybreak to 12 o'clock noon.  That's six hours straight of reading and proclaiming the Scriptures.  Let's see:  our service begins at 11 o'clock AM.  That means that if we worshipped like they did in our reading, we'd be out of here late in the afternoon at around 5 o'clock PM.  How does that sound to you?   Were there times to get up and stretch, go to the bathroom, and have a lunch break? We are not told.

We are told, however,  that all the people came together as one. They had 100% membership attendance. Average membership attendance in churches today runs between 33% and 40% -- and that's being generous. The truth is unsettling:  over half of the people who claim membership in Christian congregations in America do not regularly attend church.  Most services ask for about an hour a week -- and certainly not six hours as in our reading.  Attendance would be less than one percent -- if anyone attended at all. 

Again, this service was six hours long. More than that, it looks as though no one fell asleep; no one nodded off; minds did not start to wander.  Little kids didn't start to fidget; teenagers did not start texting; father's didn't start wondering what to watch on TV between the championships and the Super Bowl; mothers didn't start compiling grocery lists.  The text says:  "All the people listened attentively."

It's hard today to "listen attentively", isn't it? Slammed with a multitude of distractions, adrift in a world where multi-tasking is idolized,  we find it harder and harder to focus on anyone or anything for any length of time!  There are hints of what we might call a spiritual "Attention Deficit Disorder".   Please don't think I'm pointing fingers at you. The other day someone asked me what I preached on last week, and, for the life of me, I couldn't remember.  "Wow, the sermon was that good?" my friend jokingly asked. 

The "patron saint" of those who lose attention, nod off, and fall asleep in church would have to be a man named Eutychus.  Mentioned in the New Testament Book of Acts, Eutychus was sitting on the windowsill of a house church while the great apostle Paul was preaching.  Apparently, the sermon was long (the text says it went past midnight). The young man sunk into a deep sleep and fell three stories to his death. Paul ran downstairs, threw himself on the man, and put his arms around him. He reassured the crowd.  "Don't be alarmed; he's alive."  At the end of the service, the people took the young man home and were greatly comforted, we are told. 

One of my pastoral hopes for you, after you leave this place following Lord's Day worship (which usually lasts an hour -- and not six), is that you be comforted by God's Word.  And this comfort is not due to getting out of church alive like Eutychus.  It's because God loves you. 

But I'll tell you what:  if I had the choice of coming out of church comforted or feeling comfortable versus coming out as a stronger person, I'd choose the strength over the comfort.  I want my spirit to be strong; I want my mind to be strong; I want my body to be as strong as it can be. 

But what exactly does it mean to be strong in your spirit or soul?  Does it mean that you pray 24/7/365?  What does it mean to be strong in your mind?  Does it mean that you read x number of books and have x number of post-graduate degrees?  What does it mean to be strong in body?  Is it eating all the right foods all the time and exercising the muscles that have atrophied? It's all a matter of personal interpretation, no? 

Stop right there!  I don't want to think about these questions anymore. I don't want to hazard guesses.   Let the text, let the Word of God, weigh in.  Let our Lord put in the  two cents worth that actually count for something!  Here it is from Nehemiah chapter eight:  "Go and enjoy choice food and sweet drinks, and send some to those who have nothing prepared.  This day is holy to our Lord.  Do not grieve, for the joy of the Lord is your strength."  Let me repeat:  THE JOY OF THE LORD IS YOUR STRENGTH!  There is enough in that sentence alone for you to meditate upon for the rest of your life, I say.

Let me share a word about the historical setting of our reading.  Let me "set the table", if you will.  In the year 586 BC, that's some six hundred years or so before Christ, the children of God, the Hebrews, were exiled from their capital city of Jerusalem.  They were invaded by a foreign army led by King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, and they were taken into captivity in a part of the world which today is called Iraq.  Slowly, during a period of about one hundred and fifty years, the Israelites were allowed to return to their holy land and rebuild their capital city of Jerusalem. 

Our reading tells the story of when they finally and officially came back to their homeland. They were free again.   A man named Nehemiah was the leader of their fledgling government.  A man named Ezra was their priest.  Together with Ezra and Nehemiah, all the people gathered to hear what they hadn't heard for decades:  the Word of God's Law.

It touched them deeply.  They grieved; they cried; they mourned; they felt vulnerable, weak.   They remembered their history and its periods of weal and woe.  They remembered the faithfulness of God set against their on-again, off-again faithfulness.  God kept God's part of the covenant, but they didn't hold up their end -- and that explained why they had been activity. The word of God's Law hit them square between the eyes.  And it wasn't just read to them, it was also interpreted.  It was spoken to them in language that they could understand.  It wasn't just a dry, six hour reading out of a dusty book.  They were able to make the connections.  And they grieved and they cried. 

But then came the good news; then came the Gospel!  "Do not grieve, for the joy of the Lord is your strength!" 

When we look back on our own lives and interpret what we see through the lense of God's Laws, we can only grieve.  The Law demands perfection, and we fall far short of that mark.  That hurts.  Then we look back and think of better times when our faith was stronger or our church was larger, and we pine to have those times again.  But we're afraid that they will never come.  Even our spiritual nostalgia has left us feeling weak. 

"Do not grieve," says our text.  "For the joy of the Lord is your strength." The law focuses on us, and we mourn.  The Gospel focuses on the Lord, and we rejoice; we gain strength! 

The Lord we gain strength from is the One, Jesus Christ, who was crucified in our place. But death could not hold Him.  He triumphed over that last enemy win His resurrection.  The joy and strength we have in the Lord is indestructible -- even death has to throw up the white flag of surrender. 

So go and enjoy choice foods and sweet drinks-- as the text invites us to do.  Don't forget to give some to those who have nothing prepared.  The joy of the Lord Jesus is your strength.  It's more than a matter of interpretation.  It's the way, the truth, and the life!

Amen.